14 years ago one teacher changed my life by introducing the sport of curling to me, the day when I first stepped on the ice I knew I was in love. I used to live in a small town called sayward valley and the closest rink was in Campbell River an hour drive from where we lived. I started at the age of 6 along with my older brother although I was small and could barely move the rock I never gave up practicing 2 time a week. once I finally was able to stand on my own gripper and slider my family travelled all over Vancouver Island To allow me and my brother to play in junior bonspiels we won some and we lost most but we never gave up!
Fast forwards 4 years our family moved to Campbell River to be closer to town so that me and my brother can pursue better education and take on curling at a more serious level, I started curling in the adult leagues at the age of 10 with older family friends they took me under their wings and gave me the confidence to keep playing aside from all bullies in school who said curling wasn’t a sport. Although those kids made it hard for me to love the sport I kept playing and getting better and people started to know me, my teacher who coached Mr. Don Pennel retired from coaching the junior program and the last thing he told me was to never give up.
I than travelled further to curl from the comox valley rink finding a team of older kids and they talked about play downs once and they told me how fun it was to make friends with the other teams and to compete at a higher level, and I was younger so I waited a few years and found a team I had a common goal with. The time finally came where we competed in junior BC curling tour being in high school while competing was hard but having my teammates live 3 hours away was harder, traveling every weekend to practice and compete while making education a priority.
Team S. Brissette and Team M4 I poured my heart out for 3 years into CurlBC high performance program while completing post secondary school we were so happy no matter the score and after competing in the 2022 u21 provincials and being awarded the most sportsmanlike and had a quite ending to the 2022 season I decided to step away from junior curling, focusing on my career as a dental assistant and issues with my knee came into play I took it easy missing out on last season of my junior eligibility.
After almost a year and off of curling I went back found a Tuesday night team and became a regular again but as I walked off one night my old coach went on to practice and something clicked! I reached out that night to the new junior program coach to volunteer, Took the club coaching seminar the next month and now I help coach the junior program every week on top of extra practice time I do with 1 girl who reminds me of myself so young and new to the sport and the passion she has drives me to be a better coach every day. I took her and her team to there very first junior bonspeil on Saturday February 3rd, 2024 as cold as it is when they smile I smile and cheered for them and encouraged them to do the best they can. These girls so new got 3rd placed and I cried with them as they picked out there pancake batter and hair brushes prizes from the table.
If I were to win this contest I would take the girl I coach who reminds me of myself and I would explain that she could be in an area like this.
From coached to coach I pour my heart into this sport for life no matter what
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