By Jonathan Brazeau
Mark Ideson has wondered what it would be like if a Grand Slam of Curling event featured wheelchair curling.
Playing on arena ice with a large crowd cheering him on is something the three-time Paralympic medallist doesn’t get to experience too often.
Ideson will not have to wonder much longer, as he will get to experience exactly what it’s like during the GSOC Wheelchair Curling Invitational.
The inaugural event will feature four teams — Canada Red, Canada White, Great Britain and Italy — with round-robin play running Sept. 24-27 at the KW Granite Club in Waterloo, Ont. The tournament will move over to the Western Fair Sports Centre in London, Ont., for the bronze and gold medal games, taking place side-by-side with the Grand Slam of Curling’s Masters finals Sept. 28. The medal games will also be streaming online.
“It’s very exciting to be part of this,” Ideson said during Thursday’s media event for the Masters at The Factory in London. “I’ve been watching the Grand Slam of Curling for many years and thought it would be a really incredible experience to be out on the ice in front of the big crowd, so it’s really cool to be included as part of this. I’m thankful to The Curling Group and the Grand Slam of Curling for including us. ... A really cool opportunity for us."
Ideson lives in London, which is also where Curling Canada’s national wheelchair program is based. Head coach Mick Lizmore said when they found out the Masters was coming to town, they contacted The Curling Group, which owns and operates the Grand Slam of Curling, about incorporating wheelchair curling into the event.
“The Curling Group is so progressive with what they’ve been doing within the curling world,” Lizmore said. “We thought this would be a great way to introduce the game to more eyes, so that’s what we did. We reached out.
“(CEO) Nic Sulsky and the group at The Curling Group are amazing at putting everything together and making the event a reality. We couldn’t be more thankful that this is the inaugural Wheelchair Curling Invitational through the Grand Slam of Curling.”
Not only will the event be an opportunity to showcase the sport to a global audience, but the GSOC Wheelchair Curling Invitational will also help curlers and teams to train for next year’s Paralympics in Milan-Cortina.
“For wheelchair curling, we don’t draw big crowds — only every four years — and we don’t do a lot of media interviews and stuff like that,” Ideson said. “To have experience leading up to the Games and to be in front of the big crowd, it’ll be really exciting for us and it’ll prepare us well for the Games to come.”
Lizmore explained that wheelchair curling is primarily played in curling clubs during the season until the world championships and Paralympics, when all of a sudden they’re thrust onto arena ice with big crowds on hand.
“It’s one of our first events and a really good way to sort of start the year out and see where we need to work on things for sure,” Lizmore said. “It’s great.”
Team Homan participated in a wheelchair curling demonstration this past April during the Players’ Championship in Toronto. You would think out of anyone on the team that lead Sarah Wilkes, who is married to Lizmore, would have excelled at the sport, but that wasn’t the case at all.
“I was so bad,” Wilkes said with a laugh. “It was really, really challenging.”
If not Wilkes, then it shouldn’t come as a surprise that superstar skip Rachel Homan was the best of the bunch.
“Of course, such a talented athlete,” Wilkes said. “It was really hard just to get the feel of it. What the Paralympic athletes are able to do — without sweeping, too — how accurate they can be, it’s incredible.”
While Wilkes may have struggled, Ideson encourages other players and fans to give wheelchair curling a shot.
“Curling’s hard. It’s hard standing up. I’m certainly a lot better sitting down than I was standing up, so I’d love for everyone to give it a try and to see what it’s like,” Ideson said. “We have virtually an arm’s length to get the weight right, the turn and to hit the broom, so it’s not very much distance.”
The 49-year-old captured Paralympic gold at the 2014 Sochi Games plus bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and 2022 Beijing Games and will likely play a role in helping Team Canada in Milan-Cortina.
Ideson, who has competed in wheelchair curling since 2010, has seen the skill level progress over the years and hopes that fans attending the GSOC Wheelchair Curling Invitational will see athletes doing their best to represent their country.
“The growth has been incredible,” Ideson said. “The shot-making, the strategy, it’s really a fun game to play and a fun game to watch.”
Perhaps it’ll be the first of many GSOC Wheelchair Curling Invitational events?
“Hopefully, yes,” Lizmore said. “It would be great to happen if it does.”
