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USA Team brings home third place medal By Melissa Peace 
Point Pleasant resident Jacqui Kapinowski has added yet another achievement to her already long list of accomplishments, with a third place win at an international bonspiel as part of the 2008 US Wheelchair Curling Team. Ms. Kapinowski, 45, is the lone female on the team, which is made up of three other wheelchair athletes. She secured her spot on the team after a series of intense trials in November, which took her to Utica, N.Y. Diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, a progressive neurological disorder, in 2001, the borough resident has been forced to rely on a wheelchair to move around, though the new form of mobility has not been able to crush her insatiable appetite for athletic competition. Recently, Ms. Kapinowski and her husband of 18 years, Harry, made the trip back up to New York where she competed alongside the team during a series of international bonspiel that saw the U.S. team bring home a third place medal. The team, along with Ms. Kapinowski, is comprised of curling veterans Augusto Perez, James Pierce and James Joseph, all of New York state. The team was met in competition with others from Scotland, Canada, Norway and Great Britain. The first big match-up for the team, Ms. Kapinowski said, was incredible, with opportunities to meet the leading wheelchair curlers of the world. “I got such great encouragement from the other players,” said Ms. Kapinowski. She even had the opportunity to play alongside a player from Norway when one of the US Team members was unable to attend a game because of a family emergency. “She was so sweet,” said Ms. Kapinowski of the Norwegian player who was able to swap sides due to her position as an alternate. The team also took first place in the "Kathy Kerr Bonspiel,” which was held in Ottawa, Canada. After only learning the sport of curling this past October, Ms. Kapinowski has been training hard to ensure her collection of medals.
The sport, which originated in Great Britain, differs from traditional curling in that there are no sweepers in the game. In wheelchair curling, one player will anchor the other player’s chair on the ice, front-to-back, so the player pushing the 42-pound stone with the curling pole, does not slide on the ice. Though she has only played the sport for a few months, drastically different from the years of experience that her fellow curlers have, Ms. Kapinowski said she has a great affinity for the game. “I just love it so much and I think I have been playing pretty well,” said Ms. Kapinowski. Next up for the team will be an intense practice clinic that will see them traveling to Wisconsin for a week. Then, Team USA will gear up for the 2008 World Wheelchair Curling Championship in Sursee, Switzerland. Part of the Olympic organization, the championship will pit the team from America against those from Canada, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Switzerland, Russia and Sweden. The games will take place in February. “Everyone keeps telling me how emotional it will be to hear your national anthem played during the games,” said Ms. Kapinowski. The feeling of pride athletes feel when they are representing their country and themselves is not at all strange to Ms. Kapinowski, who has competed in marathons her entire life. In recent years she has made her way across the finish line of scores of races which she has competed in with her wheelchair. Though she still has a great deal of passion for wheelchair racing, she will not be able to put in the time for the competitions as she once did because of her commitment to curling. “I still do weight training every day and go out in the hand cycle every day,” said Ms. Kapinowski. Since having to put wheelchair racing on the back burner, Ms. Kapinowski will dedicate herself to becoming the best curler she can be to help bring the gold medal home to Point Pleasant during the 2010 Winter Olympics. “I think we are going to do it. I think we are going to come home with a medal,” she said. |
