She was an enthusiastic slopitch league member back in the day and now championship curler Jackie Burns wants to get the word out that she’s getting a 55+ mixed league up and running this summer in Prince George.
Burns started curling when she was 23 years old, moved away from it and then didn’t revisit it until she was 57 years old in 2012.
“I joined the seniors league at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club,” Burns said.
Burns and her 65+ women’s team brought home the gold from the 55+ BC Games held in Salmon Arm in September.
“We were the first women’s 65+ team from Prince George to compete in the games – there’s been a 55+ team but not a 65+,” Burns said.
“One day after we played at the club we were having a drink and Bev Webb, who is the lead on our team, said ‘hey, you guys, I wanna go really bad, let’s go to the 55+ BC Games’ and we all looked at each other and we all said ‘OK’.”
The group had never played together.
“We played against each other and we just decided to go and I said ‘if we win one game that’s great,’ and we went with that mentality and we gelled really well and we won,” Burns laughed.
It was at the end of the season in March last year they decided to go and then played in September in the provincial competition without any ice team.
The first game was the first time they played together, Burns explained.
At the Games they offer practice times ahead of the tournament.
“So the girls and I looked at each other and I asked ‘do you want to practice?’ and everyone said ‘no’,” Burns laughed. “We thought we’d just wing it.”
Registered as the Pedersen Rink, Burns threw skip, Heather Pedersen threw third, Loretta Musselwhite threw second and Beverley Webb was lead.
“One lady from the Victoria team came up to us after we won and asked us where we came from,” Burns said. “The Victoria team was such fun. They were the sweetheart team. They were just so nice. It was all so much fun.”
But slopitch is Burns first sporting love.
Back in 1985 Burns moved to Prince George she starting playing slopitch the next year and played in all different types of teams.
“It was in 2009 when I played on Syl Meise’s team and we went to the 55+ BC Games and won silver,” Burns recalled.
In 2017 Burns was on the gold-medal winning team at the 55+ BC Games.
“Then in 2018 our mixed team called the Arc Angels won the worlds in 55+ in Kamloops and after that I went traveling to tournaments with the Ogopogo ladies team from the Okanagan ever since.”
Burns wants to start a mixed seniors slopitch league in Prince George.
“Everyone our age wants to play within our age group,” Burns said.
“It’s too hard to play against the young ones. They’re too fast and they can throw the ball a mile and I found when I played with the Ogopogo ladies down south it’s so much more fun because they’ve got the same limitations as we do. We can’t throw the ball as far or run as fast.”
There have 18 mixed senior teams in Kelowna, she added.
“Why can’t Prince George have something like that?” Burns asked.
“So we’re going to try and see what happens.”
The requirement is there has to be a minimum of three women per team 10-member team.
“We had a lot of good women ball players in Prince George who I hope will come out,” Burns said. “And even if there are ladies who have never played before, we hope they’ll come out, too.”
The Prince George Mixed 55+ Slopitch League 2025 will practice every Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon from about May 13 to Aug. 12. Format is seven men and at least three women 55+ per team. Registration is April 28, 29 & 30 at the Prince George Golf & Curling Club from 1 to 4 p.m. $75 per player, cash only. For more information call Jackie Burns at 250-962-9230.
