Competitive curling at the highest levels on P.E.I. is going through some tough times as far as the number of competitive teams.

Only five rinks have entered this year’s provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts that will determine P.E.I.’s representative at the Canadian women’s curling championship in February.

With the entry deadline being less than a week away, only five teams have registered thus far for the provincial Tankard men’s championship.

A lot of time, effort, commitment and money goes into playing the game with the best, and that is a big part of the reason for the low participation levels. Only rarely do P.E.I. teams compete with the best teams in the country, and when one does the math on what it takes, things sometimes do not add up.

How does an Island team compete with a team like the Brad Jacobs’ rink that will represent Canada at the Sochi Olympics?

Click for full column in the Journal Pioneer

[Note that this is an opinion/editorial column in a local newspaper, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Curl PEI/PEICurling.com]