She slides across the ice with sweeping confidence.
New Brunswick’s Carly Smith is determined to make her home province and teammates proud, when she competes with Team New Brunswick at the U18 Curling Nationals in Alberta this week.
“We are hoping to do pretty good and make playoffs because we got ranked second in the country,” she said.
The 15-year-old is the only para-athlete competing at the nationals with her teammates and will compete right alongside able bodied curlers from across the country.
“It is really exciting to represent New Brunswick and also as an amputee to be able to show others that you can play a sport and get involved,” she said.
WATCH: Moncton para-athlete looks to compete in curling nationals in 2 years (April 21, 2017)
Her 12-year-old sister Caylee will also be playing on the same team.
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Caylee grew up looking up to her sister, who spent years curling with only one arm.
“I tried to sweep with one arm and I was like, ‘How do you do that?'” said Caylee.
“You get a lot of chafing so it would hurt,” Carly explained.
But that is not a problem anymore.
Last fall, with support from War Amps Canada, Carly was equipped with a prosthetic arm specially designed for curling.
She’s testing it out at the nationals where she and her teammates are competing against 13 other teams.
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