Laura Walker

#BetweenTheSheets with Laura Walker

Discussing post-Olympic planning, gender (in)equality, 
mixed doubles and more

It has been awhile since we have opened up our curling arms and welcomed a new member into the coveted #TwineTimeFam rock heads and stoners. While the season has been sliding along, this blog has been waiting to find the perfect candidate to become the first new member of the family for the 2018/19 season.

With the Women of Curling calendar heating up curling houses around the world, a new team to hit the ice with and proving to be a dynamo on the mixed doubles circuit it was an easy choice to reach out and ask Laura Walker to become our newest #TwineTimeFam member.

And did we ever have a lot to talk about.....

This season the #TwineTime blog has made an attempt to slide further down the ice, out of the hack, across the hog line and into the unswept pebbled path of social consciousness. Whether this means formulating and trying out a new tour structure and ranking system to asking if curling is doing enough to be inclusive and equal, the idea of spinning our rocks around bigger issues than just a game on the ice is a path worth sliding.

Welcome Laura Walker to the conversation. Walker is featured in the 2019 Women of Curling calendar and has not only been promoting the calendar and supporting a worthy cause (I'll let her talk more about that in our interview) but also finding her voice in the conversation of gender equality among athletes. A platform some athletes may shy away from but one Walker is very comfortable discussing.

But it is not all serious all the time either. We talk about her new team and what it's like to be looking down the sheet of ice at a team of all-stars. Did she get a bit nervous or even star-struck the first few times playing next to championship pedigree curlers?

Plus we talk about her success in mixed doubles, participating in the first-ever Curling World Cup event, her take on the #growthesport movement based on her strong junior resume and we have a little fun with some #LightningRound questions.

Join me with open arm in welcoming Laura Walker to the #TwineTimeFam:




What an interview! It was very relaxed and felt more like two people just sitting and talking about curling than an interviewer/interviewee. No better feeling in the world from this blogger's perspective.

HUGE thanks to Laura Walker for taking time out of a very busy Fall curling schedule to sit down and talk with me and for being so open, honest and real with her responses. Hopefully we helped break the glass a bit between curler and fan but also, and perhaps more importantly, started to get people thinking about the "larger than curling" major topic of gender equality and social consciousness in sports today.

As Walker mentioned in the interview, if you would like to buy a 2019 Women of Curling calendar and help support the Sandra Schmirler Foundation, message her on Twitter (and maybe let her know you enjoyed the interview as well 😉)

Again, welcome to the #TwineTimeFam Laura! Best of luck on the rest of the season (of note, Team Walker is competing at the upcoming #TourChallenge Tier I starting this week in Thunder Bay) and in the future. And lets hope you are able to raise a lot of money for a great cause with your Women of Curling calendar fundraising.

<Sidenote: My sincere apologies to Bruce Mouat on mispronouncing his name. Ugh....I should know better>