Evergreen Curling Club announces qualifiers for Team USA trials and promotes wheelchair curling

Contact Information:

Evergreen Curling Club, Wheelchair Curling Committee

Arnie Iwanick – community@evergreencurling.com

Evergreen Curling Club, Media Contact

Joe Petsche - promotions@evergreencurling.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Evergreen Curling Club announces qualifiers for Team USA trials and promotes wheelchair curling


Two Oregonians have qualified for the top twelve positions in curling for Team USA for the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Last spring in Janesville, Wisc. – Bill Gray, of Coos Bay, and Cathy Cummins, of Portland, were selected for the next qualifying step for Team USA. The next set of trials will be in Madison, Wisc. in mid-October 2012.

Bill and Cathy are members of the Evergreen Curling Club, currently located in Portland, Oregon. The trials are happening just as Evergreen will be opening the West Coast’s second-only dedicated curling facility. The wheelchair curlers have been curling and practicing at the Lloyd Center Ice Rink, where the club has been holding league and practice nights, open houses and special events for all levels and abilities of curlers.

Stephen Hart, of Evergreen’s Wheelchair Curling Committee has been dedicated to promoting and supporting wheelchair curling. Hart said, "I quickly learned that wheelchair curling is a can-do sport for people wheelchair bound. Wheelchair curling is much like curling that people do that do not have physical disabilities."

Evergreen will be having a grand opening in late October for the club’s Beaverton location. ECC’s board has been working hard for their first season in the new facility. This location will be fully handicapped accessible for wheelchair curling and social functions. League nights and open houses for wheelchair curlers and people with disabilities are encouraged to try curling out. ;’;,’;,’

"This game has won me over and takes me away from concerning myself with Multiple Sclerosis," Hart said. "It’s a sport I can do and get better with. This year I took it to the Paralympic Wheelchair Curling Trials. I did not make it to the final set of skill shot trials, but that has not affected my game as I plan to keep trying."

Evergreen Curling Club is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) sports organization promotes community well-being for all ages and abilities, by promoting benefits from the sport of curling and its traditions of camaraderie, sportsmanship and team competition in a fun and welcoming environment. For more information about Wheelchair curling opportunities email: oregon.curling@tds.net or media inquiries contact: promotions@evergreencurling.com