Curl BC released the list of 2017 award winners today, and a team of young curlers from Langley and their most avid supporter, were among those who made the cut.
Team Tardi, featuring Tyler Tardi, Sterling Middleton, Jordan Tardi, Nicholas Meister, and coach Paul Tardi, represented Canada at the 2017 World Junior Curling Championships in South Korea. They just missed out on a medal at the world level because of a tiebreaker that didn’t go their way.
But the team has now, or at least next month, will win the Curl BC 2017 team of the year award, confirmed Ron Phillips, the chair of Curl BC’s recognition and awards committee.
Skip Tyler and third Sterling have also been named the joint 2017 Junior Male Athlete of the Year. In addition to their success at the Junior (U21) level the two curlers won a bronze medal (alongside Victoria curlers Derek Chandler and Scott Gray) at the inaugural Canadian U18 Curling Championships.
This team is no stranger to awards, Phillips explained.
This is the fourth time that Team Tardi has been named team of the year, with Tyler having had three previous nods for junior male athlete of the year, and Sterling having also won the same award last year.
Tyler, brother Jordan, and dad Paul all hail from Cloverdale but play out of the Langley Curling Centre.
Meanwhile Middleton is a Burnaby-based BCIT student originally from Fort St John, who has been playing primarily out of Langley. and Meister hails from Langley, and actually works at the rink alongside Jordan.
This team won the 2017 BC Junior Men’s Curling Championship at Royal City Curling Club, winning them their ticket to the nationals in Victoria and eventually the worlds.
And being award winners seems to be a family trait, with mother Anita Tardi also up for an award next month, as well.
Anita is more than just mom to the high profile Tardi boys, she’s an ambassador for the Langley Curling Club. She’s now the winner of the Curl BC volunteer of the year award.
“Anita has given up plenty of her own personal time to curling, not just for her boys but for other juniors, too,” Phillips said.
In this past year, she wore many hats for Team Tardi at nationals and during the worlds, among them planner, driver, chef, sponsorship procurer, bookkeeper, statistician, and website guru.
But it goes beyond that, Phillips said.
“Anita is a great leader and was devoted to the Langley Curling Club Junior program for many years. She created programs and kept everything so well organized that replacing her was simplified. Her efforts to improve procedures and processes kept it running successfully after she stepped down.”
She is truly deserving of recognition yet she wants none, he said.
“Once again we are amazed by the commitment and dedication of our athletes, who continue to perform so well on the national and world stage,” Phillips said.
“Her devotion and encouragement for Tyler and Jordan to give back to the club is so enlightening and it makes the entire membership so proud of this team. Although the boys have out-grown the Langley Curling Club junior program, Anita sets up regular Saturday visits and the boys do some teaching and inspirational speaking to the kids – which lights them up. What is really amazing is the humbleness of this team as a whole; and they really follow Anita’s leadership,” he said.
“We are also in awe of all the volunteers who put so much into making our sport enjoyable for all. These awards are in grateful recognition of all the people who are so supportive of our community.”
A total of 14 awards will be handed out at the event which recognizes the vital contribution that volunteers, coaches, insiders and athletes have made to the sport of curling in B.C. during the past year.
The awards will be handed out at the 2017 Curl BC annual awards banquet on Saturday, June 3 at the Kelowna Curling Club.
For more information about the awards banquet, or to purchase tickets costing $40, people can visit click here.
