There is a long process for an athlete to earn a spot in the national Special Olympics championships. It was about four years for a trio of Quesnel curlers to get there, winning their way through regional and provincial tournaments first, but they have just returned from the Canadian mega-event held this year in Calgary. It was a dream come true for skip Trevor Roszmann, second Cherie Swaan, and alternate Martin Scriver.
Of course a curling rink is five players, so they had to pick up a pair of others, and found them in third Sam Russell and lead Spencer Rourke, both of Prince George.
The distance between the two central interior cities was close enough they were able to draw to the intended button of representing B.C. at the pinnacle Special Olympics winter bonspiel. The Quesnel athletes would go to Prince George on Thursdays, and the Pregonians would come to Quesnel for Friday sessions at the curling club here.
“Just this situation alone made for some great collaboration with the Prince George club and coaches and we have future plans to do more together,” said coach Dave Roszmann who was joined on the bench by Bill Scobbie from Port Alberni.
“The team spent many days at the rink, both in Quesnel and Prince George,” said coach Roszmann. “The team improved so much that we were divisioned in one of the highest divisions in the competition. This included the two teams from Burnaby that won the A and B events at provincials, so to be included with them was a substantial improvement over the course of a year.”
It also meant being significant underdogs. They were in a pool where the competition was too strong to win any games, but they advanced their skills significantly, Roszmann said.
“I’m really proud of them, they did really well,” Roszmann said.
In addition to playing well through adversity, it was also noted that the Quesnel and Campbell River teams were the cream of the sportsmanship crop, according to event organizers. “In the end, they singled us out, and that was pretty cool.”
There was also the blue finger incident, which was a better story than a lot of gold, silver or bronze tales.
It started when Swaan was selected as one of Team BC’s main representatives in the spotlight of the opening ceremonies. The anticipation put a lot of noticeable stress on her. Someone suggested to her that they go off together and paint Swaan’s fingernails, as a calming activity. The Quesnel rink - the rest of them male - got the idea to also each paint one of their fingernails the same colour of blue, to show Swaan they were in support of her.
“We’re in this together, thick or thin, all one team,” said Roszmann, describing the boys’ attitude. “No sooner were we getting our fingernails done but other people started asking what was going on, so we were telling them the story, and the floor hockey team started to line up wanting their own blue finger. Then other athletes and coaches, volunteers, the head umpire had a blue finger so she had to keep one hand in her pocket as she was officiating - within 48 hours, I think all of Team BC had a blue finger.”
The unofficial but not unreasonable estimate was 1,000 fingers got painted blue as a result.
“It was pretty unreal that little Quesnel got this whole thing going for all of Team BC,” said Roszmann.
Now that the rink is back home again, having seen the levels to which they can realistically aspire, the already busy training schedule is going to get re-vamped, coach Roszmann said.
“I have so many ideas, moving forward,” including finding the higher-level competition needed to bring the Quesnel-Prince George rink to that next tier of competition they are clearly capable of.
Part 2 in a 4-part Quesnel Cariboo Observer series