Hurrying hard to tournaments
Junior girls team sets goal to sweep way to success
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, December 5, 2013
INUVIK
An Inuvik curling team is looking to sweep to success this month at two important tournaments.
The girl's junior curling team from Inuvik made up of Vanessa Lennie, left, Hilary Charlie, Karly King Simpson, Rayna Vittrekwa and Carina McKay-Saturnino (missing) is off to the Arctic Winter Games qualifier and territorial championships over the next two weeks. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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The team, coached by Nick Saturnino, has competed in the national under-18 championships three years running and the team members have set an ambitious goal of winning a national championship.
Team members include Carina McKay-Saturnino, Karly King Simpson, Hilary Charlie, Rayna Vittrekwa and Vanessa Lennie.
Coach Saturnino said they've decided to commit themselves to becoming national champions as they try to turn potential into reality.
The team members blushed a little at that, and needed some prompting from Saturnino to admit they had set the goal.
Each one brings different strengths and skills to the mix, which is one reason why they're successful, Charlie said.
She called herself the "mother" of the team.
"She looks after us," the others agreed.
Most of the team has played together for about five or six years, basically from the time they started getting serious about the game, they said.
Saturnino has coached them continuously during that period, along with some other coaches.
He said it's been a learning curve for all concerned, since he didn't know much more about curling than the team did when they started. He became involved since his daughter Carina is one of the team members.
He said that focus and hard work has been one of the keystones to their success. The team is the defending NWT Territorial Champions.
"The girls won the NWT Junior Ladies Territorial Championships last January in Yellowknife and participated in the 2013 Canadian Junior Championships in Fort McMurray, Alberta in January 2013," Saturnino said.
He's now working on keeping the members focused while three important tournaments approach.
"The girls will be travelling to Hay River Dec. 19 to 22 to attempt to defend their championship and represent the NWT at the Canadian Juniors in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, in January 2014.
"The girls will also be travelling to Hay River Dec. 12 to 15 to participate in the Arctic Winter Game trials. If successful, they will represent the NWT at the 2014 Arctic Winter Games in Fairbanks, Alaska, in March 2014."
Saturnino said Inuvik will be hosting the Canada Winter Games trial in February of 2014.
"The boys and girls winner will represent the NWT at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C.," he added.
