Ivy Jensen has been chosen as a stand-out athlete because we heard about some of her volunteer work giving back to our local communities. She and her Team have done an amazing job during competition and won a gold medal during the BC Winter Games in Curling! Ivy has told us a bit about herself and her journey through the world of Curling in the North Okanagan:

“My name is Ivy Jensen. I began curling 11 years ago when I was 5 years old. My parents never expected me to become this competitive with curling. When I was a kid, I played many sports (swimming, soccer, flag football, tennis, golf), was in musical theatre and loved art. Over time, I continued to curl and develop my skills through the Vernon Curling Club Jr Program and joined and the Thompson Okanagan Intercity Junior Curling, League where I met half of my team. During COVID restrictions, our club allowed me and my team mate Ava Arndt to join Ladies League where I learned so much from amazing club members. Two years ago I found out about the BC Winter Games and knew that I wanted to compete in them. It was around this same time that our team VERKAM5 was put together and our number one goal was to get to the games. I knew deep down that I needed to win gold.

Along the way I’ve been inspired and supported by so many incredible people including:

Chelan, Jim Cotter, Jaelyn Cotter, Jenna Jones, Alyssa Kylo, Ina Forrest, Matt Dunstone, Emily Zacharias, Maryanne Arsenault, Dave Merklinger, My friends from U18s in our region (Team Haffeli, Team Blaeser, Team Jager, and Team Beck), my Vernon Curling Club Members family, my awesome VERKAM5 team mates (Ava Arndt, Bethany Evans, Alicia Evans, Jillian Evans) and their families.

This past February I was invited to be highlighted as a Future Star at the Scotties. This experience was unbelievable and truly encouraged me to believe that we could win gold at the BC Winter Games. I had the opportunity to meet many incredible curlers that I look up to including Team Canada and Team Manitoba. 

I love being involved in curling in many ways and am dedicated to training on and off the ice. Not only do I compete with my VERKAM5 team, I also volunteer at my club to help as an on ice instructor with the Jr Curling Program, School Curling Program and with clinics for people with special needs. I help mentor an Intercity Jr Curling Team (shout out to team Happy Sweepers), I spare for all leagues at my club and play with anyone who invites me to play in a club bonspiel. My team gets together in Vernon or Kamloops to practice 1-2 times per month and I train on and/or off the ice 5-6 days per week.

Winning gold at the BC Winter Games with my VERKAM5 team has been an unbelievable experience! We work so hard together, genuinely appreciate each other, and have become team mates and best friends on and off the ice. Each position on the team is valuable and we need each other to be able to win events like this.  I have big dreams of winning gold at the Olympics and Scotties Tournament of Hearts.  My next goal is for our team to win U18 Provincials to represent Team BC at Jr Nationals and hope to go on to represent Team Canada at Jr Worlds. 

Thank you to everyone at the BC Winter Games Society, Beairsto Elementary, the Vernon Curling Club, friends, family, past and present coaches and my awesome team for such a perfect experience!”