Cargill Curling Centre expands programming

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/12/2018 (1955 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Cargill Curling Training Centre, the year-round curling facility in Morris, is already unique to anything in Canada.

At a press conference at the Morris Curling Club, it was announced they are again expanding their programming by becoming the chief training centre in Canada for the Canadian Deaf Curling Program.

I am honoured to witness the implementation of the very first National Training Program for our deaf and hard of hearing curlers,” said Alain Turpin, the executive director of the Canadian Deaf Sports Association (CDSA).

This new program is a collaborative effort between the CDSA, the Morris Curling Club, which is home to the Cargill Curling Training Centre and a number of sponsors, led primarily by the generous donation of Hy Tech Production Ltd., a seed production company from Lethbridge owned by Brian and Lois McNaughton. Brian McNaughton is a native of Niverville.

The deaf curling training program at the Cargill Centre will be run by Lorne and Chris Hamblin, the volunteer co-ordinators of the centre, who are both Level 4 NCCP Olympic Coaches, who have coached national and Olympic programs around the world.

They also started working with the Canadian Deaf Curling Program in 2014 which initially sparked their interest into offering a training program in Morris.

“This partnership will allow deaf and hard of hearing curlers of all ages, from the beginner to the elite to fine-tune their skills as they learn a life-time sport,” said Lorne Hamblin.

“We are excited about sharing our love of curling with a broad sector of the deaf and hard of hearing community,” said Chris Hamblin.

Although the official training program will begin in April, the Hamblins say deaf or hard of hearing curlers, or prospective curlers who just want to try out the sport, are welcome at the club free of charge.

With $250,000 already committed to the four-year program, it is a tremendous start to a fund-raising program that has a goal of $1 million to support the endeavour.

Story originally published in the Dec. 13 issue of The Carillon.