Two local curlers are the only Canadians competing this weekend at the Dutch Masters Mixed Doubles Tournament in the Netherlands. Dauphin's Lisa Menard and Ray Baker begin the 20 team tournament Friday morning. They'll face off with teams from Russia, Romania and the Netherlands.
Menard explains why she and Baker are taking part in this event and what it's all about.
"It's part of the Curling Champions Tour which is the European equivalent to the World Curling Tour. There's an application process and they hold a couple spots for teams from the USA and Canada so we applied in September and we found out in mid October that we were accepted!"
The event runs until Sunday with 20 teams taking part. Menard and Baker are the only rink from Canada at the event.
Menard says it'll be a good learning experience.
"First and foremost it's to absorb what we can when it comes to the strategy from the Europeans. Of course we'd like to still be playing when the playoffs roll around. Mixed Doubles was designed by a Canadian but it hasn't actually taken off in Canada yet and the Europeans have really adopted it and worked on the strategy to perfect it much better than the Canadians have."
You can actually watch Menard and Baker Saturday morning when they take on one of the two teams from Russia at the event.
The tournament is being streamed on YouTube.
Menard explains why she and Baker are taking part in this event and what it's all about.
"It's part of the Curling Champions Tour which is the European equivalent to the World Curling Tour. There's an application process and they hold a couple spots for teams from the USA and Canada so we applied in September and we found out in mid October that we were accepted!"
The event runs until Sunday with 20 teams taking part. Menard and Baker are the only rink from Canada at the event.
Menard says it'll be a good learning experience.
"First and foremost it's to absorb what we can when it comes to the strategy from the Europeans. Of course we'd like to still be playing when the playoffs roll around. Mixed Doubles was designed by a Canadian but it hasn't actually taken off in Canada yet and the Europeans have really adopted it and worked on the strategy to perfect it much better than the Canadians have."
You can actually watch Menard and Baker Saturday morning when they take on one of the two teams from Russia at the event.
The tournament is being streamed on YouTube.
Menard and Baker play at 8:00am Saturday morning, 3:00pm in the Netherlands.
It'll be a quick turnaround for Lisa Menard. She returns to Manitoba on Monday and then heads straight to the Manitoba Scotties which begins next Wednesday in Beausejour.
It'll be a quick turnaround for Lisa Menard. She returns to Manitoba on Monday and then heads straight to the Manitoba Scotties which begins next Wednesday in Beausejour.
