Thompson hopes to be back at Scotties
Stephanie Thompson’s first trip to the Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts was a long time coming and yet far too brief.
The Peterborough Curling Club alumnus is hopeful it won’t be her last.
The 27-year-old competed in many provincial championships as a PCC junior and at Western and Trent universities. She was part of the Western Mustangs OUA championship women’s foursome in 2013.
But it wasn’t until this season Thompson qualified at the women’s level as the second for Unionville’s Katelyn Wasylkiw.
Thompson now lives in Markham where she runs her own business as a strength and conditioning coach after graduating with kinesiology and teaching degrees. She joined Wasylkiw’s team last season.
They competed at the Scotties this past week at the Whitby Curling Club, going 0-3 to finish the triple-knockout event on Friday.
Thompson knew Wasylkiw from playing with her sister Lauren Wasylkiw as a junior. Lauren is now the vice for Katelyn and Katrina Collins the lead. They won the C draw at a Scotties qualifier in St. Thomas to reach the provincials. It was an exciting moment for Thompson.
“It meant a lot. It was a lot of years of hard work,” she said.
Despite the early exit, she enjoyed the experience.
“It’s nice to play with a team where everyone gets along,” she said.
“It was nice to experience that with them and play against all the other teams we see all year long and compete against them in such a competitive environment. All nine teams were trying to get to the same goal.”
Thompson said they ended up with a tough draw.
“We were matched up against three of the top teams. For us to go bang-bang-bang sucks but we played really good teams. We feel like if it had been a round-robin we might have still been able to get in (to the playoffs) with three losses. We played all the games pretty close but feel we would have come out with better results in a roundrobin.”
Thompson’s hope is the team will stick together and build off this experience.
“We haven’t thought that far ahead. Next year I’m sure some teams will be mixed up because it’s the start of a new Olympic cycle so there might be some shifting. We seem happy right now and have good team dynamics,” she said.
She says she has a good balance between her work life and curling schedule. In fact, many of her clients are curlers.
“The benefit of running your own business is I can make my own schedule,” she said.
“It’s a challenge for a lot of the men and women because there is no money in it. You’re not in it for the money. There is some sponsorship for the very top teams but not enough to survive on. Most people have some sort of work situation that can be flexible.”
Thompson is also playing mixed doubles with her fiancee Matt Lowe who is also from Markham. They first met at the Trillium Curling Camp more than six years ago. They’ve twice been to the Ontario mixed doubles championship together and will soon begin playdowns. She also qualified for provincials one other time with another partner. Their best finish, she said, was last year when they placed in the middle of the pack of 32 teams in a triple-knockout format.
The benefit of running your own business is I can make my own schedule. It’s a challenge for a lot of the men and women because there is no money in it. You’re not in it for the money. There is some sponsorship for the very top teams but not enough to survive on. Most people have some sort of work situation that can be flexible.” Stephanie Thompson