Message from Curling Canada:
Hi everyone, we wanted to let you know that we have met internally at the request of CurlManitoba, some parents and athletes to provide clarity and a smoother transition plan around allowing “overage” Under-21 Juniors starting in 2021. Attached is a summary for your reference and we ask you to share this summary with your membership.
Curling Canada has adjusted the “overage athlete” age eligibility to align with the World Curling Federation birth date of June 30th. We initially included athletes born from January – June and we will now also include athletes born between July – December for that curling calendar year.
This extension to the overage athlete provides a more inclusive opportunity for our athletes competing at the Under-21 level. We are aware that for three seasons only we may have a team that wins the U21 Canadian championship with one overage athlete. Should that occur, we will replace that player for the World Juniors with an age eligible athlete and we will find a way for the overage player to have a meaningful experience at the World Juniors with the team. We will have a full season to work with our teams representing Canada at the World Juniors so there is time to work on the logistics.
We will not be making a public announcement about this as it is a slight change for transition purposes and we are not opening up our decisions for further debate. Curling Canada will reply to the public queries we have received to date and moving forward we will refer athletes and parents back to the MA.
The age criteria for the Under-18 Nationals remains the same. All athletes must be less than 18 years of age on June 30th of the preceding year of the nationals. For example, an athlete competing at the 2021 Under-18 Nationals must be less than 18 years of age on June 30, 2020.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Thanks very much, Helen.
