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Dene curler competes on men's Olympic team

Article Origin

Author

Paul Barnsley, Sage Writer, Edmonton

Volume

6

Issue

5

Year

2002

Page 7

As Ken Tralnberg showed off his new uniform top with the big red maple leaf on the back and his name spelled out across the shoulders, he just couldn't stop himself from breaking into a huge grin.

The veteran of more than 20 years of top-level competitive curling is a member of the team representing Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Even though his Edmonton-based Kevin Martin rink clinched the right to represent their country back on Dec. 10 in a qualifying bonspiel in Regina, Tralnberg admitted on Jan. 28 that the enormity of that had yet to fully sink in.

"I've dreamt of this all my life," he said. "It's amazing that this is happening to me at age 45."

The former resident of the Lac La Ronge First Nation was selected to be the alternate or fifth member of the Martin rink just before the team's big push to earn the Olympic spot began in May, 2001. Since Canada is considered a world power in the sport, the five-man rink had to knock off some pretty tough competitors along the way to get the Olympic nod, coming from behind to defeat Winnipeg's Kerry Burtnyk 8-7 in a last rock win in the Olympic trials final. They join Kelley Law's women's squad from New Westminster, B.C. to form the Canadian Olympic curling team.

The son of Don and Marie Tralnberg of Prince Albert, a Bill C-31 father and non-status mother, is proud of his Dene heritage. He lived in the remote community of Fond du Lac on the shores of Lake Athabasca in northern Saskatchewan until he was eight years of age, when his family moved to La Ronge. He started curling in his early teens and also excelled at basketball and long distance running.

"I was the La Ronge jock at Churchill high school. In fact, one of my friends said, as we were graduating and predicting where we'd be years from now, he predicted I'd be in the Olympics and now it's happening," he said.

After a frustrating career of near misses at the top level of his sport, a career Tralnberg himself described as one of "multiple disappointments," he finally found himself in the right place at the right time when his skip made that last shot in Regina. He said it's hard to decide who is more excited about the trip to Salt Lake City, himself or his family and friends.

"It's a little bit numbing for those of us who are going. But it was really fun watching them approach me after we won, seeing the look on their faces. I think they were more excited than I was but I don't think they would have felt as bad as me if we'd lost," he said.

Tralnberg said it was a huge honor to be selected by the Martin rink, which had many top-level curlers to choose from. He believes it was his reputation for performing under pressure that probably gave him the edge.

"I don't feel the pressure. I just want to perform," he said. "The higher the pressure, the better."

The resident of the Edmonton suburb of St. Albert is employed as a children's advocate by the provincial government. He said he's the only person in Canada to do that job in two provinces; he helped set up the programs in Saskatchewan and Alberta. His wife, Teri, and their three daughters, Jaymie, 23, Keri, 13, and Brynn, 12, as well as friends and family all over western Canada, will be watching as Canada goes for its first gold medal in curling. Despite its traditional dominance in world curling, Canada has yet to win gold. A loss to Switzerland in the finals in 1998, the first Olympics where curling was a medal sport, has Tralnberg and his teammates hungry for the big prize.

"We want to win gold," he said bluntly. "There's no way you can ever guarantee you'll get another kick at the can and this is the pinnacle of all sports."

Tralnberg said he can't help but think of the Grade 2 student in Stoney Rapids on the shore of Lake Athabasca and how far it is from that world to the world stage in Salt Lake City.

"I remember reading about Dick and Jane and houses with white picket fences and big old oak trees in the front yard and all. W didn't have any of that," he said. "I think about my grandparents and my great-grandparents and I'm incredibly proud to be of Aboriginal descent. I have a major in Native studies in school. I did that out of pride and love for my grandmother, paying respect for her. Now, if kids in places like that can see what's happening to me and realize it could happen to them, that's great. If people know I'm Aboriginal and I can be a positive role model, great."