New Zealand Curling

The New Zealand Open and Senior Men's and Women's curling teams for the 2010/11 season were confirmed at a Special Meeting of the NZ Curling Association's Executive on Friday 16 July.

NZCA Chairman Robert Rutherford advised that the Executive supported and endorsed the decisions of the Selectors. The Convenor of National Selectors, Darren Carson, then announced the following teams:

Open Women	Bridget Becker	Ranfurly CC
	Brydie Donald	Dunedin CC
	Marisa Jones	Ranfurly CC
	Natalie Campbell	Alexandra CC
	Katie Bauer	Auckland CC
Open Men	Sean Becker	Ranfurly CC
	Warren Kearney	Ranfurly CC
	Kris Miller	Ranfurly CC
	Warren Dobson	Mt Ida CC
	Kenny Thomson	Auckland CC
Senior Women	Wendy Becker	Ranfurly CC
	Elizabeth Matthews	Auckland CC
	Caroline Cooney	Chatto Creek CC
	Christine Bewick	Auckland CC
	Pauline Farra	Auckland CC
Senior Men	Peter Becker	Ranfurly CC
	Richard Morgan	Alpine CC
	Nelson Ede
	David Greer	Kyeburn CC
	John Sanders	Alexandra CC

Mr. Carson stated that there are certain players very unfortunate to have missed selection, especially in the Men’s Teams, but they are still considered in contention for future teams.

The next event for the Men's and Women's Open teams are the Pacific Curling Championships in South Korea in November. The Senior teams will travel to the World Senior Curling Championships in St Paul, Minnesota, USA next April.

The NZ Mixed Doubles and Junior teams will be announced soon after their respective National Championships in September and October respectively.

New faces

Most of the players named are well-established in their respective teams, but Kenny Thomson and Katie Bauer have been named in the national squads for the first time.

Kenny Thomson at the 2010 NZ Curling Championships, with Lorne DePape ready to sweep

Kenny Thomson made an immediate impact when he and his team arrived at Auckland Curling Club 6 weeks into the 2008 season, shortly after his arrival from Scotland. He skipped the relatively inexperienced Auckland Rio Scottish Extras through the remainder of the round robin undefeated, and was unlucky to miss out on a semi-final berth.

In 2009 A.R.S.E. took out the honours, winning the Auckland Premier League final.

Thomson has been in the side that finished runners up to the Sean Becker team at the last two NZ Men's Curling Championships.

	Katie Bauer at the 2009 North Island SS Championship

Katie Bauer skipped her Long Bay College Mixed team to a clean sweep of Auckland, North Island and New Zealand Secondary School titles last year, and to the Auckland and North Island titles in 2008. She also has both a New Zealand Under-21 and Auckland Under-21 title to her name, as well as an Auckland Mixed Doubles championship.

First named in the NZ Junior Women's side in 2008, she will be eligible for Under-21 competition for another 3 years.

• Otago Daily Times, 22 Jul 2010 – Kearney gears up for Korea
• Skip Cottage Curling, 20 Jul 2010 – Scottish expat to play for New Zealand