Corey Fairbanks, sending his rock down the ice Tuesday, says wheelchair curling is a "higher-skilled game than the able-bodied game."
Corey Fairbanks, sending his rock down the ice Tuesday, says wheelchair curling is a "higher-skilled game than the able-bodied game." (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
 
The Denver Curling Club hopes its members will reach the Olympics someday. And the Paralympics too.

Wheelchair curlers Corey Fairbanks and Pam Wilson recently returned from national team tryouts, where they made the top eight.

"Our goal is to become one of the top five that gets to compete at the world championships and at the Paralympic level," Fairbanks said. "Both of us have been curling for a little over a year, but since this facility opened (in October), we have said we have officially been curling for two months. To be selected to the top eight, and really had never been on dedicated ice before a couple months ago, really says a lot about our potential."

In wheelchair curling, there are no sweepers.

"You've got to be a lot more accurate with your shots; you've got to be more precise," Fairbanks said. "I think it's a higher-skilled game than the able-bodied game."