British Curling has announced today the Paralympic programme squad for 2022/23 season and start of the Milan Cortina Paralympic cycle.
England’s Stewart Pimblett has graduated from the transition squad into the Paralympic squad and four of the five athletes that represented ParalympicsGB at the Beijing 2022 Games – Meggan Dawson Farrell, Gregor Ewan, Hugh Nibloe and Gary Smith have been called up again, as well as Charlotte Mckenna who was also selected for Beijing but had to withdraw due to an injury. 
David Melrose who made his debut in Beijing has since retired from the elite programme. However a new face to the wheelchair programme is Paralympic gold medallist Jo Butterfield (MBE), who makes the switch from athletics with support through the UK Sport High Performance Talent Transfer programme.
Originally from Yorkshire, the 43-year-old, who now lives in Glasgow, turned to sport after suffering a life changing illness when an operation to remove a spinal tumour left her paralysed more than a decade ago.
Devastating as her injury was, her experience also proved life-changing in a positive way, setting her on the path to Paralympic glory.
“I am massively grateful to UK Sport,” said Butterfield.
“I can’t put it into words. I had a normal job within the army, but UK Sport then gave me the opportunity to be able to train full time and do what I absolutely love for a living. The opportunity to be able to do that, is something that not very many people get.”
After trying wheelchair rugby she turned to athletics after joining UK Sport’s talent ID programme, specialising at throwing events and in particular club throw, the Paralympics version of the hammer, claiming gold at European and World Championships before taking the title at the Paralympics in Rio in 2016. 
Butterfield knew British Curling’s Executive Performance Director Nigel Holl from his time as a leading athletics administrator and after he persuaded her to join the squad headed by Paralympics Head Coach Sheila Swan, she has set her sights on claiming a place in sporting history.
“It would be really cool to be a gold medallist in a summer Games and also a winter Games and as far as I am aware no Paralympian has ever done it,” she said.
“I started just the end of last year when obviously the team was just preparing to go away to the Paralympics so they were all pretty busy, but Sheila has been amazing and made time to get me on ice as much as possible.”
Her sporting switch has required a change of mindset as she has adjusted to a different type of challenge.
“It is really different in that I am having to use my brain which I have not done for a long time but I am enjoying the puzzle and enjoying having something new to learn from scratch,” said Butterfield.
“I think you initially look at this like most sports and think it can’t be that hard, but after my first few weeks of training my brain is frazzled, just trying to soak everything up.
“Naturally my instinct is to be faster, further, stronger which is great and useful but there are so many more complexities that come into curling. It is not about throwing it the furthest, or throwing it the fastest, it’s about making the correct shot at the right time with the correct process. So I am enjoying that mental challenge and physical challenge and just something new. 
That said, it has not all been unfamiliar in terms of the physical requirements.
“I am surprised at how many transferable skills there are,” Butterfield observed.
“I have found that a lot of the processes of a throw are very similar to a curling stone delivery in that you need to be smooth, you need different cues but you have to be on point with your cues, so whatever they are they need to be precise.
“So that has given me a bit of confidence. I enjoyed finding those similarities but the differences also and the challenges that poses.”
She also believes that the long-nurtured mindset she is taking onto the ice is beneficial, just as it was when coming to terms with her disability.
“I am naturally very, very competitive,” Butterfield explained.
“Perhaps that comes from growing up with two older brothers and needing to beat them.
“Having a spinal injury ten years ago I was constantly being told what I would not be able to do. I wasn’t going to be able to do X.Y and Z and I needed to not live by myself but I needed carers to do certain things. 
“I have always questioned that and asked why? My challenge has always been to myself and to prove it to everybody else if I try and try a bit harder can I not do more? I never now say ok to the answer no. I am always questioning and wondering what if I try this or try that can I do more.”
Her uplifting response to her situation demonstrates the benefits of a powerful mindset when confronting challenges.
“I think I apply that to my sport in that my drive is to be the best and my goal is to get a gold medal at the Winter Paralympic Games,” said Butterfield.
“I know there are a lot of things that can impact how we get there and how long it takes me to achieve that, but that is definitely my goal 100%.
“Having that goal setting in your mind helps the process so much more. It will mean that I have to sacrifice other things, I know that as I have been there and done it, so I think that helps, knowing the process, knowing the sacrifice you have to make but I have also been there and I have achieved a gold medal and I know what that brings.
“You cannot bottle that moment, you cannot explain it to anybody but it is the greatest achievement you can get in sport and I want that again, so I know it is worthwhile making all the sacrifices because of the process to get that achievement. 
“The team part is a different challenge, but having originally started out in wheelchair rugby I think that helps. I like having team mates around me, I feel that I am a natural leader in my personality, but I feel comfortable with people around me, so while athletics is an individual sport when we went away to competitions we were a team. I felt quite strongly about that, and supported my team mates with that.”
British Curling Paralympic Wheelchair Curling Squad:
Jo Butterfield
Meggan Dawson-Farrell
Gregor Ewan
Charlotte McKenna
Hugh Nibloe
Stewart Pimblett
Gary Smith
