9 January 1935 - 8 January 2021

Today we farewell our NZCA Life Member and curling stalwart, Stewart McKnight.

Stewart sadly passed away suddenly, aged 85 last Friday 8th January.

He was an all-round sports person who gave his best in every endeavour he undertook, including curling. He was part of our Idaburn Council and was a passionate Blackstone Hill curler.

Stewart contributed in many ways to our curling community, both indoor and outdoor.

Jess and Ben Smith. Photo © WGNZ / Iain McGregor

29 Nov 2020 – Maniototo siblings Jessica and Ben Smith earned the right to represent New Zealand at the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship when they won the three-team National Trial this weekend.

It has been a long wait for the pair. This is the third time they have won that right, but for personal reasons they did not go in 2019, and this year's World tournament was a casualty of the pandemic.

The 2020 cancellation increased the importance of the 2021 World Championship as an Olympic qualifier, triggering a one-off change from the NZ Curling Association. They introducing this National Trial rather than the automatic selection of the New Zealand Championship winners as the national team.

Click to watch highlights on Sky Sport Next's YouTube channel

1 Oct 2020 – Eleven teams contested the NZ Secondary School Curling Championships during the first three days of the September break at MCI Naseby.

The Girls' competition was a double round-robin topped by Otago Girls High School and Maniototo Area Schools. Both times dropped just one of their preliminary games, winning one and losing one of their meetings against the other.

They both won their respective semi-finals to set up a decider again in the final, and it was the Otago Girls combination of Rachael Pitts, Ailie Muldrew, Ella Williams, Emma Campbell and Caitlin Elkins who won the title 8-4. Kavanagh College took the bronze medal.

Click to watch a full replay of the final on Sky Sport Next's YouTube channel

20 Sep 2020 – A live-streamed thriller of a final capped off an outstanding 2020 NZ Mixed Doubles Championship.

With the scores tied in the final end and their opponents' shot rock on the button and well guarded, Bridget Becker managed to curl the last stone of the game around the guard, tap it back, and stay in the four foot ring to earn the gold medal match 9-8 for herself and brother Sean.

It was a see-saw affair that saw their opponents Mhairi-Bronte Duncan and Brett Sargon start strongly, scoring four in the opening end. The Becker siblings then scored in the next six ends to lead 8-4 before another four-point haul to Duncan and Sargon in the penultimate end levelled the scores.

NZ Men at the 2020 World Junior Championships. Photo © WCF / Richard Gray

2 Sep 2020 – The COVID-19 global pandemic has forced the World Curling Federation to cancel several events over the next few months.

Those that affect New Zealand curlers are November's Pacific-Asia Championships in Japan, and the January 2021 World Junior-B Championships in Finland.

The World Junior Championships in Beijing (18-28 February 2021) are currently still scheduled, and the NZ Junior Men's place in this event has been restored after the abandonment of the Junior-B event.

Whether they will be able to take up this chance is not yet certain.

Photo © WCF / Céline Stucki

25 Aug 2020 – Exciting opportunities for curlers in NZ to take advantage of scholarships have been provided by the World Curling Federation, through their partnership with the World Academy of Sport. Full details are on the WCF site here.

There are two opportunities:

• Postgraduate Certificate – targeted at individuals with professional experience and an interest in learning more about the industry of International Sports Management
• Athlete Certificate – targeted at students who want to gain a broader understanding of what it takes to become a successful athlete

The Anton Hood four, skipped by Peter de Boer, are the 2020 NZ Men's curling champions. Photo © Janyne Fletcher / NZCA

6 Aug 2020 – A perfect 6-0 record in the Women's double round-robin earned Bridget Becker, Nat Thurlow, Thivya Jeyaranjan, Eloise Pointon and Olivia Russell the title of 2020 NZ Women's curling champions last weekend, just a month after the MCI Naseby rink reopened following the Covid-19 shutdown.

It was a much tighter affair in the Men's competition, with four of the seven teams still in contention for a place in the final when the last round-robin session started on Sunday morning.

When Team Hamish Walker shook hands to concede their game to Dan Mustapic's side, the Garion Long four were assured of being one of the two finalists. Long went on to make doubly sure, topping the leaderboard with an extra end win over Peter Becker.

Sam Inder

28 Jul 2020 – Acclamation greeted the New Zealand Curling Association's unanimous decision to award Life Membership to Sam Inder at its recent Annual General Meeting. The meeting was Sam's last as President of an organisation he has been heavily involved with for many years.

His fellow Life Member and former long-time NZCA Secretary Peter Becker spoke at length of Sam's service to curling and to the New Zealand Curling Association.

Although his final role as President was the statutory 2-year maximum, Sam has served either on the Executive Committee or as an officer from 2007, and was its Chairman for the best part of a decade. At different times he has served on the Board of the Maniototo Curling International rink, and also had a spell as its Manager.

Sam also played a leading role in organising many of the superb international events that have come to our shores in recent years, including the 2012 Pacific-Asia Championships, 2015 Pacific Asia Juniors, 2019 World Qualifying Event, and several Winter Games tournaments.

Everyone involved in curling in New Zealand is grateful for Sam's contribution to our sport, whether they play on the natural ice of the Poolburn Dam, or indoors in Naseby, Dunedin or Auckland.
 

Photo © Malcolm McNeil / NZCA

26 Jul 2020 – The Nicolson Trophy, considered the most prestigious "outdoors" trophy a club can win outside of a National Bonspiel, was played at Naseby Ice Rink on Monday 17 July.

Only four clubs compete in this event, and they must qualify by being one of the top two clubs for the season from each of the Idaburn and Naseby Curling Councils. This year's qualifiers were Kiwi and Ranfurly Curling Clubs representing Naseby Council, and the Alpine and Poolburn Curling Clubs from the Idaburn Council.

Each club puts up two rinks each, and each rink is drawn to play against a side from both of the other Council's clubs. They play one 21-end game in the morning and another in the afternoon.