Tuesday 10 January 2017

#Litterbox

#BetweenTheSheets With Catlin Schneider
A multi-sport athlete, Hawaii living, the "Purrrr-fect" nickname and...banning the tick shot?


The curling blood runs deep in the Schneider family.  From Jamie Schneider winning the Canadian Junior Curling Championship in 1983 to Kim Schneider winning the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (with Amber Holland) in 2011, the Schneider name is one of traditional and associated with winning.  If you enter any curling club, especially within Saskatchewan, everyone knows the Schneider name.  From small humble beginnings in the Kronau area, a community of 250 people (yup that small and I've been there numerous times to know it's true) yet with it's own curling rink, to national prominence whenever you see a curler hit the ice with the name Schneider on the back of the jacket, you know you are in for a good game.

Enter Catlin Schneider.  Big curling shoes to fill when your family has Canadian champions around you.  But no living in the Schneider family shadow for this 25-year old.  Curling athlete?  Check!  But don't think he is resting on family laurels.  How about football stud?  Golfer?   Yup, Catlin has the athlete genes flowing through him.  But don't let the muscles and physique fool you either.  University graduate?  Engineer?  Yup, brains with brawn here folks.  Some would say Catlin is the triple threat of brains, brawn and beauty....and he is ready to take the curling world by storm with his Saskatchewan team.  Curling as a vice with Team Meachem, Catlin enjoyed a breakthrough season last year and the build-up, anticipation...and expectations...for the future are shining brighter than ever before.

Wednesday 4 January 2017

#BetweenTheSheets: Bracketology Comes To Curling!
The rings runneth red at the Canadian Open


Welcome 2017!  I hope all of you curling fans were able to enjoy the holiday season and ring in the New Year...get it, "ring" in the new year?!?  The curling house has rings...see what I did there?  Ok, already starting the new year with a bang!

The calendar barely flipped over into a new year and already we have a grand slam event to get excited about.  The Canadian Open, usually held in December, was moved to January this season.  While it may not give the athletes lots of time to prepare so close to post-NYE celebrations, it sure gives curling fans something to wet our rocks with.  The Canadian Open is the fourth stop on the grand slam of curling calendar and, for the third year in a row, will be hosted by my home province, Saskatchewan.  Go #TeamGreen!!

Before we jump into the first grand slam of 2017, the curling calendar for the new year has already crowned it's first champions.  The US Open (an event which perhaps should be the next grand slam event on the calendar in my opinion) began before the end of 2016 and wrapped up at the beginning of this week.