Mary Campbell has to be helped down the stairs to get to the ice, but once she’s there, her vision-impairment doesn’t stop her from being successful at the sport she loves.
“I’m totally blind. I’ve been totally blind since birth,” the Sydney, N.S., area curler said.
In less than three weeks, Campbell and her team will welcome other vision-impaired curlers from across the country when they host the National Vision-Impaired Curling Championship.
“It has always been held in Ottawa, at the Ottawa Curling Club, but for the first time ever it’s going to be held here at the Sydney Curling Club,” said veteran curler Louise Gillis, who has partial vision.
It comes less than a year after the World Women’s Curling Championship was held at Sydney’s Centre 200, with Canada winning the gold medal in front of a sold-out crowd.
The 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sydney was also a big success.
“Because of those two events, we’ve gotten a lot more curlers into this club,” Gillis said. “Our club rate is way up, over 350 members I believe.”
“I think it’s great that our local club, never mind our community, is hosting it,” said curler Tony Shaw.
The Sydney Curling Club has a lot of history; parts of the building date back to 1910.
For Shaw and his teammates, it’s a place to come play a game they describe as inclusive.
“When you have a disability, you’re not always inclined or keen to get out and socialize,” he said. “But an environment like this, where curling is a social sport as well as a strategic sport, it makes me want to come out.”
Campbell has had success at nationals in the past. She won a gold medal in Ottawa in 2019, and silver in 2020 – the last time the championship was held before the COVID-19 pandemic.
As for winning gold again at her home?
“It would be... oh, my gosh, it would be that exciting I think everyone in Cape Breton would hear me,” Campbell said. “I’d be so excited.”
The National Vision-Impaired Championship kicks off the morning of Feb. 3, with action running all week until the medal games on Feb. 7.
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