Prince George is hosting the first-ever Western Blind Curling Championships at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club.
The competition features eight teams from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
Opening ceremonies were held on the morning of March 19, with appearances by Mayor Simon Yu and a ceremonial stone throw by 90-year-old Noel Hopper, the oldest member of the curling club.
Blind curling is unique in that it requires minimal adaptations for visually impaired players to participate. Adaptations include one sighted sweeper per team and, in some cases, additional guides. Skips and sweepers also use bright lights on the ends of their brooms to help those throwing the rocks aim.
Prince George’s team, one of two BC teams, is a strong contender in the competition. The team has previously won the Canadian Visually Impaired Curling Championships in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and five Western Blind Curling Championships in 2008, 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2024. They also won the 2023 BC Blind Curling Championship, which was held in Prince George.
The Prince George team, representing BC-1, won their first game on March 19 with an 11-1 victory over Kelowna. On March 20, they followed up with a 12-1 win over the Saskatchewan-1 team, and later defeated Manitoba-2 with a 9-2 score.
The team told The Citizen they were pleased with their victories and eager to share tips and experiences with newer qualifying teams.
Having honed their skills since their Canadian championship win, the Prince George team practices weekly against sighted senior curlers in the city.
Team members displayed a range of emotions as the competition continued. Some were nervous, others confident, and many were excited to meet new players from across Western Canada and exchange stories.
“There’s input from people who probably never left their own provinces before,” said skip Eric Rosen. “People are traveling, meeting others from different provinces, and gaining exposure. Many people in Prince George have never heard of blind curling, even though we’ve been here for many years. I still talk to people today who didn’t know there was a blind curling club. We want to raise awareness and get more people involved because curling has taken a hit in Prince George.”
Beyond raising awareness, the Prince George Curling Club hopes to recruit new members and pass on skills to younger curling enthusiasts.
“We’re all getting seniored out,” Rosen added. “Most visually impaired teams, including ours, are older. Manitoba has a young player in his early 20s, and a few other teams, like Alberta, have a young person. But there’s no real influx of younger players. It's about getting people out of their homes—especially those who are visually impaired, as it can be frightening. Adjusting to vision loss is a big challenge for anyone.”
Player Russel Gervais told The Citizen that he is willing to coach younger visually impaired players and is excited about the possibility.
Canada is one of the only countries in the world with organized blind curling championships, and lead Terry Pipkey hopes this will change.
“We’d like to see the rest of the world catch up to Canada,” says Pipkey. “We’ve inquired about entering the disabled games, but we need at least six countries to participate in the sport. As far as we know, we’re the only country that has organized visually impaired blind curling. So, right now, we’re World Champions!”
The Prince George team would like to thank the Prince George Lions Club for covering the ice fees for all participating teams.
The Western Blind Curling Championships will run until Saturday, March 22. Stay tuned to The Citizen for more updates.
