The atmosphere at Moose Jaw Diversified Services is filled with excitement as one of the participants, Rachelle Wright, is cheering on her mother, Marie Wright, who’s now competing in the 2024 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships in Moose Jaw.
The curling championship event is scheduled to run from March 24 – 30 and is taking place at the Moose Jaw Curling Centre.
Jason Gillard is Rachelle’s supervisor at Diversified Services and said she was “fired up” at the opportunity to be included in the local newspaper – and is also a proud supporter of her mother.
“We have a bunch of tickets,” Gillard said. “We’ve been going pretty much every day during the week to see them compete. I believe the last three days we went every day to watch…”
When asked how she felt about seeing her mother compete at the championships, Rachelle said, “I’m happy about it.” When asked if she was proud of Marie, she replied, “Yeah, I am!”
The opportunity to have a family member compete in a national-level sport and be able to attend the matches in person is something new among the team at Moose Jaw Diversified Services.
“As far as I can recall, yeah, it’s the very first time that we’ve ever seen anything like this. We’ve been able to go to an event where someone’s mom is there and everybody can cheer them on,” said Gillard.
“I don’t believe that’s ever happened here before so it’s quite exciting and quite unique.”
Marie Wright is representing Saskatchewan at the ongoing curling championships and plays the position of vice-skip on the team.
Marie is a seasoned veteran of the sport and previously won Bronze in the 2018 Paralympic games. Ever since 2007, Marie has been a part of the national team in at least some capacity and, despite being initially reluctant to curl considering her background as a hockey player, she claims to have fallen in love with the sport of curling.
At the ongoing championship tournament, Marie and her team are now taking a shot at scoring a record-breaking fifth national championship victory.
“She’s super awesome,” Rachelle said about her mother. “She’s amazing.”
“She’s a very nice lady. I met her a few times and she’s very nice,” Gillard added.
Rachelle hasn’t curled herself, but said she is interested in learning. To facilitate this wish, Diversified Services routinely organizes outing events for its participants and has visited venues such as the Moose Jaw Curling Centre in the past.
“I want to curl so bad,” she said. “I want to be like my mamma.”
Rachelle said she’s inspired by her mother and remains hopeful that Marie could pull off a win and earn a gold medal at this year’s championship tournament. If she does pull off the win – and probably even if she doesn’t – her daughter has big plans in store.
“I want her to win gold,” she said. “If she does that, I’m going to take her out (for supper).”
To show her ongoing support in the days leading up to the final match, Rachelle and some friends at Diversified Services are doing all they can to cheer on Team Saskatchewan.
“I made a sign that says, ‘Go Mom go,’” Rachelle said. “I’m proud of her.”
The 2024 curling championships are scheduled to continue through the last week in March and will conclude on March 30.
To view the games, visit the Moose Jaw Curling Centre located at 110 First Avenue Northwest. Who knows, you might even see Rachelle and the team at Diversified Services cheering on Team Saskatchewan from the stands.
