Miramichi Curling Club stays busy despite pandemic
Miramichi- The Corona Virus Pandemic has been a challenging time for everyone. While the Miramichi Curling Club has had to adapt like everyone else, overall, they are doing fine. Shawn Ingersoll, the Curling Club President said, “As far as Covid affecting the club there has been a lot of rule changes and what not to curling and how we deal with physical distancing on the ice, as far as membership goes, membership is up a little bit with our adult curlers and down a little bit with our younger curlers.”
There are a lot of new rules concerning the pandemic. Players are no longer allowed to shake hands after games. Each player will have their own two rocks to use exclusively throughout the game. There is no access to the locker room. Despite the new regulations, curlers show up happy and ready to play.
Kayla Russel is a competitive curler. She was a member of the 2017 U21 Girls Championship team. Her team travelled to Victoria, BC to play in the nationals. While they did not medal, Russel and her partner came second in a mixed doubles tournament. She is at the Curling Club three days a week. Monday, she plays in a fun league, Tuesdays is the competitive league, Thursday in the mixed league. Russel starts curling in September and the season usually ends in April.
“As a competitive curler, Covid affected me in the way that I don’t travel as much as I used to anymore, like going to Moncton or St. John or even other Atlantic provinces, we used to go to Nova Scotia and PEI all the time too, this year hasn’t been the same.” Russel said.
With the fast-changing restrictions in place it is hard to plan any tournaments, also known as bonspiels. Though the curling club is fully booked in the New Year, whether or not these bonspiels will take place is dubious. Even a provincial tournament is hard to plan. Different cities are going in and out of red zones, making travel difficult.
The Miramichi Curling Club offers four nights of curling per week. Ingersoll explains that while this recreational curing has not been affected, recreational bonspiels have. Many of these tournaments would see up to one hundred people, which is just not possible now. “The revenues that we would typically see, we won’t see them this year for our recreational bonspiels.”
The Men’s Provincial Tankard, which would send New Brunswick’s representative to the Brier is supposed to be hosted in Miramichi, but “there’s a lot of issues with hosting a national event this year, so we don’t know if those events will actually take place” Ingersoll says.
The restrictions in place change the social dynamic of the game. Not only must players refrain from shaking hands, hanging around after the game is not allowed. The lounge area stays empty, the bar is closed. Russell says, “the game is not as social as it used to be.”
On the ice, the players are energetic and competitive. They seem to be enjoying their time in the rink. Even though there are social distancing measures in place, the atmosphere is still social and friendly. Even if the bonspiels do not take place, the Miramichi Curling Club will stay busy throughout the winter.
