Buildspiel at Norfolk Curling Club

NORFOLK — The second annual Norfolk Curling Club Buildspiel was held on Saturday, March 14, and Sunday, March 15.

The club hosted 14 teams, including those from as far away as Utica, N.Y., and an all-wheelchair team from Cape Cod that competed in the Paralympics in Russia in 2014, finishing fifth.

Wheelchair curling is fairly new, with only about 60-70 participants nationwide, according to Tony Colacchio, director of the Paralympic Sport Club and coach of the Cape Cod Curling Club. 

On March 15, Farmington resident Brett Smith learned about curling from Colacchio. 

Smith is a recent graduate of UConn and a Marine Corps veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.

Smith was an active athlete who competed at the Tough Mudder challenge in 2012 and 2013.

However, he had an accident on July 2014, at his brother’s wedding reception, when he dove into a shallow area of a pond that others were diving into. He ultimately crushed his spinal cord and fractured his C6 and C7 vertebrae. He is now paralyzed from the upper chest down, effectively quadriplegic, with some use of his hands and arms. 

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