Carey rink adds five-time champion
Calgary skip adds five-time national champ Overton-Clapham to the lineup
A curling rink is only as good as the sum of its parts and this season sees a new, rather significant one for Chelsea Carey.
The Calgary skip, on the heels of retirement by her third Amy Nixon after last season, has added Cathy Overton-Clapham to that position, replacing Nixon’s wealth of experience and success with something similar.
“We’re really excited about it,” said Carey. “Obviously, Cathy’s a great player. She’s been that for a long time. She’s also got the best resume as kind of a spare that there probably is out of anyone, walking into slams on new teams, making finals and winning. It seemed like the obvious choice.
“She’s so experienced and knowledgeable that she fits right in really seamlessly.”
The Carey foursome — including second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Laine Peters — continues on that path of familiarization this weekend when they’ll compete in the 2017 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Classic at the Calgary Curling Club, the 40th edition of the event that gets underway Friday.
Joining Carey is a who’s who of elite Canadian rinks, including world champ Rachel Homan of Ottawa, defending Olympic gold-medallist Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, the 2017 Grand Slam of Curling Tour Challenge champ Val Sweeting of Edmonton and defending Autumn Gold winner Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge.
Carey is one of seven rinks taking part that have already qualified for the Canadian Olympic trials, which will take place in December. It’s one of the main reasons she coveted the experience offered by fellow Manitoban OvertonClapham, a five-time national champ playing with skips Connie Laliberte and Jones.
“It’s an overwhelming process,” Carey, originally from Winnipeg, said. “The whole trials thing is a lot to take in and a lot to handle, so that played a factor for sure. She can help us prepare. She’s played in more trials than any of us have, so we can draw on her experience so it doesn’t add to our plates.
“Especially with a new player, that throws a bit of a loop into your planning, so we’re playing more than we probably would have otherwise. You need to get each other figured out and get some systems of communication in place and that’s starting to happen. We’ve played three events now and we’re starting to feel it kind of settling in and everyone’s figuring each other out.”
The Roar of the Rings Olympic curling trials are the focal point on everyone’s calendar and Carey, the 2016 Canadian champ and bronze medallist in 2017, has a good idea what it will take to emerge from a large talented pool of teams.
“A lot of it is about rest and recovery and going into the trials in the best mental and physical shape you can be,” she began. “You don’t want to play like crazy and be tired when you get there. You have to really manage that schedule.
“There’s a whole lot of elements that go into it. All the teams will be preparing similarly. Then it become about, to me, who can do the best job of staying present in the moment as often as possible. That’s how you perform and play well. Where you get into trouble is starting to think about consequences and what’s on the line and that’s really easy to do.”
She knows of what she speaks, having taken part at the last trials.
“I remember our mental trainer putting us through exercises that were designed to make us uncomfortable on purpose,” Carey recalled. “The idea was embrace that. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable because you’re going to be uncomfortable. There’s no way around it. It’s such a huge event, there’s so much on the line, it’s not a pleasant feeling a lot of the times. Once you get used to that, it makes it a lot easier.
“I’ve always believed there’s an element of fate to it. When I look back at the Scotties we won, you can find two or three times where you got a break that you wouldn’t normally get. Those things have to happen for you to win.”
Which brings us to this weekend’s Autumn Gold and a rehearsal of sorts for what is to come.
“We’ve made a few tweaks and changes, some of Cathy’s ideas, and incorporated those,” said Carey. “It’s a new overall way of doing things and we’re looking to build on that.”