As the curtains close and the credits roll on yet another amazing curling season, it is a show we not will soon forget.
Penticton was the host of the Okanagan high school play downs, regions 3, 4, and 7, Dominion Club Challenge and the Eagles Western Canadian Bonspiel. In November, the Canadian Curling Association announced that the Penticton Curling Club, partnered with the City of Penticton, was awarded the 2013 Continental Cup to be held in January 2013. This will be the first international curling event that Penticton has hosted.
As we hang up our curling brooms, and dust off the golf clubs, there are so many people to thank for their contribution to the clubs success.
As they say, behind every great club there is a team of dedicated members.
I would like to introduce a Penticton curler, director of the Penticton Curling Club board, and vice-chair of the 2013 Continental Cup Host Committee. For many, he needs no introduction, Cy Gladish lives a very active lifestyle. He is a curler, hockey player and an avid golfer.
But what you might not know about Cy is he is also a great teacher and dedicated volunteer in the curling community. Cy is dedicated to the sport of curling and to achieving personal excellence both on and off the ice. His curling career began in his 30’s. His interest in curling began with his father, Art Gladish, who played in Calgary’s Super League.
Among his many past achievements, he won men’s zones, and qualified for the provincials a few times, he was also in the B.C. provincial mixed finals in 1994. Cy played for many years in the Kelowna Super league with the likes of Rick Folk.
When asked how this year’s season went for him, he calls it a soft year.
His soft year saw him win the South Okanagan Skins League (consisting of teams from Peachland to Osoyoos). His mixed team won the A division in the Bush Spiel in Summerland, and if that is not enough of an accomplishment, he was in the finals in Senior Men’s, the Men’s Evening League and the competitive Wednesday Mixed League.
Cy arrives at every game complete with his own fan club; Babs Gladish (his wife) can be seen in the upstairs viewing area watching every game from the season opener to the finals in the men’s league.
The past few years Cy can be found mentoring some very promising curlers. He is a role model for many of us who strive to be better curlers. He helps with the curling clinics at beginning of the year, as well as in the junior program.
It is both an honor and a privilege to be co-director with Cy on the Penticton Curling Club board and to work along side him on the 2013 Continental Cup host committee. Thank you Cy.
In closing, “You Got to Be There”, refers to the catch phrase for the 2013 World Financial Group Continental Cup that will be in Penticton Jan. 10 to 13. Tickets are on sale now www.curling.ca/tickets.
The Host Committee for the 2013 World Financial Group Continental Cup is accepting applications from those who to want to be part of one of curling’s most prestigious events
http://www.curling.ca/championships/continentalcup/volunteer/
Kim Kirkham is the spokesperson for the Penticton Curling Club.