The Trials and Pre-Trials are set!!!

By this time most of you have checked out the official CCA press release listing all of the 32 teams that have a right to play off to represent Canada at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. If you were paying attention at the CTRS race during the Player’s Championship you know that it came down to the wire.  I find it extremely fascinating that a few teams either just got into the Pre-Trials or Trials by a very slim margin!! The top story of the Player’s has to be the play of Team Ferbey.  With the numbers crunched Team Ferbey knew they had to win the event to get a direct berth into the Roar of the Rings in Edmonton….and they did just that.   Some reporters have described their play as a blast from the past, rekindled……I simply like to think the peaked at the right time!!  Having Randy and his squad in top form in Edmonton in a few months is extremely exciting for curling fans out there and can only strengthen the team that ends up winning to represent Canada. Congrats to Team Kleibrink and Team Martin for being named Teams of the Year by their peers at the World Curling Tour Year End Awards. Interesting point to note that the Canadian Olympic Committee is hosting an Olympic Excellence Series this upcoming weekend.  Athletes, Coaches and support staff are all invited to join and we have a great group of athletes representing curling: (I’ll copy and paste it from their media release) Curling                     Dawn Askin Curling                     Jennifer Jones Curling                     Shannon Kleibrink Curling                     Brent Laing Curling                     John Morris Curling                     Amy Nixon Curling                     Jill Officer Curling                     Cathy Overton-Clapham Curling                     Craig Savill Curling                     Kevin Koe Curling                     Nolan Thiessen Curling                     Sherri Singler Curling                     Stefanie Lawton Curling                     Susan O’Connor Curling                     Cori Bartel Curling                     Randy Ferbey Curling                     Scott Pfeifer If that isn’t an all-star line up!!  Along with them will a few of the confirmed Trials teams’ Coaches, our Olympic Team Leader Gerry Peckham, National Coaches Jim Waite and Elaine Dagg-Jackson and speciality coaches Rob Krepps and some guy named Webster!  I must admit I have been waiting for this weekend for ahwile.   Getting to hang out with a number of athletes and coaches from other sports will simply throw another log on the Olympic fire.  I will update this event when we get home on Monday. Yours in sport, Paul