The rink in Wawota was filled with community minded people on Friday, May 25 as the Wawota Forum Sportsman’s Dinner welcomed guests Doug Sauter, Don Koharski and Amber Holland.
After a wonderful prime rib dinner, catered by Rylan and Cindy Weir, folks settled in to hear from the guest speakers. Doug Sauter was the very able Master of Ceremonies for the evening and wasted no time getting the evening started.
Amber Holland took the stage and shared some of her favourite memories over the years. Her first Sportsman dinner was in Holdfast in 1993 after the World Juniors, where she met curling legend Sam Richardson. He taught her that the best speech is like a mini skirt – short enough to keep their attention but long enough to cover the important parts.
It is normal for Holland to be either speaking either with Riders or NHL’ers. She says they are popular opposite guest speakers – large vs small, male vs female and that she always gets to speak first!
Holland grew up in Dilke, SK on the family farm, where her father was blessed with three daughters, but was just one shy of a curling team. She began curling in 4-H and her community club was Bethune, which was a three-sheet club, compared to the two-sheet club in Dilke, which only had natural ice. Her first provincial junior was with her sisters, playing lead at age 14. On a humorous note, she says her turning point was when she fired her Dad as her coach when she was 16 and again when she won the Nationals as Skip at the age of 17.
Her curling career has had a few teams; Olympic Trials appearances; several provincial appearances; and as an alternate player at Scotties and Trials, all of which set her up for where she got to at the peak of her career. After taking a few years off, Holland is curling competitively with a goal to represent Saskatchewan at the Scotties, not chasing the Olympic dream.
Holland shared memories of her team from 2004 to 2012, developing a team with very little experience, the struggles with performing, successes, fires, snow, fog and mechanical issues, becoming and being Team Canada. Attending the Denmark Worlds was a new experience for the team, since curling didn’t really have a lot of fans over there. The only time the place was packed was when the Prince of Denmark threw the opening stone. As a matter of fact, they would honor a team every draw and play their National Anthem. When it was Canada’s turn the song wouldn’t play, and a group of approximately 20 fans stood and sang “O Canada”. While in Canada bagpipes are the norm to march out to for games, in the playoffs in Denmark they played pop songs by the Black-Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga! Celebrity status was different in Europe compared to Canada. After losing in the finals, Holland was approached by a woman holding a piece of paper and pen. Feeling pretty down about losing and wondering what she would say to the woman she thought was seeking an autograph, she quickly discovered it wasn’t going to be an issue. The woman was a Doping Control Officer!
Coming home to view the World Men’s in Regina, Holland was once again a celebrity. As she entered early to get a good seat, she was greeted with applause from the long lineup at Tim Horton’s. She loved the attention but quickly learned to sit at the top of the arena, because people were a little less likely to make the extra effort to climb the stairs for an autograph. Sometimes getting to the washroom was difficult, as everyone wanted to visit with her as she made her way across the seats to an aisle, and one excited fan followed her all the way into the ladies’ room before realizing his mistake. The embarrassment didn’t stop him from waiting outside the entrance to get her autograph though!
During her Team Canada year, she discovered that although she was proud to be on the team, there was a different feeling when another Saskatchewan team was there. It was strange to be wearing the maple leaf while feeling that the wheat sheaf was where her heart belonged at that event.
Holland shared that curling has changed: the brooms, the competitions, the money and fame compared to national pride, and don’t get her started on the mixed doubles game. After sharing lessons learned and who taught them to her, Holland said, “Community is special and community doesn’t really have borders or geography. The curling community is a special community and once you are in it, it is hard to leave it, which is one of the reasons I wanted to come back to compete. My best friends came from that community and really good people are part of that community - players, fans and teammates. I know that your community here is no different than any other community and you will achieve your goals, not only in fundraising but in keeping your community strong today and well into the future.”
Guest speaker and former NHL official, Don Koharski was up next and he shared many stories about his years as an official with the WHA and the NHL. He was employed for 42 years by the National Hockey League, 32 years on the ice and 10 years in middle management, mentoring and coaching officials. worked 1,882 regular games, 265 playoff games and 11 Stanley Cup finals before retiring.
While the stories were aplenty and very entertaining, I could never do them justice. You really had to be there. However, the one thing that really stuck with me was his statement about where he came from. While I am paraphrasing, Koharski reminded us all that you will always be from the community you came from, no matter where you go and what you do. So be proud of it, go back to it, and give back to it, because that will be the most important thing you can ever do. Small communities are built by those people who work hard to keep it going, just like everyone attending this event.
