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A BLIND EYE

It’s not unusual for individuals to take up curling when they retire, and that’s just what Ray Kotanen of Thunder Bay, Ontario, did in 1991 when he turned 65.

Kotanen joined the Ezyduzit Curling League for retired men and proved to be not only enthusiastic but also a quick learner. However, he did have one limitation—he couldn’t see the other end of the ice, his skip, or his skip’s broom. Diabetes robbed him of vision in his right eye and left him with limited sight in his left. Kotanen relied on verbal instructions relayed to him by the sweepers and managed to become quite proficient. Still, he disliked being dependant on others.

All that changed when friend Ray Paju decided to help out. Paju developed a high-intensity strobe light that fastened onto the handle of Kotanen’s skips’ broom. The light blinked a strong signal from the skip’s end of the ice and was visible for Kotanen sitting in the hack. He no longer needed the verbal instructions—he could see just fine. Another example of ingenuity allowing a curler to play the game he loves.

RECORD-SETTING CURLING

Camille Villeneuve of Chicoutimi, Quebec, is a guy who has trouble playing on a regular team. For that matter, he has trouble finding a steady club. But that’s something he planned. Since 2005, Villeneuve has ventured across Canada and the United States playing in as many different curling clubs with as many different teammates as possible. He travels by camper, setting up games ahead of time often playing two or three a night. To date, he’s competed at more than 611 clubs and played with more than 1,800 different teammates. Both marks are recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records. All of his adventures came late in life for Villeneuve. At the age of 79 years old, he’s still going, hoping to reach 700 clubs by his 80th birthday.

Curling Quote

“I’m actually looking forward to playing in a country where five feet (tall) might actually be the average.”

—The diminutive Kelly Scott on playing the world championship in Japan in 2007

AGE-OLD ROCKERS

Curling is known as a game for all ages, and certainly that’s proven to be the case over the long history of the sport. Here are a few examples of “elderly” competitors, elderly being a relative term:

• At age 50 Russ Howard became the oldest person to win a gold medal at the 2006 Olympic Games, capturing the medal for Canada.

• At age 55, Bud Somerville played for the U.S. team at the 1992 Olympics.

• At 94, Einer Egilssen plays three times a week in Woodstock, Ontario. He’s played the game for 60 years.

• At 99, Jack Grossart played twice a week in Weston, Ontario.

• Jack Watkins, at 93, has a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records, stating he is the oldest living curler. He plays twice a week in Sudbury, Ontario.

• In Regina, Phil Ward competed regularly at the Tartan Curling Club at the age of 102.

DOUBLING UP

Doubles, in sporting terms, usually conjures up images of tennis, where teams of two players take on similar teams.

But doubles is also now a part of curling—mixed doubles, to be more precise, with teams comprised of one man and one woman, just as in tennis. The format had its genesis in another event, the Continental Cup, where teams representing North America and Europe compete in various formats, one of which is mixed doubles.

Each end of mixed doubles begins with a rock sitting behind the button guarded by a stone in front of the rings. Each team delivers five shots, and the teams can decide which team member throws first, allowing any order on any given end. The player that throws the first stone of the end also throws the last one, with the other player delivering the middle three rocks.

Hoping to get at least one more discipline added to the curling program at the Olympics, the World Curling Federation promoted mixed doubles as a stand-alone event. It even created a separate world championship, with the first one held in Vierumaki, Finland, in March 2008.

PIN MOGUL

Curling pins have a long association