While Kelly Scott and the other members of her rink are unsure of what path their respective curling futures will take, one fact is certain—the Kelowna team has placed an indelible mark on the women’s game in Canada.
Scott, third Jeanna Schraeder, second Sasha Carter and Sarah Wazney have decided to go their separate ways and will not take to the ice together in the fall of 2014.
With the commitment and demands that are now required to remain competitive at the top level of women’s curling, Scott said her team agreed the time was right to devote more time and energy to family.
“As long as any of us can remember, decisions we made all seemed to be around curling events,” said Scott. “The underlying factor is we want to spend more time with our children, our kids are No. 1. It’s an emotional and difficult time but we just felt it was time to close this chapter and start a new one.
“It gives everybody a sense of relief that now we can make decisions based more on family than curling.”
The corps of the Scott team—Scott, Schraeder and Carter—have been together since 2002. During that time, the Kelowna rink won six B.C. championships, two Canadian titles (2006, 2007) and one world title in 2007.
Four different players—Renee Simons, Dailene Sivertson, Jacquie Armstrong and Wazney—have filled the lead position.
Scott said for much of the current season her team knew, in some form, that change was on the horizon.
When the Kelowna rink came up short of a fifth straight B.C. title earlier this month in Prince George, the decision to disband became official.
Scott admitted the team’s competitive fire has perhaps waned somewhat over the last couple of years. And with the elite teams in the game working harder than ever, keeping pace can be an exhausting proposition.
“We’ve seen the game change, we’ve played through three Olympic cycles, and it just gets more and more demanding, you need to put in more hours and hours,” she said. “When we were at the top, we put in a lot more time than we do now…and we can’t even mimic that commitment now. We play because we love the game, but right now it’s time to step back.”
Still, Scott said she has no regrets as the team leaves behind an impressive legacy.
“I think once we emotionally remove ourselves from this a bit, we’ll all be proud of what we’ve done. We’ve outlasted the normal lifespan of most teams by years and years. We’ve had such a good run, there’s no shame in stopping now.”
While Scott is uncertain whether she’ll curl next season, she wouldn’t surprised to see her former teammates back on the ice in the not-too-distant future.
“I think all three of us (Jeanna and Sasha) have some unfinished business. (Curling) is on the back burner right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see us all back. It’s been such a part of our world for so long, I don’t think it’s the end of the road.”
