CurlManitoba launches dedicated professional training facility

A new facility to help develop the future of curling in Manitoba has officially taken the ice.

CurlManitoba and Curling Canada have partnered to create a Regional Performance Hub and Development Centre at the Heather Curling Club in Winnipeg.

Jill Officer, high performance director with CurlManitoba, said members of the national team and next generation athletes are using the hub to help train.

“This ice and the rocks that are on these sheets are championship condition,” she said. “So it allows the athletes to come and play on ice that they’re more familiar with when they go off to competitions.”

The new hub has several features to help professional curlers or those transitioning from the club to the professional circuit, including video analysis, SmartBroom analysis and weight control equipment, to help fine-tune their game.

“It's not new for them to work with video analysis systems and some of the other equipment that we have, but it will certainly allow them to use it more frequently,” Officer said.

With Manitoba being the home of several top curlers, including Kerri Einarson and Reid Carruthers, Officer said it is important to have a dedicated space to help the athletes continue to develop.

“Curling is still a really big deal in Manitoba, and we have a lot of top-level athletes that are here, and they recognize that we needed a training facility that would better prepare our athletes to go off to championships,” she said. “So it's really important that these funders have come on board and put the time and money in to help us get this going.”