Dan Ferguson
The Tumbler Ridge Secondary School girls curling team have qualified to represent the North Central District School’s Athletic Association at provincials.
The nine zones in the province each have a representative and a host team will make up the ten teams competing for the title of provincial champion.
Our team will be travelling to Lake Country March 4-7 for the competition.
Sending teams to provincials is not an easy process for TRSS. The last time was the boys basketball team and golf team, both in 2014.
This is only the second time in school history that we have been able to send a curling team. The first was in the 90s when coach Elaine Guske had an extensive junior program.
Our team consists of Destiny Vandale in grade 11, Emmalynn Pindera, Kokoa Fujimaki and Zaina LaRocque, all in grade 10, and Harmony Lycett in grade 9. The team is coached by Dan Ferguson. Up until two weeks ago we had a solid four-person team practicing twice a week and playing in the local ladies’ league. Unfortunately, Zaina injured her ankle in PE class. Fortunately, our fifth player from last year, Harmony has stepped up and will fill Zaina’s position for the remainder of the season. We are hoping her ankle heals quickly and she will be able to play when we go down south.
This is the third year this team has competed at the high school level. The first two years we placed second at zones and this year we placed first. The girls have been travelling extensively this curling season in the Peace region playing in a number of bonspiels (tournaments). On February 6-7 they had an excellent record of three wins and one loss to secure the C event in the annual Tumbler Ridge bonspiel.
Darryl Krakowka, from Freshmart, has been instrumental in outfitting the team with jackets, pants and shoes over the last three years and we are extremely thankful for that.
As you can imagine it is a costly venture to send the girls to provincials. The girls have been doing all the recycling at the school as well as other fundraisers. Thank you to everyone who has purchased 50-50 tickets, Grey Cup and Super Bowl pools, and those who have donated bottles. Congratulations to Sean O’Rielly and Isis Ramirez on winning $2000 on our 50-50 fundraiser.
We would like to thank the following groups for their sponsorship: Johnny Malcolm Foundation, CUPE local 2979 (TR district employees), The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 286, The Lion’s Club, and TR Curling Club.
TRSS grad Anthony Corno wants to support athletics at his alma mater and has kicked in $400!
