Officer slides into position as high performance director

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This article was published 13/06/2022 (1181 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

From one world champion to another. Manitoba’s high-performance curlers are in good hands. Connie Laliberte is retiring as Curl Manitoba’s High Performance Director at the end of the month after 18 years on the job. Taking over for Laliberte, the 1984 World Champion skip, is fellow curling legend Jill Officer.

“I’ve been contemplating it for a few years. We lost some participants because of COVID, right? So, just like any other sport, we have to sort of rebuild. So I thought it might be a good opportunity for someone else to take the reins,” Laliberte told the Free Press on Monday.

“Maybe with me, it’s doing the same old. Just getting some new blood in there might allow us to be more creative.”

The longtime second for Jennifer Jones jumped at the chance to help the province’s next generation of talent.

“When I sort of stepped away from elite play four years ago, I knew I wanted to stay involved in curling,” Officer said.

“It’s my community and I wanted to be able to somehow give back by sharing my knowledge and experiences. I didn’t really know what that looked like for the longest time I guess until this position opened and I thought it was a good opportunity to do it in a more structured manner. Hopefully I can pass on some good information and experience to some younger people who want to get better at curling.”

The program, which was created by Laliberte nearly two decades ago, is designed to give younger athletes the tools to be successful in the sport and potentially reach an elite level. But Officer said it’s not all about finding the next world champion.

“It’ll be about trying to get kids and keep kids involved,” Officer said.

“I think it’s important to note that as much as this is a high performance program and maybe these athletes are high performance at a younger age, they may evolve into a recreational curler but that’s a success as well because it means people are involved in the sport, it means they’re likely watching the sport, and it means that they’re being active.”

While the province still boasts a ton of talent, the interest in the game is declining.

“I find that the rural areas have really taken the brunt of it. We have a junior high performance in Dauphin and we’re really struggling there right now,” Laliberte said.

“We normally have more athletes, coaches, and instructors. Now because they were unable to offer their program the last two years, they’re suffering in getting kids involved in the sport at a certain age. There’s going to be rebuilding there. And then Brandon, which used to be a big curling hub, it’s a big concern there. They really need someone there to spearhead it and I think if that happens, we’ll get some growth in that region.”

Officer doesn’t plan on making any drastic changes right away as she’ll spend the next few weeks further understanding the role. But for Officer, taking over for someone she’s always had a great respect and admiration for makes it that much sweeter.

“It’s kind of come full circle to some degree. I actually remember when we were in juniors, we were older juniors, and we beat Connie and her team. They were one of the best women’s teams in Canada at the time and were part of the Sandra Schmirler era and were constant rivals at that time. We had the opportunity to play both Connie and Sandra and it was a big deal for us to play Connie being from the same province,” Officer said.

“And then as our career evolved and Connie retired and took on this program, we had Janet Arnott, Connie’s sister, as our coach. She passed on her knowledge and Connie’s passed on all her knowledge to all these juniors she has worked with. So, it’s kind of cool to think back to that team that we beat Connie and we looked up to them as a team that we wanted to be like. It’s kind of cool that she’s passing it on to me now.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31