ACC names women’s curling squad

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This article was published 17/10/2023 (963 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

World champion Maureen Bonar welcomed a new challenge this fall, and now she knows who she’s working with to achieve new curling goals.

Bonar, who won the 2015 world senior women’s championship, has selected her women’s team for her first season as head coach of the Assiniboine Community College Cougars curling program.

It includes skip Kristen Carlson, with Ashlie Jewar, Jada Ricard and Nevaeh Witherspoon rotating through positions until they settle into roles.

“It’s a new program, new year, lots of learning. A big learning curve for some of the curlers but not so big for a couple of others,” Bonar said.

“I’m going to teach them all I know and hopefully something sticks in that. They’re going to get a bird’s eye view of what competitive curling’s all about. I think that will open their eyes to see a new path and new opportunity for this sport at a level that maybe they never thought they could achieve.”

The Cougars have joined a Brandon Curling Club league on Thursday evenings and practise on Wednesdays.

Bonar said it’s been heartwarming to watch the way club members have embraced the team and let her jump in to help with strategy during games.

And she’s just as impressed with how eager the women have been to learn, noting that one league night Ricard showed up and threw 30 rocks before their game.

“They’re just sponges right now,” Bonar said, adding they’re improving quickly given the circumstances and lack of time together.

“A lot of the timing and technical pieces are hard to get through in what, we’ve had three Wednesdays, one-hour practices. It’s learning on the fly and I think they’re all getting more excited about it every time we go out.”

Bonar’s making sure the players get to try multiple positions and learn what it takes to succeed in each one. But she quickly realized Carlson was the best bet to skip since she has experience calling games.

“She threw quite a consistent rock right off the bat,” Bonar said. “Going out and seeing her slide right off the bat, it was pretty solid and there wasn’t a lot of extra tweaking we needed to do with her delivery.

“Ashlie, I look at her as possibly a third. She skipped last weekend, she never skipped before at ladies and she did pretty darn good. She had some great shot-making and with a little coaching and encouragement, she actually quite enjoyed it.”

The Cougars are about to have an “eye-opener experience” this weekend when they head to Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club for the Manitoba Curling Tour’s Atkins Curling Supplies Classic.

Carlson might be away, but if she is, Bonar will step in and skip the team.

They’re also slated to play the Sun Life Junior Curling Challenge in Brandon in November, which could include some of the teams they hope to play in March.

The big goal is the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament, which runs along with the U Sports championship in Fredericton on March 12-16.

Unless another Manitoba college fields a team to challenge the Cougars, they’ll automatically receive a berth.

On the men’s side, the Cougars are still looking to round out their team and build a tournament schedule to go with their Monday men’s league.

“We’ve got four months to get into tip-top shape, as far as we can get them,” Bonar said. “That’ll be our first year of getting the program going and just getting the word out there that ACC has a curling program.

“If you’re interested in coming to ACC and still want to compete, this is an option, an opportunity for sure.”

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