Viterra Championship

14 2 0 1 9 V I T E R R A C H A M P I O N S H I P FEBRUARY 6 - 10, 2019 | TUNDRA OIL AND GAS PLACE, VIRDEN The next generation of Manitoba's top curlers will need to get out their smart phones if they want to learn about the street cred of the women in charge of their development. That's because Connie Laliberte, a former world champion, three-time Canadian champ and member of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, never brings any medals, trophies or her resume when she steps out on the ice as Curl Manitoba's high performance director. "I don't think I have to," she said. "The most important part is I've got to be able to instruct and correct. What you've done in the past might not give you the skills to do that. My background gives me the credentials but just because you can curl doesn't mean you can teach it." Laliberte oversees a number of programs designed to build the skills of novice curlers all the way to the top kids in the province. The Development Program takes place during the curling season and is geared towards boys and girls aged 11 to 15 who have curled for at least two years and want to improve their skills. It has 17 curlers in Winnipeg and another 12 in Brandon. The Junior Advanced Program and the Junior High Performance Program, meanwhile, operate year- round and identify boys and girls at an identification camp in the spring. Both programs are for kids who want to get better and move up but the High Performance group is for curlers who aspire to represent the province and, one day, Canada. Both also go through fitness and mental training and are also given nutritional advice. The advanced program has about 35 kids in Winnipeg while high performance has 31 in Winnipeg and another 18 in Dauphin. Laliberte believes the fruits of her labours are being shown through the success of kids such as Jordon McDonald, a 15-year-old who recently skipped a team to the provincial boys final. "When he showed up to our identification camp, we thought, 'he's a little Jeff Stoughton.' He's a natural curler with a natural tuck. If he continues on with the sport and puts a lot of time into it, he's going to do well," she said. "The measure of our success is happening now. We're seeing the kids who have gone through our program becoming successful." Laliberte knows Curl Manitoba is doing something right because other provinces have adopted similar programs. And just like hockey has power skating and shooting camps, she teaches specific curling skills, such as the tuck delivery. While she's satisfied with the number of juniors in all of her programs, she could always use a few more. She's hoping an awareness campaign through the Curl Manitoba website, its newsletter and some word of mouth will increase enrolment. She's particularly pleased with the number of kids who come to train in Winnipeg from outside the Perimeter Highway. "I've had kids travel as much as three hours to come in once a week for our programs," she said. NEXT GENERATION OF CURLERS IN FORMER WORLD CHAMPION'S HANDS B Y G E O F F K I R B Y S O N CONNIE LALIBERTE PREFERS TO FOCUS ON THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF MANITOBA CURLING, NOT HER PAST.

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