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Gibsons’ youngest curler qualifies for provincials

At 18 years of age, Rebecca Douglas is the youngest active curler in the Gibsons Curling Club leagues this year. You may recognize her. She’s also a lifeguard at the Gibsons and Sechelt pools.
curling
Rebecca Douglas with her team. From left: Delaena Reintjes, Brooke Reintjes, Rebecca, Bella Higdon.

At 18 years of age, Rebecca Douglas is the youngest active curler in the Gibsons Curling Club leagues this year. You may recognize her. She’s also a lifeguard at the Gibsons and Sechelt pools. That’s her day job while she takes a year off before going to university. She moved here from Powell River/Port Alberni with her family.

Rebecca not only enjoys curling, she’s pretty good at it, too. In fact, you just may see her name up in lights this year. She just qualified to curl in the Junior Women’s Provincial Championships in Victoria early in the new year. Winning that competition would put her in the National Championships, and a win there would mean the World Championships. Imagine, a young woman from the Sunshine Coast making it big in the curling world. Rebecca dreams of it, why can’t we?

And, I suppose, that’s the point of this series of curling articles in Coast Reporter. Curling is a game that’s so much fun at all levels, but if you set your sights high, anything is possible. Rebecca found the game of curling at age eight when her dad, Dave, introduced her to the fun of the game in Powell River. Since that day, Dad has been coach. And that combination has already taken Rebecca to several provincial championships. She’s even participated in the National Junior Championships as a spare. Rebecca tells me that she’s not going to rest until she makes it all the way to the Scotties Women’s National Championships. Given her drive and her talent, I don’t doubt her when she says she’d like to be curling someday on the Pinty’s Curling Tour. That means you’ll be able to watch her, our very own Sunshine Coast curler, on television every weekend all winter.

“My dad has never pushed me to curl. He’s always asked me if this is what I want to do, and it is,” says Rebecca. “I love curling just because it’s fun.”

While curling can be perceived as a slow game, that’s part of the allure of the game for Rebecca. It allows for time to think, but at the point of execution it can be very physical and athletic. “I think the strategy of curling is so interesting. It’s a big part of what I enjoy about curling.”

But most of all it’s the people, Rebecca says. “The people around curling are so supportive and inclusive. It’s a tight community and it’s just fun to be a part of it.”

Nobody gets to the elite level of curling, or any sport for that matter, without personal sacrifice. Aside from regular playing and practising schedules, Rebecca has taken time to teach others on the Coast. She works at her lifeguard duties, and every weekend she travels, at her own expense (no corporate sponsorship here – yet), to Vancouver Island to practise with her team. She goes where the ice is in Duncan or Parksville, then comes home to her Sunshine Coast routine every Sunday.

If any young people on the Sunshine Coast are reading this article, Rebecca has a word for you too: “Come on out and try curling. You don’t have to be athletic. But if you are so inclined you can achieve great heights. Come and try curling, it’s just fun.”

 – By Ed Hill