Curling for gold
Team USA in championships
GREEN BAY - Penny Greely has traveled the world thanks to the sport of wheelchair curling.
Finland. Slovakia. Switzerland. Scotland. Korea. Russia.
“I’m very blessed,” said Greely, a Green Bay native. “Just meeting people from different countries, especially in curling, the camaraderie between teammates and different countries and bringing us all together, to me is so amazing.
“These are the same people I see every year. Same people that you hug and embrace and share stories with about their lives and how we curl. It’s wonderful. And then to get to see the countries on top of it is just a huge bonus.”
Greely, 45, will return to Korea when Team USA competes at the 2017 World Wheelchair Curling Championship March 4-11 in Gangneung, South Korea.
They have already secured a spot at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, which also will be held in South Korea.
Greely tends to get uncomfortable when the focus is on her, preferring to talk about her teammates and the sport she was introduced to in 2010.
She loves how curling requires chemistry with teammates and how everyone must trust and rely on each other in order to have success.
“When you’re on ice and you are talking about strategy and you are communicating weights and debating certain shots to make sure they are the correct shots, you have to put a lot of trust in your skip,” Greely said. “But he in turn has got to be open to suggestions. We have that on our team. We have great communication.
“We call ourselves a curling family, because they are my brothers on the ice.”
She points to the sacrifices of teammate Kirk Black, who moved his family from San Antonio, Texas, to Madison for the winters to be in the same city as the team’s coach, Steve Brown.
Greely’s other teammates, including Steve Ernt (Andover, Conn.), James Joseph (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Justin Marshall (Evansville), have put in countless hours to increase the sport’s exposure and represent the country.
The team recently captured gold at the Finnish International Wheelchair Open in Lohja, Finland, going 5-1 to win the Kisakallio Cup title.
Greely has seen a lot of changes over the past six years. She has gone from being on a team that hoped to win to one that expects it.
This was the first year Team USA won an international competition.
Greely has never been on a team that’s earned a medal at the World Championships. Team USA finished sixth last season and hasn’t placed higher than fourth in any of her five trips.
That could change next month.
“I think Finland set the bar for us,” Greely said. “We really believe that once we go to the Worlds that we are going to do well.”
It might have been difficult for Greely to imagine being in this position.
She won a bronze medal in sitting volleyball at the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games. She played wheelchair basketball after that and kept up a bit with volleyball, but her team was scattered throughout the country, and there wasn’t a club team in Green Bay.
Greely all but retired at that point, eventually getting married and helping raise her stepson.
But the competitive itch returned.
Once she started curling, Greely was determined to go the whole way just like she did in volleyball.
Greely didn’t know anything about the sport when she threw her first stone. She knew there were brooms and sweeping, but had no idea when it came to the strategy or how it was played. Greely didn’t even realize the Green Bay Curling Club was just a few miles from where she lived at the time.
Still, it wasn’t something Greely felt she couldn’t pick up or excel in. All these years later, it turns out she was correct. As for the future? “I never know what each year brings,” she said. “My ultimate goal right now is to get that medal in the Paralympics, and of course the World Championships.
“I’m taking one year at a time. I could be a lifer, I don’t know. We will see.”