It was an incredible year for curling's Team Sugden, and coach Gord Titchkosky couldn't be prouder but also believes their best is yet to come.
Titchkosky can trace his love of the sport back a long ways and it's only grown over the years as a coach. "It all started going back to before I can even remember. My parents were involved in curling, so I grew up in a curling rink, pretty much. It was natural for me to get involved with it. My coaching journey started about 10 years ago when my kids got into junior curling. There was a lack of help locally, so I stepped in to help out. It's kind of grown from there."
Transitioning from curling player to curling coach went rather smoothly, according to Titchkosky. "It was actually more similar than you would think. I enjoyed curling all the time, for sure, but I've always had a passion for the sport. Seeing the sport succeed and grow is very important, so helping young players enjoy and learn the sport was a natural progression for me."
One of the best parts for Titchkosky has been teaching kids strategy and getting them to understand the details of the game. "Coaching that is kind of interesting," he says with a chuckle. "When I started coaching competitive, I was with my son on his team at the time, and the first thing I had to do was learn to coach and not to parent. That was a transition for me. When I started looking at it from a coaching standpoint, it all came easier. That's when you can break down the strategy, the details, and find a way to success. It was a good lesson to learn."
It's not all about what happens on the ice, Titchkosky says being a strong mental coach also goes into the success of the team. "That's such a massive part of the game. When we started out coaching competitive teams, you start out focusing on the physical parts of it. The technical, throwing a good stone, then you get into more strategy. Once they become good curlers, that's when the mental part of the game can really take it to another level, like it has with Team Sugden, given the amount of time they've put into that part of their game."
There were quite a few highlights this year for Titchkosky and Team Sugden. "It was really a magical year," he says proudly. "It started many years ago, but the competitive drive came to life last year, when the team finished second at U18 provincials and earned a trip to Ottawa for the U18 nationals as Manitoba 2. That gave them a taste of what competitive curling could be. That really drove them into this year and the desire to get back to that again and to see what they could do. So, this year, they set their goals and one of them was to win U18 provincials that were held in Morden. When it came to that, they were ready to go and they ended up winning, earning a trip to nationals in Saskatoon as Manitoba 1. In Saskatoon, they played extremely well; we only had two losses, and both came in an extra end. We ended up finishing 5th in the country, so some really good success there. We just kept it going, within a few days we went off to the U20 provincials in Brandon, which is another step up. There, they performed exceptionally well and finished second in the province. That earned them a trip to the U20 nationals this year in Prince Edward Island."
Through all the success, Titchkosky believes there's nothing this team cannot achieve together. "Every level of competitive curling, it takes a little more. This year, they were still a U18 team, even though they had success in U20. They still have a little bit to go in U20, so they're still eligible at that level for a few more years. Certainly, the opportunity is there to take another step and hopefully get another chance to experience nationals again. Beyond that, that's when decisions will have to be made. Life takes over sometimes and decisions about competitive curling have to be made. With the experience and success they've had, it's easy to see them going forward into the men's side."
As for himself, Titchkosky says with a smile, "I'm just enjoying the ride."