SportsOakville Beaver 42 SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email [email protected] • FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2007 Former junior champions together again Young trio aiming for 2010 Olympic Games

■ By Jon Kuiperij way some weeks. You’re hot or you’re BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR not, and (this week) we’re struggling.” Struggling is something Leachman, Reunited, and it feels so good. Reddick and Armstrong aren’t accus- Split up briefly after enjoying plenty tomed to — especially as teammates. of success as junior curling teammates, The three, along with Burlington’s Julie Reddick, Stephanie Leachman and Karen Vachon, combined to win provin- Leigh Armstrong have joined forces cial titles in 1999, 2000 and 2002, plac- once again at the women’s level. ing fourth at nationals each of those The trio, which curled out of the years. Oakville Curling Club during a junior Last season, Reddick and Armstrong tenure that included three provincial teamed with — Reddick’s championships, has teamed with veter- boyfriend — and Scott Foster to win the an Brantford skip Jo-Ann Rizzo in the mixed curling championship ultimate hope of representing at in the Yukon Territory. the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in With such a history of success, Vancouver. Armstrong admitted it’s been a bit diffi- “(Leachman and Armstrong) are a cult accepting the notion that the team year older than me, and the junior cut- won’t dominate the women’s scene — off is 20. When they had to move out, I at least in the immediate future. played with a different team and they “I think we put a lot of pressure on got onto women’s teams, and when I ourselves,” said the 24-year-old Milton came out of juniors I got asked to play resident. “We did have a lot of success on another women’s team,” said early, so we’re here and we’re here to Reddick, an Oakville Trafalgar High win. The older teams say ‘you have so School grad, when asked why the team many years left’, but we say we want it broke up in the first place. “We are all now because we’ve had a taste of what really good friends, and we get along it’s like to win.” really well. We knew what we were get- The women will wrap up the Scotties ting into (by joining back together).” Tournament of Hearts today with their final-round robin game, then pack their Early struggles bags for Japan. The Rizzo rink has been The early returns on their reunion, selected by the Canadian Curling however, have been mixed. The rink has Association’s La Releve program to rep- struggled through what the players resent Canada at the Karuizawa describe as an “up-and-down” season, International Curling Championships, including a 1-5 start at the Scotties which begin Tuesday. Tournament of Hearts provincial cham- The La Releve program identifies pionships this week at Mississauga’s Olympic hopefuls and provides funding, Dixie Curling Club. high-level coaching and chances for “So far, it has went well, until this international experience. week,” former White Oaks Secondary “None of us have been exposed to School student Leachman said international competition, so we’ll play Wednesday afternoon, following her against different teams and see different team’s 6-3 loss to five-time provincial ice conditions,” said Reddick. “It’s work LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER champion Sherry Middaugh. “Over the towards the future in case we’re able to REUNION: Stephanie Leachman, Julie Reddick and Leigh Armstrong (pictured left to right), who won three course of the season, we’ve meshed be in that position again to play interna- provincial junior curling championships while playing out of the Oakville Curling Club, are now teamed with together, but curling doesn’t go your tionally.” Brantford’s Jo-Ann Rizzo in hopes of competing at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

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