Amanda-Dawn Coderre is on top of the world for the second-straight year as coach of the Canadian junior women’s curling team.
The St. Albert curling product helped mentor the Kelsey Rocque rink from the Saville Centre to an undefeated record at worlds in Tallinn, Estonia after winning last year in Flims, Switzerland.
“It feels pretty good but I wouldn’t say one was more special than the other,” Coderre said. “It was just unique. It was with a different set of girls so it was a different experience. One was not greater than the other but they were still pretty cool.”
Rocque successfully defended her world junior title and joined Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (2008-09) as the only female skips to win back-to-back U20 championships.
Rocque’s lineup of Danielle Schmiemann, Holly Jamieson, Jessica Iles and alternate Kristen Streifel slide through the competition undefeated at 11-0 after a convincing 8-2 victory over Scotland in Sunday’s final. It was 4-2 after six ends.
The only other women’s team to go through the round robin undefeated and win world juniors was Marliese Miller of Saskatchewan in 2003.
Last year Rocque’s crew of Keely Brown, Taylor McDonald, Claire Tully and alternate Alison Kotylak finished 9-2 while celebrating Canada’s first world junior women’s championship since Miller won in the same town, Flims, in 2003 with a 6-4 decision over Korea.
“Last year for the girls it was all their first time and this year with Kelsey being there before helped a lot. She was a true leader. She helped the girls understand everything that was going around us. She had the experience. She just led the girls and gave them the confidence out there,” said Coderre, 28, who was joined at worlds both years by her father, Garry, who served as Curling Canada’s team leader.
The St. Albert Catholic High School alumna said the grind at worlds is similar to the high-stakes pressure at nationals.
“All games matter and the competition is the same. Every team out there is well prepared and they play well and you have to play just as good too.”
Last year marked Coderre’s coaching debut and her remarkable run with the juniors continued with repeats at provincials, nationals and worlds.
“I was the same coach this year as last year but with different girls and different girls need different things so I was just making sure I was giving them the direction they needed,” said the accounting coordinator for Norfab Manufacturing (1993) Inc. “I definitely felt more comfortable this year. I knew what to expect a little bit more which I think helped me be a little bit of a better coach for the girls. It was a benefit to have been there before and experience it and to help the girls understand what to expect going in and put them in the right direction and help them focus on the curling versus the outside stuff that they don’t have control over.”
