I was 48 years old when I met my husband Gary. I had never curled before and was two years in remission from leukaemia. It had been a tough few years of not only going through a divorce but cancer treatment as well. I loved volleyball and baseball but had never tried curling.
Gary is an avid curler (pretty obsessed with it actually) and came from a long history of family of curlers. His father and 3 uncles were all curlers and had won bonspiels in the 1940’s, curling with straw kitchen brooms. Gary is a natural (learning to curl at a young age) and wanted to share his passion of curling with me. I fell in love with him and with curling. At the time, I curled out of the Kelowna Curling Club and took some lessons with the likes of Brad Kuhn. Our teams also had the opportunity to curl against teams such as Gerry Richards and Kelly Scott. One of the very first times I went out to practice, Gerry Richards called out to me that this wasn’t shuffleboard, as my rock bounced off the sideboard when it slid down the ice after my awful delivery. I was so embarrassed to say the least. With determination, I would go out with my husband on my lunch hours to the Kelowna Curling Club and he would help me practice skills he taught me as well as skills I learned at clinics. I became as obsessed with curling as my husband.
It’s going on 17 years since I stepped out onto the ice and now I coach school programs out of the Creston Curling Club and am on a Masters over 60+ ladies team – The Plante Team, that last year (2024) won the Interior Trophy in the British Columbia Masters Combined Championship. I am a co-chair for our new Wild Chicken Bonspiel, board member and volunteer in many forms at our club. I truly feel that curling opened up a whole new world for me and I love introducing it to others!!! I have met many new friends through curling and can’t think of a more social sport! I currently play approximately 4 times a week!
