BY JOHN DECOSTE
The Advertiser
NovaNewsNow.com
Jocelyn Nix is taking a new direction in her competitive curling career.
Nix, formerly Jocelyn Palmer who has reverted to using her maiden name, and fellow skip Lisa DePaoli are teaming up in an effort to capture the provincial women’s title that has – so far at least – eluded them both.
Nix has been a provincial women’s runner-up seven times during her competitive career, in which she has been part of a number of different team configurations.
This winter, she will skip a team with DePaoli, who qualified for the Scotties provincial ‘final eight’ as a skip each of the past two years, throwing third stones. Second Andrea Saulnier and lead Heather Sinclair round out what Nix describes as “a great team.”
“Things are going really well,” she said last week. “We’ve been entering some cash spiels and while we haven’t won yet, a couple of them easily could have gone either way. We’re starting to bond reallly well as a team.”
Nix, DePaoli, Saulnier and Sinclair will represent the Glooscap Curling Club in Kentville in provincial competition.
Return to her roots
It represents a return to her roots for Nix, who has maintained her membership in the Kentville club while curling the past several years with teammates from other clubs.
“I feel like I’ve come home,” she says, adding that her foursome is likely to be the only rink from this area to compete for the provincial championship this year.
They are being coached currently once a week by competitive curling veteran Tony Stirling of Wolfville, and have acquired the services of a sport psychologist.
Nix and her teammates plan to take part in this week’s Scotties ‘early qualifier’ (Dec. 5-8) in Clare, from which the first six provincial qualifying teams will be selected.
Teams not making it through will have a final chance to advance in early January, but Nix is feeling pretty optimistic at her new team’s chances for success at this week’s event.
“Hope springs eternal,” she says. “”Over my career, I’ve won pretty much everything that doesn’t go to a national championship and I’ve been a provincial runner-up seven times.
“I’m happy and excited to have Lisa agree to mate for me,” she said. “She has had some success as a skip the past couple of years. Andrea has curled with me for years, and she and Heather are a great front end.”
Nix said she and her teammates “are determined to compete at the national level,” and with the make-up of this year’s team, “this may be the year.”
BY JOHN DECOSTE
The Advertiser
NovaNewsNow.com
Jocelyn Nix is taking a new direction in her competitive curling career.
Nix, formerly Jocelyn Palmer who has reverted to using her maiden name, and fellow skip Lisa DePaoli are teaming up in an effort to capture the provincial women’s title that has – so far at least – eluded them both.
Nix has been a provincial women’s runner-up seven times during her competitive career, in which she has been part of a number of different team configurations.
This winter, she will skip a team with DePaoli, who qualified for the Scotties provincial ‘final eight’ as a skip each of the past two years, throwing third stones. Second Andrea Saulnier and lead Heather Sinclair round out what Nix describes as “a great team.”
“Things are going really well,” she said last week. “We’ve been entering some cash spiels and while we haven’t won yet, a couple of them easily could have gone either way. We’re starting to bond reallly well as a team.”
Nix, DePaoli, Saulnier and Sinclair will represent the Glooscap Curling Club in Kentville in provincial competition.
Return to her roots
It represents a return to her roots for Nix, who has maintained her membership in the Kentville club while curling the past several years with teammates from other clubs.
“I feel like I’ve come home,” she says, adding that her foursome is likely to be the only rink from this area to compete for the provincial championship this year.
They are being coached currently once a week by competitive curling veteran Tony Stirling of Wolfville, and have acquired the services of a sport psychologist.
Nix and her teammates plan to take part in this week’s Scotties ‘early qualifier’ (Dec. 5-8) in Clare, from which the first six provincial qualifying teams will be selected.
Teams not making it through will have a final chance to advance in early January, but Nix is feeling pretty optimistic at her new team’s chances for success at this week’s event.
“Hope springs eternal,” she says. “”Over my career, I’ve won pretty much everything that doesn’t go to a national championship and I’ve been a provincial runner-up seven times.
“I’m happy and excited to have Lisa agree to mate for me,” she said. “She has had some success as a skip the past couple of years. Andrea has curled with me for years, and she and Heather are a great front end.”
Nix said she and her teammates “are determined to compete at the national level,” and with the make-up of this year’s team, “this may be the year.”
