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Saturday, November 2, 2013

GB Wheelchair Curlers win third medal of the season

 

GB Wheelchair Curlers win third medal of the season

Great Britain has returned from the 7th Annual Canadian Open Wheelchair Bonspiel in Richmond, B.C., with a silver medal.

GB represented the only international entry in the competition this year but the standard of play was high, with their opponents including the current World Champions and five provincial teams.
A six game round robin was used to determine playoff positions and GB finished atop the standings with a 5-1 record which qualified them for the championship final against Team Alberta.

After regulation play the score was tied 4-4 and a draw to the button was used to determine the winner. Team Alberta threw first and delivered their stone to the T line, only 17 cm from the tee. Aileen Neilson delivered the final attempt at victory for GB but came up just short of the Alberta stone’s measurment.

Winning silver at this competition means GB claim their third medal of the season, adding to two previous gold medals from Denmark and Kinross.

The team will now spend four weeks training back in the UK before heading back to North America to compete in Ottawa, Ontario and then Utica, New York.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

UPDATED - Team Alberta beats Scotland in a draw to the button to win RCD


The final results are in and here is what they said:


The official results are:

Frist Place                 Alberta

Second Place            Scotland

Third Place                Canada

Fourth Place              BC

Fifth Place                  Edmonton Rocks

Sixth Place                 RCD

Seventh Place           BOSQ


It was a 5 -5 tie when a draw to the button would determine the outcome of the RCD Bonspiel in Richmond. Alberta would out draw Scotland to win!

Day 1

 Draw 1

BC defeated RCD

Scotland defeated BOSQ

Alberta defeated Canada

Draw 2

Scotland defeated Canada

Edmonton defeated Alberta

BC defeated BOSQ

 
Day 2

Draw 3

Edmonton defeated BC

Scotland defeated RCD

Alberta defeated BOSQ

 
Draw 4

Alberta defeated Scotland

Canada defeated BOSQ

RCD defeated Edmonton

 
Draw 5

Edmonton vs BOSQ

Alberta vs BC

RCD vs Canada

 
Draw 6

BOSQ vs RCD

Canada vs Edmonton

BC vs Scotland

 

Draw 7

Canada vs BC

Alberta vs RCD

Scotland vs Edmonton

 
Tony Zummack | Head Coach Wheelchair Curling

sportscotland institute of sport | Airthrey Road | Stirling | FK9 5PH



Congratulations to Team Alberta and thank you to Ella and Vince from the RCD for helping us out with the results.

Remember regardless of how big or small your event may be if you send the wheelchair curling result in we will make sure it gets posted to the world.

Promote yourself, your event and the sport....help us get the word out!

Wheelchair Curling: Sharing skills and building friendships in Boucherville

 

Friday, 25 October 2013 - Posted by Jean Mills
When members of the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Team journeyed to Boucherville, Que., Oct. 3-6 for a weekend on the ice with 2013 Canadian champions, Team Quebec, the focus was on training techniques and skill-sharing, but it was also on building strong connections among high-performance wheelchair curlers across Canada.

AWAD Canada Quebec weekend cropped
Players, coaches and staff of Team Quebec and the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Team on the ice at the Boucherville Curling Club (Photo courtesy Wendy Morgan)
 
The reigning world champion National Team contingent – Jim Armstrong, Dennis Thiessen, Ina Forrest, Sonja Gaudet and Mark Ideson, as well as coach Joe Rea, Team Leader Wendy Morgan and Mental Performance Consultant Dr. Laura Farres – used this opportunity to firm up team positions and continue pre-Paralympic training (the final team will be announced in November), as well as to showcase their skills and share their knowledge and experience with the Canadian champions.
Team Quebec – skip Benoit Lessard, third Carl Marquis, second Sebastien Boisvert, lead Johanne Daly and coach Germain Tremblay – won the national championship last March at the RA Centre in Ottawa, defeating Team B.C. with a decisive 10-2 score. Their weekend on and off the ice with Team Canada at the Boucherville Curling Club allowed them to show off their skills too, something that Morgan says is part of the National Team’s goals for identifying and developing elite wheelchair curlers across the country.

“Even though we won all of the games and some quite handily,” she said about the four games that took place on the ice Friday and Saturday, “the competition was great. Quebec played well and have unlimited potential, but the National Team simply got stronger as the weekend went on.”

Quebec’s Lessard admitted that although he was eager to learn how the world champions prepare and perform in a game situation, he also wanted to see how well his own team could compete.
“I won’t lie,” he said. “We also wanted to know where we stand against them. Turns out we still have lots to learn. These guys are so good and well organized. But we are on the right track.”
Identifying talented curlers is on the National Team agenda – Lessard is training with the national team as an alternate – and the Quebec players were able to benefit from the dialogue with Morgan, Rea and the other athletes. The goal is to nurture overall improved performance down the road for teams representing their province or territory at the national level.

“As a team I think we all got better-defined goals for the season and beyond,” said Lessard. “It is not only a one-year thing. Experience can’t be bought.”

As well as competition on the ice, the weekend included sessions on mental skills, practice planning, game-plan development and national-team protocols. Rea, as the national team coach, made observations and suggestions to the Quebec foursome, and according to Morgan, both teams benefited from their willingness to share and receive feedback.

“It was an opportunity to continue to develop our Canadian athletes,” said Morgan. “Nothing that the national team does was off limits to share with Team Quebec.”

Boisvert, Benoit Lessard and Johanne Daly (CCA Photo)
Sebastien Boisvert, Benoit Lessard and Johanne Daly (CCA Photo)

For Lessard, one of the highlights was sharing the house with Armstrong, even though Team Quebec came up short on the scoreboard.

“Skipping games against Jim with team Quebec was a great experience since we rarely have the chance to play against them,” he said. “I wish I had called better games, but losing can be a good thing if you learn from it. And I did.”

Morgan says the weekend also allowed players and staff to develop a stronger relationship, a benefit with which Lessard agrees.

“Most important, everyone had the chance to get to know one another,” he said about the connection forged between players and coaches on both teams during the weekend sessions. “We made friends.”
Team Quebec isn’t the only team benefiting from the interaction with Canada’s high-performance wheelchair curling athletes and coaches, however. In preparation for the Cathy Kerr Memorial Bonspiel taking place Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 at the RA Centre in Ottawa, Team Ontario will be spending some time on the ice with the National Team “to hone their skills,” said Morgan.

“[Team Ontario] is looking to delve into the national team process to enhance their game,” she added.
Canada holds the current World and Paralympic titles, and Morgan said Canada is in “great shape” heading into the next quadrennial. The strength of the Canadian wheelchair curling program means that the national team knew the weekend in Boucherville with Team Quebec would be beneficial, without having to travel abroad to find games.

“We felt we could continue to develop our Canadian athletes and teams and still get meaningful competition, by staying in Canada,” said Morgan. “It was very rewarding from a big picture perspective.”