NEW GLASGOW – Each year, the Devin Forbes rink gets a little closer to their goal.
The wheelchair curling team, based at Bluenose Curling Club (BCC), will take another shot at a provincial championship this coming weekend, when the 2018 Harding Medical Wheelchair Curling Championship is held in New Glasgow.
“We were real close to getting a gold medal last year,” Forbes says. “Hopefully, this year we will get our gold and get to go to nationals.”
The national wheelchair curling championship will be held in Leduc, Alta., from March 26 to 31.
This is the third straight year the Forbes rink is taking part in the Nova Scotia championships (all of them at the Bluenose); they were bronze medalists in 2016 and runner-up a year ago, when they went undefeated in the round robin and had to be beaten twice on the final day by Kendral Hubert-Bolivar’s rink, which curls out out of Sackville’s Lakeshore Curling Club.
Hubert-Bolivar’s team pulled it off, but Forbes and his teammates (Kathy McIsaac, Philip Sutherland and Bill MacKenzie) have been putting in extra time on the ice this season, playing two games together per week and practising each Sunday, in addition to the matches they play against other local teams.
“We’ve been putting a little more into it,” says Forbes, who started curling six years ago and is also involved with activities such as archery, bowling and sportfishing.
“We’ve curled a lot this year and we’ve improved immensely. Our prospects are looking good.”
Westville’s Bill MacKenzie had been taking part in archery with Forbes, who, after some cajoling, was able to convince MacKenzie to give curling a try about four years ago.
“One weekend I went down to try it and I’ve been at it ever since,” says the 52-year-old, who can walk with a cane but uses a wheelchair for sports.
“It’ll be exciting to play in provincials again. It would be really nice to win it this year and go on to nationals.”
The third team competing this weekend is Laughie Rutt, also from the Lakeshore Curling Club. Opening ceremonies for the event will take place at the Bluenose at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, with the first game at 7:30 p.m., featuring Team Forbes and Team Rutt.
Draws will be played on Saturday at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., and the final games will be on Sunday at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., with a third game at 5 p.m. (if necessary).
Proponents hope to attract more people to wheelchair curling
NEW GLASGOW – Devin Forbes sees the sport of wheelchair curling getting more popular – slowly but surely.
Forbes and his teammate are taking part in the provincial wheelchair curling championships this weekend at Bluenose Curling Club, and would like to see other people who are physically challenged try it out.
“I would hope some people would come out to see what a competitive sport it can be,”
said Forbes, who has been using a wheelchair since a car accident on his 18th birthday.
A promoter of the sport’s benefits, Forbes said two more people have joined the program at Bluenose Curling Club in the past year.
“We are growing the sport slowly, and we are two people away now from having a second team in Pictou County,” says the 43-year-old.
His curling team practises every Sunday at the Bluenose CC, beginning at 2 p.m., and he invites anyone to come out and get a taste of the sport.
“They are more than welcome to come out and watch is, or even participate,” he said.
