Have to admit I was somewhat surprised by the news that Jennifer Jones was breaking up one quarter of her team – sticking with lead Dawn Askin and second and long time friend Jill Officer and parting ways with third Cathy Overton Clapham. Despite what you may have saw in the movie "Up In The Air" with George Clooney. Theres no easy to fire someone and thats what the other three did to the veteran Clapham. In their news release no real reason was given except that the move was made with the 2014 Winter Olympics in mind. Cathy "O" is 41 and bothered by sore knees. However she still has game when you look at her performance at the Scotties and World Championship where she was the best at her position.
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But watching the Jones team at the worlds I saw a team disconnected and I'm speaking about their play during the round robin and not the playoffs as I was out of the country that weekend. Besides their interaction between ends it appeared to me that they weren't on the same page and they were not communicating with each other. Dawn and Jill would talk about the weight of the just delivered rock as they were sweeping but never expressed their thoughts about whether it was heavy or light to whoever was holding the broom and calling the line in the house. Strange I thought especially after just watching the Brier and seeing how some of the men's teams communicate weight and line information.
Whats next for the Jones team. Well I'm sure the move was made with a replacement third already lined up. Former Canadian Junior Champions Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg and Ottawa's Rachel Homan the names mentioned in some reports. Stay tuned.
Joe Pascucci
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