Thanks to Lacombe local Julie Selvais, the Red Deer College Queens curling team will now be heading to their provincial championship at the end of the month.
She was named a Boston Pizza RDC Athlete of the Week this month for her role in the Winter Regional in Camrose. The team is now third overall and has qualified for the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Championships in Grande Prairie, taking place on the 28th.
“It was pretty intense. Marla (RDC team skip) and I usually curl together - we’re in the Alberta Junior Curling Tour. We’ve curled together for at least five years competitively. I just met the other two girls this year, so we’ve only been curling together for a few months. It’s amazing how well we’ve been able to come together and how well we can curl under pressure,” Selvais said.
“We knew that in that game if we lost, we’d have to play a tiebreaker against Grand Prairie. But, we pulled through and won and hopefully we can keep that up in Provincials, and maybe even make it to Nationals in March, which is being held in Olds.”
Her team came out with a seasonal total of eight wins and four losses to take them into the provincial championships. They finished fall regionals with four wins and two losses, and finished the winter regionals the same way.
This added a little bit of pressure on the girls because there was no room for error at the qualifiers.
Selvais is in her first year of curling with the College, but is in her seventh year of competitive curling. She and the RDC Queen skip Marla Sherrer have been curling together for many years, and have been friends for many more.
She said that although she has a curling history with Sherrer, Selvais is very confident in her team and feels that they have become quite close.
“It helps that Marla and I have curled together for a while but the other girls are great, and I really feel like a team with them already. We’re all so happy. I just hope we can pull through again in provincials. I know we can if we put our minds to it – there’s no doubt that we’re able,” she said.
Selvais said that she loves the competitions because it gives her a chance to touch base with other members of the junior curling teams. She says that there is a broad sense of comradery in the curling world and that she feels the community is very genuine.
“I love the atmosphere and getting to know all the other teams at competitions. It seems like curling is a very close-knit sport and even though you aren’t all on the same teams, it feels like a big family. You know so many people out there. I was curling last weekend in juniors, and it was really nice to see people that I used to play with. It’s just a big curling family and I think it’s great. You meet so many new people,” Selvais said.
“We are so competitive on ice, but it’s different than some other sports. You’re always friends on and off the ice in curling. With my junior team, and even this team, you never know who you’re going to curl with. You never know who could come to RDC and join us.”
She said that this year, she is working on her skills in shot making and sweeping. She said that she is working on her position as a third, which involves taking out opposing rocks accurately and getting over the pressure of sometimes having to throw the hammer in games.
The ACAC Provincial Championships will be held on Feb. 28th in Grande Prairie. The ladies of the RDC Queens curling team are settled in third place, after MacEwan University, which has a record of 10 wins and two losses, and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), with its record at nine wins and three losses.
“Right now, I’m just getting prepped and ready for provincials. We are just going to get as ready as we can be,” Selvais said.