Team Taiwania has been undergoing major transformations since early this year. Not only does our men’s team have many new faces, the number of our members has nearly doubled with the addition of a women’s team. We had competed in the Chinese Taipei Curling Federation (CTCF) Playdowns in June for all three disciplines. While our men’s and women’s teams fell short in the event, our mixed doubles team stood strong and will continue to represent Chinese Taipei in the upcoming season.
New Challenges
Now the majority of our members are based in Taiwan, with the exception of the mixed doubles team. We are facing several new challenges for the years to come. First of all, we have to find different ways of training as there is no dedicated curling ice in Taiwan and the current ice time on arena ice is very limited. Secondly, we have to conduct coaching sessions remotely as Coach Ting-Li is based in the US, and we also have to deal with the time zone difference. Thirdly and not surprisingly, more financial support is needed to help overcome the first two challenges. That is, in order to conduct quality, in-person training on curling ice, the teams will have to go to other countries and the travel expense will add up quickly.
Upcoming Events
The men’s team and women’s team are currently preparing for the National Curling Championships in Taipei on Sep 7th and 8th. In addition, two players from each of our men’s and women’s team have been selected by the CTCF to form a mixed team to represent Chinese Taipei in the World Mixed Curling Championship in Aberdeen, Scotland, from October 12th to 19th. This will be the first time for Taiwan-based players to compete in the international stage.
Our mixed doubles team will represent Chinese Taipei in the World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event in Dumfries, Scotland, from Dec 2nd to 7th. The team will also participate in various spiels throughout the season.
