AIRDRIE, Alberta — Blair Lenton started coaching in 2007 when his youngest son started curling and they needed a coach for that team. Currently he coaches “Team Plett” of the Airdrie and Sherwood Park Curling Clubs. Over the years and many coaching courses and camps has gotten Blair his designation as a Certified Competition Coach. He is currently working on attaining his Competitive Development Coaching Certification.

The key to success says Blair, “Practice, practice, practice!” They practice as much as they can, making sure to work on key areas to improve. Fitness and rest are also key components to being successful. Making sure there is a good balance of both is important for them to be at the top of their game. But most of all, he tries to make sure they are having fun as a team. The girls have worked extremely hard this season and have seen success because of it.

The most memorable moments for Team Plett have been winning the 2022 U18 Alberta Provincial Championship which was held January 11-16 in Hinton, AB. The competition was strong, and the ice was always changing but they managed to come out of the round robin with a record of 5-2 and secured a spot in the semi finals. The semi final was against Team Booth from Okotoks. It was a great game that Team Plett won by a score of 7-3 and advanced to the final against Team Shannon out of Lethbridge. The final game was another great game that they won by a score of 8-2, crowning them Team Alberta. The team is excited to be able to represent their Province and see how they stack up against the rest of the country. This will be Blair’s third appearance as a coach at a National Championship.

After a loss, Blair as the coach encourages the team to talk about all the good points that did well, and they make sure to continue those positives in the next game. Then they talk about a couple key aspects and look how to improve for the next game and set goals around this.

Blair’s proudest coaching moment so far comes from 2014 when he was coaching his son’s team and they made it to the U18 Optimist International Championship. They had so much fun and made lasting friendships with players and coaches from all over Canada, the USA and Japan.

A positive attitude through it all, during practice, in a game or a team meeting is the biggest life lesson that Blair has learnt as a coach. Staying positive with the athletes goes a long way to helping them perform, learn new skills, and rebound after a missed shot or a bad end.

Blair started coaching to give back to a sport that he absolutely loves and has now been a part of his life almost 40 years. When he started curling, he never had an opportunity to work with experienced and trained coaches that many athletes have access to today. Blair has had the opportunity to take several coaching courses, curling camps, webinars, and other training opportunities to gain experience and many qualities that have helped him become the coach he is today. He has been fortunate to have worked with a lot of great coaches along the way and has learnt many valuable techniques and strategies to develop his teams and help them perform at an elevated level. He enjoys collaborating with talented young athletes that love to curl, and he wants to teach, train, and develop as many as he can, while he can.

The team consists of five talented young athletes that are fierce competitors, dedicated students and typical teenage girls that just want to have fun. Myla, Rachel, Alyssa, Lauren, and Chloe are an amazing group of young ladies to work with. Half the team is based out of Airdrie and area, and the other half based out of Edmonton and area, with that comes the struggle to practice and train together regularly. Blair is so proud of all the hard work and success of this team this year. He loves his team. He is so impressed with how these five ladies have managed adversity through out the year. He is looking forward to an amazing last few months of the season with a few more major competitions to play which will keep them ready to represent Alberta at the U18 Canadian Championships.

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