The Optimist International Under-18 Curling Championships get underway Thursday evening at the Cloverdale and Langley curling clubs in Surrey and Langley BC, with teams from Canada, Japan, and the USA taking part, including the Jenny McLean and Tony Nabuurs rinks from PEI, winners of this year’s O’Connor Glass provincial Under 18 Curling Championships. The opportunity to go to the Optimist rotates among the four Atlantic provinces, and it’s PEI’s first-ever turn this year.
Photo (L-R): Lead: Emily Vaniderstein, 2nd Ava Whitney-Coulter, 3rd Lauren MacFadyen, Skip Jenny McLean, Coach Dr. Don Vickerson
Third Lauren MacFadyen, second stone Ava Whitney-Coulter, and lead Emily Vaniderstine. round out the McLean rink, from the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside. The team is coached by Dr. Don Vickerson.
Photo: Lead Noah O’Connor, 2nd Allan MacLean, 3rd Parker O’Connor, Skip Tony Nabuurs, Coach Glen MacLean
The Nabuurs foursome is a combined team with members from the Charlottetown Curling Complex, and the Montague and Maple Leaf curling clubs, and also includes third Parker O’Connor, second Alan MacLean, and lead Noah O’Connor, with coach Glen MacLean.
Click for round robin draw.
The finals go Sunday March 31 at 1:30 pm BC time (5:30 Atlantic)
In addition to the tournament, competitors will also have the opportunity to participate in a high performance development camp to focus on honing their skills. With the guidance of four international curling coaches, the curlers will work on team building skills and mental and physical prep before games.
The International U-18 Curling Championships is celebrating its thirteenth year as an event designed to promote youth curling. It attracts some of the best young curlers in the world, and many go on to compete at professional levels. Developed in 1999 by Bill Hans of the Calgary Youth Association, the event was first held in Calgary AB in 2001. The championships have also been held in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The event has featured notable curlers such as Chelsea Carey, Kaitlyn Lawes, Breanne Meakin, Tyler Samagalski and Charley Thomas.
Alumnus Rachel Homan of Ottawa won the 2013 Scotties Canadian Women’s Curling Championship in February and won a bronze medal Sunday at the World Women’s Curling Championships in Riga, Latvia.
Another past competitor, Corryn Brown, from the Kamloops Curling Club, recently won the 2013 Tim Hortons Junior Women’s BC Championship and competed for Team Canada at the 2013 Junior World Championships in Sochi, Russia.
The Langley Curling Club is one of the largest curling organizations in B.C. with more than 800 long-time and new curlers. The facility started out with only four sheets of ice in 1965 but later expanded to six sheets in 1990. The Cloverdale Curling Club has been home to the sport of curling in the Surrey community since 1954. The centre offers programs seven days a week for all levels of curlers, from young kids to seniors.
Live results: playdowns.com
Junior Men’s event: http://www.playdowns.com/curlbc/event.php?id_cmp=518&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+playdownsdotcom+%28Playdowns.com+-+Home+for+Curl+BC+playdown+results%29
Junior Women’s event: http://www.playdowns.com/curlbc/event.php?id_cmp=519&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+playdownsdotcom+%28Playdowns.com+-+Home+for+Curl+BC+playdown+results%29
Event website: www.u18curling.ca
Twitter @u18curling
Facebook www.facebook.com/u18curling.