KERROBERT — The community of Kerrobert is excited to rock and roll in December. Mixed doubles duo, Brett Barber and her teammate and partner, Mitch Heidt, approached the Kerrobert Curling Club about hosting a Saskatchewan Curling Tour event.
Kerrobert Curling Club will host a proposed 16-team, triple knockout mixed doubles event as part of the SCT, held Dec. 1-3 at the club.
“It was an idea of mine to bring our friends and fellow competitors to our community’s home club for a great small-town event,” says Barber.
The December event was officially launched the week of Aug. 25 and so far, a few Saskatchewan teams are registered, and a duo from Blaine, Minn., Todd, and Regan Birr.
The Sask. Curling Tour Stadium events and the Super Series hold approximately six events in the province before Christmas, with Kerrobert being one of those.
“We do not officially have any extra events planned as of now to go along with the curling event. But I have a lot of ideas on how I want to treat all our competitors with class and make them feel all at home and welcomed to Kerrobert,” says Barber.
The hopes are that there will be some Tigers hockey over that weekend to fill the lounge with both curling and hockey spectators.
Barber skipped a women’s team in the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Saskatchewan. Heidt has a long history in Saskatchewan curling, that now also includes mixed doubles competition with Barber.
"We are planning to do about six events plus provincials with the goal to qualify for nationals. Mitch is playing a few Sask Tour spiels with a men’s team, I have stepped back this season to focus on mixed doubles, hopefully, get a chance to do some sparing for events,” says Barber
The CurlSask website says of the tour, “An assortment of Saskatchewan’s competitive curlers has joined forces off the ice to announce the formation of the Sask Curling Tour (SCT), an athlete-led series of high-performance curling events for men’s, women’s and mixed doubles competitors. The SCT amalgamates three previously separate volunteer organizations that served each division.”
CurlSask website also outlines the SCT as an exciting opportunity to grow mixed doubles curling in the province. Mixed doubles involve two-person teams consisting of one male and one female. It has been gaining popularity steadily, especially since it was introduced as an Olympic event in South Korea in 2018, where Team Canada captured gold.
