‘It’s penalizing everybody’: curler says old-timer hockey team ruined adult sports for everyone

When the province announced Wednesday (Dec. 2) a cluster of COVID-19 cases around a B.C. Interior hockey team’s trip to Alberta, many indoor adult sports were banned.

Curling, initially, was not on the list, as curlers played out their Thursday morning games on McArthur Island in Kamloops. However, Curl BC announced on Thursday afternoon the sports would be put on pause, temporarily closing the curling club on a day when the doubles league would be playing. It’s a blow to many curlers in the city.

“It’s just a shame that because of some group doing what they did do that it’s affecting so many sports, other than curling, it’s penalizing everybody basically,” said Saboe.

There have also been four COVID-19 cases out of the Penticton Curling Club. It’s not known, though, if that played into the decision.

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The shutdown of curling puts the provincial championships, scheduled for Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 at the McArthur Island Curling Club, in peril. Corryn Brown’s rink from Kamloops is hoping to play at home as defending B.C. champions.

Curl BC says it will reassess the situation in the new year and will make a final decision on the championship then. If it doesn’t go ahead, the Brown rink has been told it would represent B.C. again in the 2021 Scotties.

“Obviously, it would be great for us to be able to defend our title. I think that would be really cool to do it at home and play it out,” Brown told CFJC Today over Zoom. “I don’t think any of us will argue with the bye going to the Scotties, but in a perfect world we would want to play for it.”

For the older curlers like Saboe, they now have to find something else to occupy their time.

“I guess I’m going to have to do some walking and some exercise, try and keep in shape,” he said. “Maybe I’ll look toward doing a little bit of painting in our house or some kind of touch-up work to keep me busy.”