Members of the 100 Mile House & District White Cane Club Blind Curling Team are knocking off the summer rust and honing their skills ahead of a provincial tournament in Vancouver in January.
This is the local team's fourth season competing in the BC Blind Sports and Recreation Association. They are 2013 and 2011 provincial champions and they're hoping for more success this year.
During a recent Friday morning practice at the 100 Mile Curling Club, Lori Fry said it's all coming together for the team, made up mostly of novice curlers.
“The ice is always unpredictable whether it's fast or slow and it can be deceiving, especially when your vision is playing games with you already. Over the summer, you sometimes wonder if you've lost your skill and knowledge, but it comes back to you.”
The team's skip, Jim Vinson, is the most experienced curler of the bunch. He says it's a difficult sport to master, vision impairment or not.
“Some people would say you throw your rocks and you go sit down, but there's way more to it. Being visually-impaired, the learning curve is way longer.”
That speaks to the different adjustments participants, such as Fry and Vinson, need to make. Individual curlers have different types of vision loss, so they implement different tricks and habits that work for them.
Fry says they work with the lights in the rink and with a lot of verbal cues.
“I have to be careful because I only have a tiny little bit of sight in one eye left. I can only sweep in a certain direction. You adapt. If you want to do something you just keep adjusting it to work for you.”
The group also receives help from sighted guides and members of the 100 Mile Curling Club. On this morning, Joey Seiler sweeps and assists with communicating where the skip wants other shooters to place their stones.
“It's a sport that can be adapted quite easily to the visually-impaired,” Vinson says of curling. “Basketball, not so much. Volleyball, forget it.
“But this shows these people can do something. They have some abilities.”
After the BC championships – which include teams from Prince George, Kelowna and Vancouver – in January, the 100 Mile House club is heading to a national tournament in Ottawa in February.
“I think we'll have a fairly good shot at it,” Vinson says. “Some days none of us can do anything. Other days, when everyone is on their game, we're a pretty good team.”
As for Fridays at the 100 Mile Curling Club, other visually-impaired people are encouraged to come out and participate.
“A lot of people lose their sight and become shut-ins,” Vinson explains.
“Well, you can come out and curl; you just need to make adaptations. [This team] is a good display of that all the way around.”