RANKIN INLET
A pair of instructional clinics for junior- and senior-aged curlers were held in Rankin Inlet this past week.

Donalda Mattie was one of the instructors to deliver both junior and senior curling instructional clinics in Rankin Inlet. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

The clinics were delivered by the Turning Point Curling School of Antigonish, N.S., and hosted by Rankin's Qavik Curling Club.

Instructor Donalda Mattie organized the two clinics with Rankin club president Angela Dale.

Mattie said she met Dale during a national event.

She said Dale was coaching the Nunavut girl's team and she was asked to coach the territory's male junior team.

"We had lots of discussions after we met and decided to undertake some ventures in an attempt to increase the curling community here," said Mattie. "I was in Rankin this past year to deliver a coaching clinic with six adult participants. Angela (Dale) is a real go-getter in this curling community, and she's trying hard to build the capacity of the coaches and junior curlers for the long-term good of the club and Nunavut as a whole.

"We did the junior clinic from Tuesday to Friday this past week and then we did the adults on Friday evening and Saturday."

A late starter at 26 years of age, Mattie began curling about 24 years ago.

Her two daughters, Robyn and Paige, became very competitive in the sport, prompting Mattie to move away from playing in order to coach her daughters.

The formula was a winning one that saw her daughters collect two silver and one gold medal at the national level, and silver at the world level with Jill Mouzar.

Since then Mattie has spent most of her time with grassroots curling, developing programs for the Nova Scotia Curling Association.

She also coached the Nova Scotia men's team at the 2007 Briar and has worked with a number of junior teams at national events.

She is currently working with the female curlers at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S.

Mattie said the main focus of the Rankin clinics was to try and get those new to the sport doing everything the right way from the beginning.

She said she hopes the majority of those introduced to the sport will stay involved for the long term.

"I had two junior curlers (Arthur Siksik and Tyson Komaksiutiksak) who have competed at national events, while the rest were all brand new to the sport. They're just an unbelievable bunch of kids here.

"I've been doing this kind of work for more than 20 years and I don't know if I've ever had a group who learn as quickly as the Rankin kids.

"They catch on very quickly and the sport of curling can only grow in Nunavut with more of this type of instruction taking place."

Mattie said the course is a basic introduction to curling and its technical aspects.

She said in addition to learning how to approach playing the sport correctly, a bit of time is also spent on the safety aspects of curling.

"That might sound a bit odd at first, when you're talking about curling but it is ice, it is cold and it is slippery when you're out there playing. We show the players how to do a proper delivery, which is the slide out of the hack that you see on TV and the proper release of the stone. We also do a bit of strategy to explain the game, as well as physical preparation with warm-up and cool-down techniques.

"People aren't going to stay in the sport unless they're enjoying it, so we incorporate a lot of fun games that are easy to do but get increasingly harder as the clinic goes on."

Rankin curlers who travel to southern locales to compete often point out the difference in the quality of ice upon their return.

Mattie said she coached a team to a world silver medal that came from a two-sheet club in Guysborough County, N.S.

She said she told the Rankin group if a team from Guysborough County, N.S., can do it, it can happen with a team from Nunavut.

"It's much easier to go to very good quality ice from a sheet that might be less than ideal, than it is to go the opposite way.

"There are ways they can practise that take the element of quality ice out of the equation a little bit.

"We give them drills to help alleviate that difference, so there are ways to compensate. A big advantage for the Rankin kids is having ice available to them every day after school, which just doesn't happen in major cities where ice is always at a premium and there's only certain hours when you can go in and practise."

Mattie said she was pleasantly surprised at how interested in curling the Rankin youths proved to be.

She said they asked numerous pointed questions about the sport and left no doubt they want to curl - and curl well.

"What may be a hinderance to them is the lack of coaching available here.

"Angela, God bless her, does her best but she's just one person.

"We're going to have to try to get more coaches involved so these kids can actually go out of the club and represent themselves well.

"I really hope I can help Angela do that."