National Team Program a boost to curlers
Funding, high-performance coaching and health consultation help add to Canada’s depth
WINNIPEG — Like all the other top skips in Canada, Casey Scheidegger is taking part in the Grand Slam’s Masters of Curling this week in Truro, N.S., competing for a healthy $125,000 purse.
Until the last couple of years, the closest she and her teammates ever came to such an elite event was watching on TV.
“In the past our focus was just playing in Alberta events and we used to watch the Grand Slams on TV and say how cool it would be to be there,” Scheidegger said in a telephone interview from Truro. “When it finally happened, it was really cool to be there. We’ve learned so much and we’re a far better team than we were before and a large part of that is due to the help we received.”
That help she’s talking about comes from her team’s involvement in Curling Canada’s National Team Program.
Scheidegger’s team, based in Lethbridge, Alta., is one of 15 across Canada (eight women’s and seven men’s) which have been included in the program this season. Another nine mixed doubles teams are involved as well.
The teams receive funding based on a tier system from Sport Canada, Own the Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee as well as access to things like high-performance coaching, sports science specialists and health and nutrition consultation.
For Scheidegger’s team, which includes third CaryAnne McTaggart, second Jessie Haughian and lead Kristie Moore, the funding and the access to coaching are the reason why they are even able to compete on the Grand Slam circuit.
“They’ve done a lot for us,” Scheidegger said. “I would say in all ways.
“For a team like us it’s super beneficial. The funding obviously helps and we’ve been able to come to places like Truro and Chatham, Ont., and Thunder Bay because of that assistance.”
The National Team Program is nothing new. It’s been around for years with the goal is to identify Canadian teams that have potential to represent the country internationally and support them in their quest to do so.
“Once the team that wins the Brier or the Scotties is now Team Canada, if it’s one of your national teams, at least you’ve had a good working relationship with them for the last few months,” said Jeff Stoughton, the new men’s coach of the National Team Program. “Then you sort of slip into a team leader role, because most of these teams have a coach already, and that role is to ensure that everything that goes on with World Curling Federation is smooth and everything is done properly for Team Canada.”
All the big names are part of the program, including twotime defending Brier champ Brad Gushue and Olympian Kevin Koe on the men’s side and current world champion Jennifer Jones and 2018 Olympian Rachel Homan on the women’s side.
It’s been a bit of an unusual year for Curling Canada. The country won it’s fair sure of international hardware — Jones won the women’s worlds, Gushue took the silver at the men’s worlds, Canada took gold at both the junior men’s and junior women’s worlds and the team of John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes won the gold medal in mixed doubles at the Olympics — but there was also a surprising lack of success in men’s and women’s curling at the Olympics in South Korea.
The National Team Program aims to keep Canada at the top of the world — and return it to the podium at the next Winter Olympics in China — over the next four years.
“It’s predominantly about an investment in an athlete or team’s next podium performance,” said Gerry Peckham, Curling Canada’s director of high performance.
That sits well with the curlers, who often have to take time off work and be away from their families for long periods of time in order to pursue the dream.
“Part of the National Team Program’s role is to keep us accountable, to make sure the Canadian teams under their wings are growing as much as possible,” said Mike McEwen, who throws fourth stones for the Reid Carruthers team out of Winnipeg.
“Hopefully, we’re setting the bar as far as international play is concerned. “It’s important to be involved in. It definitely helps with training and getting access to qualified people and information, sports psychologists and all sorts of programs that really help you grow as an athlete.”