Barrhead couple Bert and Mary Dube, and Lac La Nonne couple Stan and Faye Schultz all have something in common: they are the proud champions of the 70 Plus 4 Western Provinces curling tournament.
The tournament, hosted this year by the South East Edmonton Seniors Association and sponsored by the Alberta Floor Curling Association, was held Sept. 14-15.
Teams must first make it through zone finals and provincials before they can compete in the 4 Province tournament, in which the best of Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C. and Manitoba take to the ice against one another.
For Bert and Mary this victory named them five-time champions in the tournament, three of these wins being with Stan and Faye. Though some may tire of such an accomplishment after a few years, for Bert and Mary this is not the case.
“It was exciting when we won the first one, but after the fifth it’s just as exciting,” said Bert.
“The first time we won it we thought it was very special,” added Faye, who is in the same boat after three championship wins. “But it seems like every year that we do win it is just as special.”
Although each member of the successful team has a history of victory, their skills didn’t make the tournament any easier. At many points the four weren’t sure if they would be taking home the trophy as they battled other talented teams.
“We had some really tough teams, and we didn’t know if we were going to win,” Mary recalled. “The last team we played was B.C. and we were tied with them in just about every way. So it was very, very close.”
“Winning kind of shocked us this year,” said Faye.
What’s more exciting is the state teammate Faye found herself in by the time the tournament came around. After an unfortunate incident in July this year, the dedicated curler competed in September with a broken leg.
“Every place we went I got, ‘you are floor curling with a broken leg? Nobody floor curls with a broken leg!’” laughed Faye. “They couldn’t believe it.”
How does one floor curl with a broken leg one might ask? Very carefully.
“They wheeled me to the end in a wheelchair where we were supposed to play. From there on I took the walker,” Faye explained, who had only just been allowed a walker by her doctor. “You have to walk back and forth from each end, so I went back and forth with the walker. Then I just stood with my walker beside me, got down, and threw.”
Having been unable to play or practice floor curling at all during the summer, Faye and her teammates were unsure of how the outcome would be. However, the method seemed to work and everything turned out better than OK.
“We were a little worried to start with, because that’s the last tournament. They have pretty strong teams, and with a broken leg?” said Bert. “But we did really good.”
Winning the tournament was a great accomplishment for the team, but something else continues to remain special during the experience of the sport year after year.
“The floor curling is for recreation, and we’ve developed a lot of friendships with the teams,” said Bert. “Meeting a lot of people, it’s really good.”
“You play with all these people, and you become good friends after a while,” added Faye. “You look forward to seeing them.”
As the year continues to near its end, Bert looked back and recalled what a wonderful one it was. Not only did he and his wife take home the 4 Western Provinces trophy for the fifth time, something unaccomplished by other 70 Plus curlers, they celebrated their 60th anniversary this summer.
“We had a good year,” said Bert. “We just hope the good Lord will give us a few more together to enjoy ourselves.”
