Vision impaired curling lets these Londoners find purpose and connection one rock at a time

London is hosting a provincial championship for vision impaired curling on Saturday, where the Highland Country Club is welcoming nearly a dozen teams of curlers from across Ontario.  

The parasport tournament will have a mix of competitive and recreational games that players with varying levels of vision impairment and their guides will participate in. Last year, the London Vision Impaired Curlers became provincial champions. 

Londoner Wajdi Khouri is going into his seventh year playing on the team, and although the parasport is a great form of activity — it's also allowed Khouri to be part of a community that allows him to learn at his own pace. 

"It's a tight-knit social group of people who get together and curl on the ice. It makes me feel like if I put my mind to it, I can accomplish almost anything and makes me grateful," said Khouri who has partial blindness.

"We're constantly joking around with each other and going out for social time. This group of people is so welcoming and curling couldn't be possible without our volunteer coaches and guides who take their time and be patient with us. They're a necessity to our group dynamic."

The game is similar to traditional curling — except players use a stick or a slide on the ice and have guides helping line them up when they throw rocks. Guides often cue players using light or the sound of their voice, depending on a player's visual ability which can range from partial impairment to total blindness.

Tim Prohaszka had been curling for more than three decades when he became legally blind in 2010. Not wanting to give up on the sport, he found a blind curling club in Kitchener where he played for two years before starting a team in London. 

"We just used various ideas like lights to get direction, and obviously hearing because a lot of times you can hear the rock going across the ice so you can kind of get the speed of the rock by doing that," said Prohaszka, the group's president.

Prohaszka said adapting to curling after his vision loss was a challenge. There were moments when he could only throw a rock halfway down because he wasn't able to measure his speed, but after continuous practice and a steep learning curve, it became easier.

"We all talk together and help each other out as well, so is it harder? Yes, just because you can't see the other end of the [ice] sheet, but we're vision impaired ... we adapt," he added.

The best part of curling for the players is what happens afterwards, which is the team's "social time" where they go different events together and interact with each other off the ice. "Basically, curling interferes with our social time," Prohaszka joked. 

Jim Lalonde guides the team of five curlers and is fascinated by their resilience and tenacity to succeed. Having a sport for vision impaired players includes them in everyday life and allows them to have a positive outlook on life overall, he said. 

"They don't let anything stop them. It's 'We can do it', and they do it. They just set their mind to it," Lalonde said.

"They have a great attitude. The big part about this is they're having lots of fun. It stops them from sitting at home, feeling depressed and thinking things are all bad and gloomy, so it gets them out."