U15 girls prepping for competition
Curlers have three bonspiels set for this year with eye to Arctic Winter Games and Canada Winter Games
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, October 27, 2016
INUVIK
The four girls making up Inuvik's U15 curling team love competition and are looking forward to a packed schedule.
Mataya Gillis sends the rock down the ice. She's been curling for three years. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo
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"We're going to go to lots of tournaments this year," said Tyanna Bain, 13.
She's been curling since she was in Grade 3 but hasn't had much tournament experience because there weren't many other curlers her age. She got started with the team last year.
Teammate Andreane Gagnon, 13, has been curling since Grade 4.
"When we moved up to Inuvik I found that they had a curling club," she said.
"I saw these girls were going to make a team so I decided to join them, and we're going to go to a bunch of tournaments this year and it's going to be really fun."
Mataya Gillis, 12 but soon to be 13, has been playing for only three years, starting when Gagnon's family moved to town.
She managed to participate in a competition against adults last year.
"It was pretty cool beating some of them," she smiled.
The three girls plus Paris Wainman are looking forward to this year's tournament season.
The first one is scheduled in Yellowknife in November, with another late in the same month in Alberta. Then they plan on attending a junior ladies championships in Yellowknife in December. For all these trips, the team has to raise funds.
"Any time they get to play games against their peers they get valuable playing experience," said Coach Nick Saturnino.
"Going to an event in Alberta (and) playing against other U15s, which they don't get to do here on a regular basis, is very important. However, there's a huge cost to sending a team to Alberta, so there's continuous fundraising."
The girls also dream of competing in the 2018 Arctic Winter Games and the 2019 Canada Winter Games. They're 18 months away from qualifying events for the CWG.
"They don't have much time to prepare and get to where they need to be performance-wise to be able to qualify," said Saturnino.
A U11 girls team is also fundraising and hopes to attend the territorial skills championships in February 2017.
