By Josh Finn
Jim Kelly may not have perfect sight, but that’s not stopping him from seeing a big future for blind curling.
As a member of the Ontario Blind Curlers’ Association, Kelly wants blind curling to be showcased at the Paralympics in Vancouver in March 2010.
Kelly curls with the Ottawa Blind Curlers’ Club, a group of 18 players and eight coaches who meet every Wednesday at Cityview Curling Club in Nepean.
He says the social nature of curling makes it a great way for the blind to be active.
“For a lot of people, moving to actually try an athletic endeavor . . . increases their self-confidence and allows them to do other things,” says Kelly.
Earlier this month, two teams from the Ottawa club competed in the National Blind Curling Championship, held at the Ottawa Curling Club on O’Connor Street.
A blind curling team is made up of four legally blind curlers. One player must be totally blind. There are two sighted coaches on each team who offer help based on individual curlers’ needs. Sometimes they may stand with a light at the far end of the ice. Other times they might stand beside the curler delivering the rock.
“My job as a coach is to form a partnership with whoever is throwing the rock . . . and try to allow them to do the best they can,” says Barbara Brown, a veteran curler who has coached visually impaired curlers for 12 years.
Brown says the Ottawa club has grown significantly in the past few years, with membership now poised to surpass 20.
However, with the average age of club members at 55, Brown says the next step is to attract younger curlers to the sport.
The Ottawa club held an open house earlier this month to introduce the game to visually impaired students.
With the gold-medal success of Brad Gushue’s 2006 Olympic team, Brown says the Canadian Curling Association has been able to make curling “sexy” to the sighted community. She hopes that success will extend to blind curling as well.
The Toronto Stock Exchange recently announced it will donate $400,000 over four years to support curlers with disabilities.
Danny Lamoureux, manager of curling club development at the CCA, says the money will allow it to develop training manuals and programs for coaches and eventually develop high-performance athletes. But Lamoureux says the CCA will first need to build awareness.
“The first step is to make everyone in Canada [with disabilities] aware that curling is a definite option for them,” says Lamoureux.
Michael Hayes, president of the Ontario Blind Curlers’ Association, says it’s important to introduce young curlers to the game, especially with the Paralympics just three years away.
“Older people like myself shouldn’t be looking into going to the Paralympics, we need younger guys for that,” says Hayes.
“The majority of blind Canadians are seniors but there are still a lot of younger people that can learn the sport and do it in two or three years.”
However, unlike wheelchair curling, blind curling is currently not a Paralympic event.
Kelly says next year a national blind curling association will start lobbying the Vancouver 2010 organizing committee to include the sport as a demonstration event.
While official medal events for 2010 have already been decided, the organizing committee can add one demonstration event, which is held during the Paralympics.
Brian MacPherson, chief operating officer of the Canadian Paralympic Committee, says while the final decision is up to the Vancouver organizers, the paralympic committee may be asked to endorse one or more sports.
It seems the competition will begin long before 2010, with other sports also vying for their place in the international spotlight.
The committee will review all events to ensure they meet the technical criteria, says MacPherson, adding that a decision will likely be made in early 2008.
Members of Ottawa’s blind curling community are optimistic the sport will make the cut.
Brown says there’s no reason why blind curling should not be a full medal event at the Paralympics in 2014.
“Blind curling sounds like an oxymoron for some people, but it actually works . . . the quality of the games are incredible.”