Danielle Sicinski Retires from Running Curling Centre

Robert Thomas

After almost three years at the helm of the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre, Danielle Sicinski is turning off the computer; but she is not hanging up the broom.

“It’s been a great run. It’s been very exciting and rewarding,” Sicinski said.

She took over running the curling centre after Shaunna Fritzler moved from managing the centre to working Finance at the Downtown Facility and Fieldhouse (DFFH).

Sicinski, who also is a Certified Professional Accountant (CPA), was an active curler at both the Hillcrest and 15 Wing Curling clubs and has volunteered at the new downtown club since its inception, helping out at the junior women’s provincials and later at the Scottie’s Tournament of Hearts before accepting the seasonal curling manager position.

She started curling at age 10. Growing up in Spy Hill, her mother Susan was a nurse and her father Brad was a teacher. Her parents now live in Langenburg. Sicinski ended up in Moose Jaw when her husband Derek, also a CPA, started working for a local accounting firm (where he is a partner) in 2008. Derek is originally from Moose Jaw.

Curling and managing the centre have been highly rewarding, she said.

Sicinski has had quite the success as a curler too, competing multiple times in the Viterra Provincial Championships, and even once winning the tournament, with Penny Barker as skip, in 2017. Her team travelled to St. Catherines, Ontario to compete against the best talent in the country at Scottie's that year.

Danielle (second from the right), with Team Barker, the team that won the provincials and competed in the Scottie's Tournament of Hearts

“I’m going to miss the social side of things. I’ve made lots of great friends. I’ve traveled to lots of great curling facilities they have in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.”

As the manager of the curling facility her job was a multi-job, as there are no administrative support personnel. The job entails administrative, management and programming roles where she would use her CPA skills to do assorted tasks such as budgeting and forecasting. Although her job is only seasonal, from September to April each year she said she would often stop in during the Summer to do assorted tasks.

“When you take on a role like this, there is always some other things to do. You are always thinking and lining things up,” she said.

Sicinski spoke highly about the facility and which way it was headed under new General Manager Graham Edge.

“The direction the building is heading is really exciting. With Graham Edge coming on it’s been very exciting,” she said, adding “the facility itself is exciting because it’s brand new. The team each year keep working to make things better and will continue to move forward in the future.”

One thing Sicinski sees as a positive for curling was that in her first year the numbers of active curlers increased and although in the last couple of years the numbers have been relatively stable, the number of young people moving into the sport and progressing speaks well for the future.

Despite the ups and downs the DFFH has endured, Sicinski says she is not leaving on bad terms but wants to spend more time with her four year old daughter Emilie.

And with applications ending this past Thursday, she is encouraged by the prospect of “new eyes, a new set of perspectives and new ideas” taking over her job. Although she will have no role in selecting her successor she is very hopeful for the Curling Centre going into the future.
“The plan is to be curling and who knows and even have a little girl curling as well. One of the great things is I will be able to relax and not have to worry about doing an hour of work after a game.”