Howard continues a family legacy

With two CIS bronze and three OUA gold medals under her belt, third-year skip Carly Howard is no stranger to finding success on the university circuit.


Photo by Heather Davidson
Photo by Heather Davidson

With two Canadian Interuniversity Sport bronze medals and three Ontario University Sport gold medals under her belt, third-year skip Carly Howard of the Wilfrid Laurier University women’s curling team is making a name for herself.

Howard, the daughter of all-star curler Glenn Howard and the sister of Scott Howard, who made an appearance at the Brier this year, has dominated the university circuit alongside her teammates and with the support of her family.

“To be honest, it’s kind of nice that you have an athlete right in your home,” Howard said.

It wasn’t until Howard was 12 that she really started to get into the game. After watching her brother and father play, she wanted to get in on the action as well. She did not start curling right away; instead she tried out a multitude of sports, such as gymnastics, running and ball hockey, before she decided to try out curling.

“My parents never pushed me as a child to curl,” she said. “They said, ‘You know what, go do your thing, and if curling is what you want at the end, great, and if not, then do another sport, that’s fine.’ ”

Eventually, she decided to give it a try after watching her father play and grow through the sport.

“I can see how inspiring it was for him as a player and how he’d grown through it,” she said. “It’s not about having the family name and going through a career with that, but it’s just seeing the people that did so well before you.”

“That just really makes you really want to play and enjoy the game as well,” she continued.

Once Howard realized the competitiveness of the sport and felt the rush while make tough shots under pressure, she knew the sport was for her.going forward in her athletic career.

According to Howard, she has learned a lot about curling over the course of her career. The biggest thing she has taken away from the game as one of her key factors of success is to play the game with serenity.

“The biggest thing I’ve noticed over the years that I’ve curled is just have patience. You never start out being the best curler in the world,” she said.

“I had to constantly be practicing and practicing, and I find that when you have a good team, and you have four good players, you know you just have to have that patience.”

As for the future, Howard is looking to make ripples on the women’s circuit. She has joined up with Mallory Kean, previous teammate Cheryl Kreviazuk and long-time friend Kerilynn Mathers for the 2015-2016 season, with aspirations of someday getting to the Olympics and capturing a gold medal for Canada.

However before she can get there she knows there’s a lot she has to accomplish.

“There’s a lot of stuff I’ve got to do and of course I’m going to do them to the best of my abilities,” she said.

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