The Prince George Blind Curling Team is currently representing BC in the Canadian Visually Impaired Curling Championships in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
The tournament itself lasts until the medal games on Fri, Feb 7, and consists of eight teams from BC Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick Nova Scotia, and another team from Alberta representing Team Canada.
So far the Prince George team has beaten Team Canada 12-7, Ontario 11-4, Saskatchewan 11-4 and Alberta 12-0.
“We're proud to represent British Columbia,” said team lead Terry Pipkey. “We have to go through provincial playdowns to achieve this opportunity. So we have to put on a good show for the rest of the teams that are in the province.”
Pipkey told The Citizen that his team is in high spirits and is hoping to sweep the round-robin and bring back a medal for Prince Geroge
The Prince George Blind Curling team has been around since 2001 and in 2008 won its first Western Blind Curling Championships.
Since then the team has won have won 5 western blind Championships in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2024. as well as the 2023 BC Blind Curling Championship, which was held in Prince George. As well they have qualified for the 2025 Western Blind Curling Championship which will also be held in Prince George.
The team for the last seven years has practiced against local seniors at the Prince George Seniors Curling League.
The team itself is all at different stages of vision loss but has no difficulty playing against what they call "sightlings."
“Curling, because there's only one stone at a time being thrown, it's quite safe for most of us,” said Pipkey. “When we curled at home in the seniors league, none of us visually impaired folks have had any issues over several years, and yet some of the other seniors have fallen or got between two moving stones and had a broken ankle this winter. For us, it's one of the sports that we can participate in with relative safety.”
Blind curling is one of the few sports that requires little adaptation for people with visual impairments. Each team has a designated sighted sweeper, there are lights on brooms for those with light perception, and some teams have additional guides.
The upcoming Western Blind Curling Championships will be held March 19–22. Pipkey noted that organizers are looking for community support.
“We're always looking for a bit of funding help,” said Pipkey. “We still need much more. Because we have eight teams that are going to be in town, which includes our team, we're trying to cover the cost of the breakfast and lunches for the three days.”
Anyone looking to help support the team can email Pipkey at [email protected]
