The Wheelchair Curling Blog

Those of you who follow wheelchair curling will know of the wheelchaircurling.com website and the associated Wheelchair Curling Blog. The blog has been one of the sites I check every day. For six years now, Eric Eales has had his fingers on the pulse of this branch of our sport. I am sorry to learn that Eric has posted for the last time, and although the sites remain online for archive purposes, Eric has confirmed he will not be posting again. His last post is here.

Eric began the website as a forum for his ideas about how the sport might grow to become a viable winter recreation choice for Canadian wheelchair users. It soon became much more than this. Not least, Eric became the sport's unofficial archivist.

Eric was instrumental in organising the first ever international cashspiel for wheelchair curlers in 2005, which the Great Britain squad attended. Although he was not able to compete himself, he championed the sport at every turn, and he wasn't afraid to state his views, even if these did not always prove popular with those in power.

For example, he wrote to me yesterday, "I fear Paralympics inclusion has on balance been destructive to the viability of the sport. It has cemented a format unsuitable for wheelchair participation as well as providing a rationale for governing bodies to spend most of their resources on a handful of privileged 'high performance' athletes at the expense of attempting to offer curling to general wheelchair users in the same way as clubs, at least here in Canada, offer the experience to the general public.

No-one outside of an elite group of wealthy sponsors, high performance coaches, governing bureaucrats and the high performance athletes and their immediate families, cares about medals for more than a couple of weeks per quadrennial - what a waste when with support of community coaches all wheelchair users could be given a reason to get out of the house in the winter."

Eric was supportive about the structures we have here in Scotland, citing particularly the activities of the South Lanarkshire WCC, and often was talking about things over here, even before I was aware of them!

Wheelchair curling needs a voice. Thank you Eric for all you have done to promote the sport and every wish for success in whatever you turn your energies to now.

Qualifiers for World Wheelchair Curling Championship

Slovakia and Italy have won through the World Wheelchair Qualification event in the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland.

It is the first time that a team from Slovakia has qualified for the world finals. The story is here. And there are lots of photos here and here.

Slovakia and Italy will join Canada, Scotland, Norway, Russia, China, Korea, USA and Sweden who have already qualified for the World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2012 based on the final ranking at the 2011 event. The Scottish squad (Aileen Neilson, skip, Tom Killin, Gregor Ewan, Angie Malone, Michael McKenzie) were runners-up to Canada then.

The 2012 competition will be held at the Uiam Ice Rink, Chuncheon City, South Korea, February 18-25. This championship will be the second opportunity for nations to gather qualification points for the Wheelchair Curling Competition at the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.

Wheelchair Curling Performance

The selections for the 2011-2012 Wheelchair Performance Programme have been announced today, see here. The eight are Aileen Neilson, Tom Killin, Angie Malone, Gregor Ewan, Michael McCreadie, Jim Gault, Ian Donaldson and Gill Keith.

Good to see Michael McCreadie, below, back in the top group after a year out.

Photo of Michael is from the Scottish Wheelchair Curling Championship at Curl Aberdeen and is © Skip Cottage.

Silver Wheels Home

Here are the World Silver Medallists at Edinburgh Airport tonight, safely back from Prague. Congratulations again to (L-R) Aileen Neilson, Mike McKenzie, Gregor Ewan, Sheila Swan (coach), Tom Killin, Angie Malone. Click the pic to see it larger.

And there was a surprise for Tom awaiting him at the airport. His daughter Shona had news for him. He's going to be a grandfather! Congratulations to both.

Photos © Skip Cottage

Scottish team announced for World Wheelchair Curling Championship

The team which will represent Scotland at the World Wheelchair Curling Championship, in Prague, February 22 - to March 1, was announced yesterday. The members are Gregor Ewan, Tom Killin, Angie Malone, Michael McKenzie and Aileen Neilson. How the team will line up remains to be decided. The full press release can be found here. Tom, Angie and Aileen are experienced competitors at this level, but it will be a new experience for Gregor and Michael. I wish the whole team every success.

There's no word who the coach will be. Tom Pendreigh's contract at the sportscotland Institute of Sport expires this month, and apparently interviews for the Team Coaches jobs are still ongoing, see my Editorial here.

At Prague, ten mixed gender teams will compete. The Czech Republic, as the host nation, has a place. China and Russia came through the qualifying competition in Lohja, Finland. Seven qualified from the last world wheelchair curling championships: Canada, Sweden, Germany, USA, Scotland, Korea and Norway.

At this season's world event, teams will gain qualification points for the next Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi.

Wheelchair Curling Squad for 2010-11

If you have an interest in wheelchair curling, you will enjoy Eric Eales' stimulating thoughts on the future of that branch of the sport, see here. Eric argues for a complete rethink on how the sport is structured.

And talking about wheelchair curling, I note that our Wheelchair Curling Squad has been announced and has gone up, quietly, on the RCCC website, here.

The individual athletes selected to the Wheelchair Curling Squad for Season 2010-11 are: Gregor Ewan, Jim Gault, Tom Killin, Rosemary Lenton, Angie Malone, Michael McKenzie, Aileen Neilson and Jim Sellar.

One name is missing from the list, GB Paralympic skip, Michael McCreadie. He says, "I have decided to take a season out of international competition and re-assess next season."

Michael admits that the last couple of years have been difficult and his enjoyment of the game has been affected. Nonetheless, he says, "I hope to enjoy again the sport that has given me so much fun and a little success. Good luck to the new squad."

Michael remains involved with the Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association, which is a good thing. His experience of the sport, and commitment to it, are too important to be lost. And hopefully we will see him on the ice again soon, playing with renewed enthusiasm.

Photo of Michael is © Skip Cottage and is from a British Curling Media Day at The Peak, Stirling, in 2009, which was organised by Mike Haggerty (British Curling's media officer) and Katriona Bush (sportscotland's corporate media adviser).

Wheels on Wednesday

With so much going on, I've been remiss in not tidying up the Paralympics wheelchair curling from Vancouver. You will no doubt know that the gold medals went to Canada’s Jim Armstrong and his team who held off a late rally from Korea’s Haksung Kim in front of just under 5,000 cheering fans.

Sweden beat USA for the bronze, despite not having their fourth player. I'll just state the official position from the WCF press release: "Yesterday during a Press Conference the Swedish Chef de Mission Hans Safstrom stated that Glenn Ikonen the fourth player on the Swedish Team who committed a possible anti-doping rule violation would not be able to compete for two years. At the request of the Swedish Paralympic Committee a hearing was held last evening with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in Whistler. This hearing was adjourned to enable the athlete to provide further information. His provisional suspension/disqualification remains in place until further notice."

Team GB finished with a record of just three wins from their nine games. However, there were memorable times off the ice.

Michael McCreadie carried the flag for Team GB at the Opening Ceremony.

HRH Prince Edward visited with the team and was supportive and knowledgeable. He is a patron of the British Paralympics Association.

Every athlete received a personal welcome card from local schoolchildren. One asked if the team would visit and they organised this on their day off! L-R: Tom Killin, Aileen Neilson, Angie Malone, Jim Sellar and Michael McCreadie.

What now for the team and their coach? It is interesting to read Tom Pendreigh's thoughts in this article.

Photos courtesy of Tom Pendreigh

More Wheels

The Wheelchair International has been running alongside the Scottish Championship AB games at Perth. A round robin is the simple format for this inaugural event. Above are the top-of-the-table Norwegians.

The scores and standings are here.

Ian Donaldson. Angela Higson is his buddy, and Jackie Cayton is watching.

Germany in action

Gregor Ewan, and two of Team Germany

Germany v Norway

Team Switzerland surveys a full head of granite, with Jim Gault coming down the ice.

A Swiss mascot, appropriately named, 'Blue Elephant'. Coo would be thrilled!

Pics by Bob

More International Wheels

Sweden v Switzerland in the international wheels event today. The results are here.

Switzerland

Murray Cran skipping Scotland 2.

And tonight's caption competition! Aileen Neilson and Michael McCreadie from Team GB. "Now Aileen. How many fingers do you see?"

Pics by Bob

International Wheels at Perth

It was a busy morning at the Dewar's Centre as the International Wheelchair competition got underway alongside the Columba Cream Scottish Ladies' Championship. Above, Team Norway's skip Rune Lorentsen delivers.


Aileen Neilson was playing last stones for Team GB, here with Angie Malone as her 'buddy'.
Find the results here.

Wheels now at Stirling

Stirling welcomes wheelchair curlers on to the ice. The elite have been using the facility since it opened. That's Jim Sellar in the photo above, a member of the GB wheelchair curling squad, practising at the rink. And last Thursday, The Peak hosted the launch of Stirling’s wheelchair curling section. The section is being run by Active Stirling and plans are in place for it to become an established club in season 2010-11.

Twelve wheelchair curlers took to the ice, ten of whom only started this year. During the first session, some curlers were shown the basics, while the more experienced players learned from Scottish wheelchair curling champion Jim Taylor (below). Jim was on hand to share some of his tips and secrets with the new curlers. Also coaching was elite wheelchair curling coach Judy Mackenzie who was recently coaching the Scottish Wheelchair Team in Norway.

Active Stirling Curling Development Officer Logan Gray was pleased with the launch day. He said, “This is a great start to wheelchair curling in Stirling. I hope it continues to grow into a successful club where wheelchair users can fully appreciate the social aspects of curling.”

Sessions will run on Thursdays from 2pm-4pm and any wheelchair user is invited to come along and try their hand at the sport. For more information contact Logan Gray at Active Stirling on 01786 432345.

Jim Taylor competing in the British Open at Kinross recently.

Other wheelchair curling news. The Star Refrigeration Wheelchair Curling National Pairs is on at Braehead this weekend. Nineteen pairs playoff in four sections. The draw can be downloaded from here. I note that Jim Taylor is on first at 5.30pm on Friday (October 30) against Paul Webster. The semis are at 1pm and the final is at 2.45pm on Sunday, November 1.

Photos © Skip Cottage

Wheels roll for new season

On my recent trip to The Peak in Stirling, I caught up with two of the members of the GB wheelchair curling squad, Jim Sellar and Rosemary Lenton, on the ice practising. Both are in the team which will represent GB in the international event at Taarnby, Copenhagen, this weekend.

The GB team lineup for the Danish event is Tom Killin, Angie Malone, Jim Sellar, Rosemary Lenton and Gregor Ewan, with coach Tom Pendreigh. They will compete against teams from Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic, two teams from Norway, two from Finland and two teams from the host nation, Denmark.

There doesn't seem to be a website for the event, but if I find one, or learn the results I'll post them here. I'll also be keeping my eye on wheelchaircurling.com where Eric Eales is usually on the pulse of this branch of the sport. There is a list of international wheelchair curling events here.

(Added later: The draw and results can be found here.)

I note that Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association had a training weekend at Curl Aberdeen last weekend. Some eighteen wheelchair curlers took part.

Scotland's wheelchair curling clubs are listed here.

It is good to see Angie Malone back on the ice, having battled back from serious illness. Angie is a member of the GB Paralympic Squad, alongside Tom Killin, Rosemary Lenton, Michael McCreadie, Aileen Neilson and Jim Sellar. This training squad has yet to be reduced to five members in a similar process to the GB able-bodied teams.

Final selection of the team for the Vancouver Paralympics, March 12-21, will take place in December, subject to ratification by the British Paralympic Association.

And last but not least, many congratulations to Jim Taylor whose fundraising efforts I trailed here. By all accounts the challenge match against David Murdoch was a great success, see here. And more than double the original target has been raised, the money going towards the Glasgow Hospice Big Build appeal. You can still contribute here.

Top photo: Rosemary Lenton is delivering with Jim Sellar as her 'buddy'. © Skip Cottage