An Okotoks curling family is on the national stage for the second year in a row.
Okotokian Faith Thomas and Team Whitbread will look to sweep the field when the 2024 Canadian U18 Female Curling Championships hit the pebbled ice in Ottawa from Feb. 4-10.
“I believe I’m ready for it,” Thomas said. “I think it will finally sink in a bit more once I play my first game and I’m listening to everyone in the stands.”
The Thomas family has considerable recent history at the event.
Faith’s brother Logan won the 2023 U18 national title as the alternate on Team Davies, a squad that also featured Foothills County’s Ben Kiist. Team Alberta 2 went undefeated at last year’s championships in Timmins, Ont.
“I started curling because of him,” she said. “He’s older so he started and I thought why don’t I try? We started playing together for a couple of years and then each found our own teams, him with Team Davies and me with Team Whitbread.
“Neither of us were in the same place as our team so we had to practise technical skills on our own and it seems to work out pretty well for us.”
Team Alberta 2 features Thomas at lead along with skip Abby Whitbread from Lacombe, third Anna Bakos from St. Albert and second Hayley Adams from Edmonton.
“Last year, all the teams we were on were ending and we all had another year left in this age group,” Thomas said. “We were all front-end players so we all played second and third, so we had to figure out where each of us fit.
“I found (lead) quite challenging at first, I hadn’t played it since I was eight and playing with Logan, but now I’m starting to really enjoy it. The shots are less complex than I used to throw, but I feel like I have to throw more consistent.”
Team Whitbread finished second at the Alberta Optimist U18 Girls Provincial Championship last month in Sylvan Lake. The team finished with an impressive 6-3 record at provincials, bested only by Team DeSchiffart, also based out of Lacombe.
“From the very beginning, our first event together we went ahead and won it,” Thomas said. “We weren’t expecting to win, but we took it every shot at a time and we talked about what went well, what didn’t go well, how do we fix this? Eventually we got to where we were going to women’s events and took it one game at a time, and that’s basically been our strategy.”
Alberta is the defending champion in both the girls and boys side of the bracket at the event.
Logan’s teammate at last year’s event Lucas Sawiuk is back for a shot at a repeat as the third on the Alberta 1 team skipped by Peter Hlushak.
Faith didn’t make the trip to last year’s championships, tuning in from home and getting as close to the event as possible.
“I wish I could have gone,” Thomas said. “It was very fun for me to watch and see how excited they all were and when they first won, they all Facetimed me and all celebrated with me which was really special.”
A total of 42 teams will be in Ontario to battle for national bragging rights.
Team Alberta 2 is in Pool B alongside Northern Ontario 2, P.E.I. 1, Quebec 2, Ontario 1, B.C. 1 and Yukon 1.
Team Whitbread’s competition kicks off on Feb. 4 at noon EST against Northern Ontario 2.
Select games from the nationals will be live-streamed by Curling Canada. For more on streaming options, click here.
For more information, go to curling.ca/2024u18/.
