Curling tournament volunteers 'want to see the sport flourish'

When it comes to getting volunteers for any curling event locally, it’s generally an easy process.

With the Canadian Senior Curling Championship scheduled for early-December at the Community First Curling Centre, roughly 100 volunteers are in the mix for the annual event and they’re all in it for a similar reason.

“The attitude is they want to see this sport flourish,” said tournament chair Al Harnden. “A group of people makes that happen. We’ve got 100 volunteers for the event, and we had no problem finding people to fill roles. They don’t ask for anything either.”

Harnden summed up the willingness of the volunteers to help out by saying “I was just telling a few of the people that are host drivers that will be doing some shuttle driving, I let them know that they would be getting a little stipend for gas and the wear and tear on their vehicle. They didn’t really care if they got that. It was about being a participant and giving up their time and energy so this event could be successful.”

COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 event, which was to be held in Portage La Prairie, Man.

The 2021 event locally has received a multitude of support.

“The city has been very supportive,” Harnden said. “We’re hoping that in the future there are bigger events coming our way. What it says is, our volunteer base has no problem giving up their time and energy and they just say ‘yes.’ It’s become sort of a culture.”

“They care about our community, they care about our curling facility, and they care about the game,” Harnden added. “It’s just amazing. You ask them [to help out] and they just say ‘Yes, let’s do this.’”

The six-day event, which will feature 28 men’s and women’s teams from across the country, begins on Dec. 6 with round robin draws.

The event will run until Dec. 11 with gold and bronze medal games on both the women’s and men’s side set for 3:30 p.m.

All games will be played at the Community First Curling Centre.

The field stands to be an impressive one with a number of former Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Tim Horton’s Brier entries in the field.

“These are people that have played this game and loved this game for a long time,” Harnden said. “There are a lot of former Scotties and Brier competitors that are in the field and people that have won Olympic medals as well.”

“It’s a strong field, still not quite full yet,” Harnden added. “We’re waiting on Ontario and Manitoba to be filled.”

Harnden added that with the quality of teams in the field, “it should be a competitive week for sure.”

Among the teams that have earned spots in the six-day tournament already on the women’s side are Alberta’s Cheryl Bernard, who won a silver medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver as skip of Team Canada.

Saskatchewan will be represented by skip Sherry Anderson and her team from the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon. Anderson has represented Canada twice at the World Senior Curling Championship, winning back-to-back gold medals in 2018 and 2019.

Anderson also had a pair of medals from the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

The men’s field includes the likes of Terry Odishaw of New Brunswick, who is a four-time provincial champ in that province, as well as former Brier champion Francois Roberge of Quebec, who won a silver medal representing Team Canada at the 2006 World Championship as well.