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Sports “Connected to your Community”Jon KuiperijSports Editorsports@oakvillebeaver.com

Kirsten Wall had enjoyed a successful curling career.

With an Ontario junior title and four trips to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts under her belt, she had risen to a level few curlers ever reach. And with two young daughters about to begin taking part in their own activities, Wall decided it was time for her own pursuits to take a back seat.

Two years and two retirements later, Wall is adding an-other title to her curling resumé — Olympian. The Oakville resident will head to Sochi next month as the alternate on Jennifer Jones’ Canadian rink.

Wall, a native of Milton, was two months into retirement when her phone rang. It was four-time Canadian champion Jennifer Jones. The 2008 world champion skip was going to miss the first half of the season due to knee surgery and the birth of her first child. Jones wanted to know if Wall was interested in joining the rink for the first half of the season for a series of cashspiels.

“That’s an offer you can’t refuse,” the 38-year-old said. Besides, it was only half a season. Retirement could wait a

little longer. Despite missing its skip,

the rink had success with Kaitlyn Lawes taking over Jones’ spot and Wall filling the role of vice. It won an event in Edmonton and sat seventh on the World Curl-ing Tour money list when Jones returned in January.

As the rink completed the season with its usual lineup, Wall, a senior genetic tech-nologist at Mississauga’s Credit Valley Hospital, again looked forward to a time when vacations weren’t spent in curling rinks. But again, it wouldn’t last. Her phone

rang again last spring. Would she be interested in being the rink’s alternate for its bid to qualify for the Olympics?

“It was an incredible honour,” said Wall, who had been through two Olympic trials with Sherry Middaugh. “I have the utmost respect for them. They have a tremendous work ethic and a dedication to the sport that is second to none. To be asked, it was a shock. I never thought I’d get that op-portunity.”

At the Olympic trials, the Jones rink went 6-1 to clinch first place in the round robin and earn a bye to the final where it met Wall’s former Middaugh teammates.

“That was bittersweet,” she said. “I’ve known all of them for years. That’s never fun. They had a great run. They had a string of wins (to get to the final) and you never want to play a team like that. Fortunately, for us, we ended up with more points on the board.”

The Jones rink’s 8-4 win secured its place at the Olym-pics.

It’s a thrill for a lifelong curler who “was born and raised at the Milton Curling Club.” Both of her parents curled so she’d spent countless hours in curling rinks before she started playing at the age of eight. When she started having success in the junior ranks, she began taking the game more seriously.

“When you start thinking, ‘If I go skiing at Glen Eden on Friday and break my leg, I won’t be able to curl on Saturday,’ you know it has become a priority,” Wall said. “Then once you get to that first junior provincial and get a taste of it, and you know you have a chance to excel, you start to put more time and effort into it.”

Curling was only an Olympic demonstration sport when she skipped her rink to the Ontario junior title in 1994.

Wall still isn’t exactly sure how she was chosen to round

Retirement can wait, Olympic-bound curler decidesKirsten Wall (left), pic-

tured practising with Jill Lovatt (right) and

Monta Johnson at the Oakville Curling Club,

will be an alternate for Jennifer Jones’

Canadian women’s curling rink at next

month’s Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Wall had

retired from the sport before being coaxed back into action by the Canadian skip.

| photo byNikki Wesley —

Oakville Beaver —@Halton_Photog

by Herb GarbuttOakville Beaver Staff

To be asked, it was a shock. I never thought

I’d get thatopportunity.

Kirsten WallTeam Canada curling alternate

see Fellow on p.26