SPORTS/CULTURE
By B.C. Kowalski
Local curler to take on world competition in Beijing Paralympics When Matt Thums showed up at a Learn to Curl event in 2005, he was the first-ever curler to do so in a wheelchair. Thums, reached by a reporter last week, was on his way to compete at the highest level in the sport of wheelchair curling in Beijing. Chosen to join Team USA to compete in the Paralympic games this month, Thums will bring the pride of his country, and his local curling club, overseas to the sport. Thums has been practicing every day to perfect his art. Now, he’s part of an entire team of wheelchair curlers and is able to compete with able-bodied players. But when he first made his way to the new curling center on what is now called Curling Way Drive across from the Peoples Sports Complex, he was the first in a wheelchair to ever have done so. “A couple of people came and helped me out,” Thums told City pages from a hotel in L.A. as he prepared for the flight to Beijing. No one really had any experience with wheelchair curling, so they were learning as much as he was. “I delivered the rock for the first time with my hands. That didn’t work too well.” Some people, especially elderly curlers, use a delivery stick instead of sliding the rock across the idea with their hand while kneeling down. Thums tried that out and it seemed to work better.
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▲ Matt Thums, courtesy Team USA Curling. Matches will stream on www.peacocktv.com starting March 4.
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The experience was enough to hook Thums on the sport. As soon as he got home, he fired up the computer and started poking around online to learn all he could about wheelchair curling. “I watched a game or two and saw what they were using. I got the right equipment and that helped a lot.” Other than that, there aren’t many differences. The only other is that wheelchair curlers don’t sweep. Ordinarily, members of the curling team can sweep to change the trajectory of the large rock, to help it land in the right spot on the board. Wheelchair curlers need to be adept at their throwing because no one is going to sweep it, or “curl” it into position The first year was all learning, but then Thums took his game to the next level. By 2016 he’d made the national team for the first time, and got into the traveling team by 2019. “I’m very honored to be playing for Team USA and representing the U.S.A.,” Thums told City Pages. Is he nervous to be on the world stage? Not really, Thums says. He’s played in World Championships, so he had worked out those nerves already. He might get a touch nervous in the first couple of ends, but expects the nerves will settle as he starts throwing. Thums says any of the teams have a legitimate shot at winning, though he cites Russia, Sweden, China and Canada as bringing some of the toughest competition. Every team has to earn their spot in the Paralympics, which is why he felt the pressure more at the world champs than in the Paralympics. But Team USA will definitely be looking to get on the podium all the same.
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