Jerry Shoemaker, a prominent Saskatoon curling figure, is happy with the health of his favourite game in Canada. “Great strides have been made in the competitive, high-end scale of the Canadian game,” said Shoemaker, who was president of Canadian Curling Association (CCA) — now known as Curling Canada — in 2005-2006 and is the newly-minted Saskatoon Kins-men Sportsman of the Year.
number of high-profile positions
in curling.
(Photo by Sandy Hutchinson)
“The players have become leaders and great promoters with their own tour. There’s more curling on television than ever before. But the curling associations have contributed, too. I remember I was just coming on the Canadian association board when Tim Hortons became the title sponsor for the Brier. They insisted that expenses be covered for all the Brier teams and that worth-while playoff rewards became automatic for the top teams,” said Shoemaker.
His own rise to the executive level was significant. He was president of the Saskatoon Granite Club in 1987, the first president of Curl Saskatoon in 1990, president of the Saskatchewan Curling Association in 2000 and head of the CCA in 2005-06.
As CCA president, he was lucky enough to be at the Winter Olympics in Pinerolo, near Turin, Italy. Canada came home with gold medals for the Brad Gushue men’s rink and bronze medals for the Shannon Kleibrink women’s rink.
“The Olympics are now the dream shot of any Canadian curler. You see it in the way some build teams on a four-year cycle. And you see it in the results.“ On the ice, the game has changed. The free guard zone took the 2-1 and 3-2 scores out of play. The ice at major competitions is phenomenal, and you see shots like triple raises, draws to the button, which are now more common.”
Shoemaker held different roles in the last four Briers staged in Saskatoon — one as chair of the Brierpatch, another as the Saskatoon clubs delegate, another as the CCA competition liaison, and the last one as vice-president of facilities.
Even as curling receives tremendous support on television, and as one who grew up in schoolboy curling in Plunkett, he recognizes that “not everything is rosy at the grassroots level, with declining numbers of clubs and memberships. Even with good junior programs, we don’t have everybody staying as they become adults.”
Shoemaker’s recognition as the Saskatoon Sportsman of the Year takes place at the annual Kinsmen Sports Celebrity dinner at TCU Place on Feb. 7.