Red Deer-born Curler Casey Scheidegger is hoping to one day represent Canada at the Olympic games.

“It is our goal for sure,” Scheidegger said.

“Our team has qualified for the Roar of the Rings—which is the Olympic Curling Trials for Canada Curling. We have that chance to play for an Olympic birth.

“We are already in the trial, so now it is about everything leading up to that – making sure we are the most prepared we can be for Ottawa.”

Scheidegger and her rink’s development and travel was recently made a whole lot easier after they received the Fueling Athletes and Coaching Excellence (FACE) program grant, which awarded them $10,000.

The recipients of the grant are selected by Petro-Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

“I am super excited,” Scheidegger said.

“It is a big honour because only 55 athletes and their coaches are selected. It is a huge privilege and I am honoured that I was selected. It is really exciting to have some extra funding for training and travel.”

Scheidegger was partly selected after her rink won their first Grand Slam of Curling event at the Meridian Canadian open, where her team won five consecutive games—qualifying them for the Olympic qualifiers.

“It was an amazing feeling and it was something we worked really hard for,” Scheidegger said. “To win a Grand Slam is a dream come true—as cheesy as that sounds. It was amazing.”

Scheidegger said the the grant money will go a long way for her rink, particularly in regards to travel.

“I know this year, we have more distance we have to travel not only to the trials in Ottawa, but also to some of the events we are playing in are farther away than normal.

“We can fly now, we don’t have to drive eight hours to play in an event. We make a little more use of our time while we are there. We don’t have that extra day of travel.”

Scheidegger added her rink can now afford to bring their coach Carolyn McRorie (Darbyshire) to their events.

“It makes a big difference for her as well because she is able to get to all of the events and we can pay for her accommodation,” Scheidegger said.

While Scheidegger moved away from Red Deer when she was very young, her rink loves to play in Red Deer bonspiels.

“We try to curl in Red Deer as much as possible—they have a World Curling event there every year,” she said.

“Unfortunately, last year we missed that event and this year we may miss it if we qualify for the Grand Slam which is at the same time.

“It is a great atmosphere and the rink there is really awesome. They always put on a really good ‘spiel.”

todd.vaughan@reddeerexpress.com

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