Dreams coming true!

For The Love of Curling scholarship recipients thriving at 2024 Scotties

Curling Canada’s For The Love of Curling scholarship program, introduced in 2014, was intended to enable young talented curlers to continue pursuing their athletic dreams without having to sacrifice academic careers. Sometimes the best of intentions turn out to have more far-reaching impacts than ever imagined.

Ten years after the first bursary was awarded to a group of 10 young student-athletes there is an impressive group of recipients now practising their talents in fields ranging from family medicine to Indigenous policy development to neuro-motor disabilities to psychology to education. All while chasing their dreams of winning the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, world championship or Olympic medals.

Brodie Bazinet, who heads up the program, says it has developed to the point where it’s not just about curling.

“We wanted to program to support making better Canadians,” she says. “We had this discussion, as a selection panel, a while back and weren’t sure we could say that then.”

Today it is a statement that can be made. In the 10 years since the program was introduced more than 100 young curlers have been recipients and many of them have used the scholarship to boost their careers both on the and off the ice. 

In this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts there are 15 scholarship recipients competing, including Sarah Koltun, a family medicine resident in Yellowknife, Karlee Burgess, a conductive education assistant in Manitoba, and Calissa Daly, a policy analyst with Indigenous Policy Services in Ontario. Other recipients are studying or practising various professions that help Canadians in all walks of life.

Koltun, now 30 and playing second on Team Northwest Territories, sees the scholarship she received in 2014, the first year of the program, as an important stimulus to her passion to become a medical doctor.

“I’m still balancing education and curling, so having that little bit of financial help for both is very, very helpful,” she says. “I wouldn’t be here today without financial support from different revenues, and this was a great one. It supported both of my passions, the athletic side and the education side.

“When you’re in education a lot of times people have to decide between pursuing sports or taking a part-time job to finance their education. When that is relieved, it gives you the freedom to perform athletically and it gives you the freedom to learn and better your education, so it is extremely beneficial.”

The first-year resident started as an athletic therapist, but her passion was to help more people so with the financial help she pursued medicine.

“It allows me the depth and the breath of care I can provide for people. It’s a tough job but it’s very rewarding.”

Daly is a policy analyst in Indigenous Policy Services, working with first nations mental health policy, implementing different policies for different Metis and indigenous nations across Canada.

“It’s a great job, very challenging,” she says. “Some tough conversations.

“It was huge,” she says of the scholarship. “Getting a Masters is very expensive so I got it during the year I was doing my Masters and it helped a lot. It took a lot of the stress off of paying for school as well as being able to compete.

“You lose a lot of people in sports because it’s hard to balance both and the financial burden is huge so to have this scholarship is amazing.”

Karlee Burgess, third for Jennifer Jones’ Team Manitoba, was a 2016 recipient.

“That was my first year university, trying to balance university and wanting to stay in the sport, competitive curling, that money helped me offset the extra expenses in school,” she says. “Honestly, being a part of Curling Canada and that scholarship will forever be in my heart.

“I find since university is so expensive and a lot of students have a part-time job. Our part-time job is curling so it will really help the future of the game.”

Burgess is a conductive education assistant, working with clients with neuro-motor disabilities.

“I work at the neuro-motor centre in Manitoba. I work with neuro-motor disabilities. So anyone with cerebral palsy, spinal bifida, autism, stroke, I work with a wide range of clients one on one and we take them through conductive education classes. I get to help a lot of people. It’s rewarding.

“One of my clients, he has cerebral palsy, he and his family drove here from Winnipeg. He’s a big fan … and I have a lot of people watching back at home. It’s pretty special to see my clients see me do my thing while I get to see them do their thing at work.”

The recipients say the scholarship gives young curlers the incentive to pursue curling and education and the financing can be the difference that allows them to do both. Something that Koltun believes is important for the future of the sport.

“For me, I want people to see that you can do both. I’ve had people contact me and ask how can you do medicine and athletics? I say you find a way, you find the right people, make the right connections, you work your butt off. It hasn’t been easy, but I want people to know they can do it.”

In the 10 years since Curling Canada introduced the program more than 100 young student-athletes have been recipients of scholarship awards totalling $200,800. 

The program is intended for young Canadian athletes who excel in curling, maintain a good level of academic standing, and demonstrate a strong commitment to their community through leadership volunteer activities. The purpose is to give talented junior curling student athletes the support to pursue their curling and academic dreams.

“We’re investing in future leaders on and off the ice. They have to demonstrate their involvement as volunteers and leaders…their self-motivation,” says Bazinet. “On their application submission they have to demonstrate that they are deserving of this support. That they can be curling and community role models.”

The other past recipients here this week are Skylar Ackerman, Emily Best, Corryn Brown, Kira Brunton, Lindsay Dubue, Lauren Lenentine, Paige Papley, Jocelyn Peterman, Erin Pincott, Taylour Stevens, Selena Sturmay and Emily Zacharias.

Each year, 11 scholarships, each valued at $2,500, are awarded to student curling athletes who have been accepted into a post-secondary education program. The initial program offered 10 scholarships yearly — except in 2017 when 13 were handed out — until 2021 when the number was increased to 11.