DONALDA MATTIE

Founder & Head COACH

Donalda is a Certified Competition Development Coach registered with Coaches of Canada residing in Tracadie, Nova Scotia. Donalda has over 25 years of coaching experience from the club to the international level and is one of the few women to have coached at the Tim Horton’s Brier. She led the Canadian Junior Women to a silver medal at the 2004 World Championships and has over twenty coaching appearances at national and international events. While with the St. FX University Women’s team, she led them to their first CIS appearance. Through her collective experiences working with athletes, coaches, technical experts and sport science specialists, Donalda has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and takes great pride in helping individuals and teams reach their peak performance in the sport of curling.

EARLE MORRIS

COACH

Earle Morris is one of the most recognizable and respected coaches in the game of curling. An accomplished player, Earle competed in three Briers representing three different provinces (Manitoba 1980, Quebec 1982, and Ontario 1985). He has been instrumental in developing some of the greatest athletes to hit the ice. Earle began his illustrious coaching career by leading his son John to a gold medal at the 1998 Junior Men’s Canadian and World Championships and bronze medal at the 2005 Olympic Trials. As coach of the Rachel Homan team, he helped the girls win Canada Winter Games Gold (2007), Canadian Junior Gold and World Junior Silver (2010), two Scotties Tournament of Heart Championships and subsequent World Bronze and Silver Medals (2013, 2014), and Olympic Trials Bronze (2013). In 2015, Earle rounded out his career accomplishments by coaching Pat Simmons (with Earle’s son, John) to a Brier Championship and World Bronze Medal. Earle is a highly sought-after public speaker and trainer for various coaching clinics around the world, and created the Curling Canada “Getting Started in Curling and Coaching” programs. Earle’s proudest moment was watching his son John Morris win the Gold Medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

PAIGE MATTIE

MENTAL PERFORMANCE CONSULTANT

Paige's journey in curling began in her hometown of Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Born into a family of avid curlers, she was introduced to the sport at a young age. Her talent and passion for the game led to multiple provincial titles and one Canadian Junior Championship title, earning a silver medal for Canada at the 2004 World Junior Championship. Paige has been a passionate curling instructor since her young competitive curling days, working tirelessly with aspiring athletes of all ages and skill levels. Recognizing the crucial role of mental performance in curling, Paige has honed her expertise as a Mental Performance Consultant and has supported athletes in mental training for over 15 years. Her clients include elite and amateur athletes, both within and outside the curling world, who have sought her guidance to optimize performance under pressure and on demand. Throughout her career as a competitive curler, passionate instructor, and Mental Performance Consultant, Paige has demonstrated unwavering dedication to the sport and a commitment to the growth of the curling community.

MARY MATTATALL

COACH

Mary is a certified competition coach, residing in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Over her more than 35 years curling career, she has amassed an impressive championship record: two time Canadian, 10 time Provincial Champion, and three time Olympic Trials Participant. She is no stranger to the commitment, hard work and experience it takes to win championships. She brings a wealth of experience to her coaching style and has particular interest in the areas of team dynamics, player performance, and technical improvements. After an impressive curling career, Mary has turned her focus now to imparting that experience to younger curlers who share the same passion for the game. Recently, she has coached elite junior teams to National and Atlantic championships.

GILDA CHISHOLM

COACH

Gilda is from Antigonish, NS. Gilda is currently in training for her Competitive Coach Certificate. She has been curling for about 20 years and has had success through her junior career, representing NS at two Junior Nationals. More recently, Gilda has represented NS at three National Club Championships. Through working with Turning Point Curling School for the past five years, Gilda has a passion in giving back to the sport of curling through helping youth curlers develop their optimal potential. With her professional background as a physiotherapist, she enjoys educating our athletes on injury prevention and instruction of proper technique to reduce the risk of overuse injuries.

LYNN KREVIAZUK

COACH

Lynn Kreviazuk is two time World Silver Medalist from the 2010 World Juniors and 2015 World Universiade Games. Lynn is a recent Political Science graduate from Ottawa, Ontario and is actively involved in the sport of curling. She has attended eight National Championships as an athlete and three as coach of the Nunavut Junior Women’s team. Lynn has been a Turning Point Coach for two years and aspires to represent Canada on the Olympic stage.

JIM NIX

COACH

Jim Nix is a nationally certified coach who has worked with junior teams at various levels for the past 25 years. His junior teams have had many accomplishments, including representing Nova Scotia at the Canadian Junior Women's Championship and at the Men's Canada Games Championship. Jim loves teaching the roaring game to novice and intermediate curlers at clinics that he leads in his home rink, the Bluenose Curling Club, in New Glasgow. Jim regularly volunteers his time to curling beyond coaching. He chaired the Sobey's Curling Classic for 13 years and the highly-touted Sobey's Slam in all three years that it ran. Jim is currently the Director of Competitions with the Nova Scotia Curling Association. As a returning Turning Point coach, Jim is dedicated to improving the skills of all curlers as well as ensuring the future of curling at whichever level they choose to participate.

Paul Dexter

COACH

Paul Dexter started curling in 2001. He skipped men’s teams to the U18 and U21 Canadian championships, and the Canada Winter Games. He also played third in the Canadian University championships. Paul plays third on the Nova Scotia men’s circuit as third for team Everist and has played in 10 tankards both as a third and a skip.

Tommy Bragnalo

Instructor

Tommy is from Thunder Bay, Northern Ontario and is currently in the process of completing his Competitive Coach Certificate. He has been curling since junior high, however long ago that was. Competitively Tommy represented the N-Ont (as the kids call it) in a junior nationals, represented Lakehead University at three university nationals and has competed in multiple Nova Scotia Tankards. Tommy is in his first year with Turning Point but has been a coach at various adult curling programs for over 15 years. As a career front end player, #leads4life, he relishes the challenges of reading paths and rock speeds to understand and communicate the ice to his teammates in order to place rocks perfectly. Tommy also likes finding a balance in the game, honing in and focusing when necessary, but also keeping the mood light and breezy when things get too serious. Curling afterall is supposed to be fun.

Sadie Pinksen

Coach

Sadie started curling at the age of 6 and has represented Nunavut at 8 Junior National Championships, 2 National Mixed Championships, and 4 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. She also plays on her university curling team, the Dalhousie Tigers, and with them won the Atlantic University Championships in 2022. She studies Management and Philosophy.

Banner image by Leon Switzera