St Catharines Golf and Curling Club is celebrating their 150th anniversary this year. So, when I initially went through the front door and saw the trophies and old pictures, I realized the history this club possesses. It was a little daunting when I approach this club to see if it would be interested in starting a wheelchair curling program that would help the disability community within Niagara.
This beautiful club is the ONLY fully wheelchair accessible curling facility in Niagara. It was my first choice to start my wheelchair curling program and I made a verbal request for a meeting with the ice maker to see if the club might be interested. My first meeting with Chris Poulouski was very welcoming and I found the club very interested in helping me with my sport vision. The elitist persona that I was expecting from this club, was no where to be found. My request was NOT met with apprehension of wheelchairs coming onto the pebbled ice surface but instead they ask ME, “What are wheelchair curlers needing to access the ice and enjoy the game at our club?” That change in mindset really showed me that this club was all about allowing ALL members of their community to enjoy the game, enjoy the social aspect of the game and allow ALL members of the Niagara community to enjoy their facility.
Here are just a few examples of how they helped with my curling vision.
• a permanent wheelchair ramp was built to access the ice.
• push button automatic door that allows wheelchair users full access to ice
• purchase two special curling sticks/heads for all the new wheelchair curlers.
• hosted a 2 day Try Wheelchair Curling Event at the end of the Curling Season in 2022
Wheelchair curling is almost identical to able body curling, except wheelchair curlers must.
• clean all wheel before accessing the ice.
• throw rocks directly from their chair.
• Lock/secure wheels before rock delivery
• use a longer curling delivery stick.
• use a special pivot head to engage the stone curl.
**No Sweeping means full wheelchair teams NEED to be so precise with weight/delivery and on broom. “Reading the ice” is much more important in wheelchair curling. One of the best aspects of Wheelchair curling is, it is a VERY inclusive sport as wheelchair curlers are able to blend almost seamlessly into an able body team.**
*Downside is the able body team loses a sweeper, but if you have an accommodating skip then the skip can give the wheelchair user instruction on where to hold the broom for shot alignment.
In closing, if you come to recognise that 27% of Canadians has some sort of disability that limit their daily activity at some point in their life.
With that statement realized, you have to assume at some point in your life you ARE GOING to have a body limitation. If we make our communities more accommodating to these life challenges, then ALL of us will WIN!
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