Ideson leads the way, Canada extends medal streak
Mark Ideson, who picked up the sport at age 33, is now a three-time wheelchair curling Paralympic medalist. He skipped Canada to bronze in Beijing this week — the latest highlight in an accomplished career.
(Photo: World Curling Federation / Richard Gray).
Mark Ideson has embraced the ‘Lucky Loonie’ tradition for years. He’s curled at three Paralympic Games, he’s hid a loonie within the ice sheet each time, and now he’s come away with a medal all three times. Hey, whatever works.
On Thursday, Ideson, the skip of Canada’s wheelchair curling team, helped lead the squad to a bronze medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games. It’s the second straight Games he’s guided the team to a third-place finish, and Canada has now medaled an unprecedented five times in a row – ever since wheelchair curling was introduced at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.
This time, Ideson found a good hiding spot on Sheet B for his lucky loonie, which his wife received from a close friend. He placed it during Canada’s first practice, it remained there for the duration of the tournament, and after Canada defeated Slovakia, 8-3, in the bronze medal match – fittingly, on Sheet B – he retrieved it, before the Canadians received their well-deserved medals.
It wasn’t an easy trip to the medal round. It never is. That’s what Ideson took away most from his first time as skip at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.
“The round robin is long and exhausting,” said the 45-year-old Londoner. “It’s really important to prioritize rest, recovery and mindfulness so that you’ve still got enough energy to perform at the end of the week.”
The Canadians did a good job on that front, with Ideson, who threw lead stones and called the game, leading by example for his teammates, which included second Dennis Thiessen, Ina Forrest (a co-flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies), fourth Jon Thurston and alternate Collinda Joseph.
They got off to a fantastic start, beating China, the defending champs, 7-3 in their first match. That was the beginning of a four-match winning streak to open the tournament. They dropped three straight after that, but regrouped to win their final three preliminary matches to finish with a record of 7-3 and qualify for the medal round (along with China, Sweden and Slovakia).
A semi-final loss to China (9-5) – who went on to win the tournament – ended Canada’s gold medal hopes, but the team regrouped to defeat Slovakia to earn the country’s fifth straight wheelchair curling medal. Leading 4-3 after seven ends, Thurston snuck the final stone in the eighth past the guard for a takeout that scored four and secured the win for Canada.
Ideson knew the competition would be tough, and he didn’t take anything for granted.
“The rest of the world is certainly getting stronger. Witnessing the progression of the level of play over the last 12 years that I’ve been competing has been amazing to watch,” the Londoner said. “Each team we play has a unique style, and you definitely can’t afford to have too many off games – anyone can beat anyone in this field.”
Twelve years? Time flies. Sometimes it seems like yesterday that Canada was hosting the Winter Olympics. It was those Vancouver Games in 2010, in fact, that sparked Ideson’s quest to become a Canadian Paralympian. At the time, he’d yet to throw a rock. Four years later, he was in Sochi, Russia competing in wheelchair curling.
(Photo: World Curling Federation / Richard Gray).
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Canada won gold on home soil in 2010. It was the country’s second straight Paralympic gold in wheelchair curling. Mark Ideson wasn’t particularly tuned in to the event. He took in all the sports during the Olympic and Paralympic Games that year. It was actually Jon Montgomery, the skeleton athlete who famously took a victory lap through Whistler village with a jug of beer after winning gold, who inspired Ideson.
At home on the couch, Ideson watched a piece about Montgomery’s journey. About how he had sought out a new sport – in his 20’s – that might allow him to use his specific athletic abilities to maybe one day represent Canada at the Olympics.
“I thought, ‘maybe I can find a sport and use my new abilities and maybe represent Canada someday too,’” said Ideson.
What would that sport be? He’d played hockey throughout his youth. When he attended Western University in the mid-90’s, he was on the Mustangs’ cheerleading team (where he met his wife). He was also a golfer. In other words, he was certainly athletic.
Following his accident in 2007, a helicopter crash that caused 29 broken bones, required an induced coma, and resulted in a spinal cord injury and quadriplegia diagnosis, Ideson tried different sports activities in an effort to become active again after months of rehabilitation at St. Joseph’s Health Care in London.
Wheelchair rugby wasn’t the right fit. But wheelchair curling? It took. And the Londoner quickly improved his game. Playing out of the Ilderton Curling Club, he rose the ranks in no time. In 2011, he skipped his team to a third-place finish at the Ontario Wheelchair Championships.
That same year, when Team Canada conducted a coast-to-coast search for talent, he attended a camp in Grimsby, Ont. and was selected as one of 28 athletes to try out for the national team in Vancouver. He made cut after cut, and finally earned a spot on the five-person mixed team.
His first international action? The World Championships in Sochi in 2013, the year before his first Paralympic Games.
“I felt extremely proud and honoured,” Ideson said of the experience. “I’ll never forget throwing that first rock in international competition.”
He’s thrown plenty more since. That team won gold, and then returned to Sochi for the Paralympic Games in 2014 to win gold again – beating the host Russian team, 8-3, in the final. In 2018, Ideson was promoted to serve as skip of the team, putting to work his strategic and tactical skills to call the game for the Canadians. In PyeongChang, South Korea, he led the squad to a bronze medal.
That experience really drove home just how far he’d come since his accident 11 years prior, which had left him in the hospital for several weeks – and just how lucky he felt to have found a new journey.
“I’ve met many amazing people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” Ideson said at the time. “I’ve been fortunate to spend loads of quality time with my kids and my wife, and I’ve become part of an amazing national team where I have the opportunity to compete on the world stage – with great friends of mine. Life is good.”
(Photo: World Curling Federation / Alina Pavlyuchik).
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Life was a bit more chaotic leading into the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. There was that whole matter of COVID-19 to deal with …
As was the case throughout the sports world, it meant much less time training in person – and far fewer competitions.
“The biggest impact was that we couldn’t travel and physically be together as a large group,” said Ideson. “But less ice meant more time for other things important to our success. We focused on exercise, diet and equipment adjustments, and we put a lot of attention towards skills like mindfulness – with support from our mental performance consultant. We also had an opportunity to really focus on enhancing our own personal daily training environments.”
With the help of Zoom, the team was able to connect online to talk strategy and game play – so that they’d be ready once they could get back on the ice.
“There’s nothing quite like being on the ice together and playing, but we did everything we could to stay connected and make progress in various facets of our training.”
Despite the significant impact COVID had on training and competition, the team did manage to participate in two world championships, including winning silver in 2020. That came a year after the squad had been relegated to the ‘B’ championships in 2019 as a result of a subpar season the year before. A coaching change seemed to help right the ship, and the team carried that momentum – on and off the ice – in the second half of the Olympic training cycle. Ideson has certainly enjoyed working with head coach Mick Lizmore.
“He’s a true professional, and he’s ‘all in’ when it comes to our program. He’s a humble guy, and he looks for feedback from players so that he can improve himself and our team,” Ideson said. “Mick is an excellent strategist, and he’s made the transition from able-bodied curling to wheelchair curling seamlessly.
“The dynamic between Mick and I is great. It’s really easy to have an excellent working relationship with him because he knows the game so well, he’s open-minded, he’s always prepared, and he’s completely dedicated to our success.”
The pair reaped the rewards of their hard work and dedication on Thursday, along with Thiessen, Forrest, Thurston and Joseph. Their Olympic bronze continued Canada’s impressive streak medaling in the sport at five Games in a row.
For Ideson, the accomplishment meant as much as his first two medals did. In fact, the skip says just being named to the team was as special this year as it was the first time he wore the red and white as part of Team Canada.
“Continuing to make the team is a reminder of the hard work I’ve put in and the evolution I’ve had as an athlete to continue to be part of high-performance sport,” the Londoner said. “Having the opportunity to compete for Canada is something that brings me a lot of joy.”
The defending champion London Lightning begin their title defense Nov. 23 on the road vs. Sudbury, the first of a 34-game schedule that runs thru March. Home opener happens Nov. 28 vs. Newfoundland.