Having written about the sport of curling during my days on the Bangor Daily News sports desk and even attempting it once myself with the encouragement of Mary Dutch of Belfast, I was thrilled to read in our paper recently that six people will represent the United States in the first World Curling Federation wheelchair curling championships Jan. 21-26 in Sursee, Switzerland.

It gave me even more pleasure to know that Dutch, who has long been an active Belfast Curling Club member but unable to curl since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1979, is now back on the ice and headed for Switzerland.

Dutch, 42, is a member of Team USA with Loren Greenlaw, 42, of Hallowell; Weston Smith, 61, of Glenburn; Douglas Sewall, 53, of Orono; Samuel Woodward, 57, of Surry; and Danell Libby, 33, of Gray.

My happiness at Dutch’s participation has been tempered a bit, however, by word from her husband and team coach, Dr. Jeff Dutch, that although she was originally the team’s skip (the person responsible for getting the 42-pound stone going down the ice), she probably will be on the bench during the competition.

Jeff Dutch said that in just the short time between now and just before Christmas, Mary’s condition has changed so that she no longer has the strength to put the stone on the ice.

“It takes a lot of upper-body strength to deliver from a stationary wheelchair,” he said, adding that officials with the competition have indicated she will be unable to use a power wheelchair on the ice.

The Dutches hope, however, to make a statement at the competition by showing the officials, first, that the conditions of those with MS can change week to week or month to month and, second, that power chairs have no more adverse effect upon the ice than nonpowered ones.

In any event, Jeff Dutch is looking forward to the experience and is especially pleased that he, his wife and her teammates are going to be able to travel abroad.

“Mary and I thought probably we’d not see Europe at any time, with the older cities not being accessible,” he said, “but it sounds like Sursee, with its rehabilitation hospitals and clinic, is a town that is accommodating and accessible.”

Jeff Dutch, by the way, finds himself in a new role in this championship – coach rather than competitor.

He recognizes his “role reversal” and the fact that he is an inexperienced coach, “but I probably have more experience than any other club member as far as competition is concerned and, therefore, I was happy to volunteer,” said the former U.S. men’s national championship competitor.

Dutch believes the team will learn a great deal in its first-ever competition because, “I think we are going to be facing folks with curling experience who came to the game after an injury and who had the able-bodied experience,” he said.

Other than Mary Dutch, most of the team members are new to the sport, having learned it through the newly organized Alpha One-BCC program.

The team is sponsored by Alpha One, a nonprofit organization that provides “a variety of services and programs, statewide, to people with disabilities,” explained Dennis Fitzgibbons of the Alpha One office in Portland.

“We are extremely pleased and excited and thrilled that the Belfast Curling Club has been so welcoming of people with disabilities, and to get them involved in this sport of curling,” he said.

A program that was initiated just a year ago with BCC and Alpha One, Team USA now has “made this great opportunity available for this team of people with disabilities to compete in the first international wheelchair curling championship,” he said.

“To be associated with that through Alpha One, sponsoring one of our recreational programs, and teaming up with the Belfast Curling Club, has just been a great experience for all involved.

“It’s a real advance for making another recreation outlet available to people with disabilities.”

Although Alpha One is helping underwrite the trip, supporters are helping the team raise the $15,000 they need to compete in Switzerland.

Doing her part in that regard is Maine musician Lynn Deeves, who has gathered a group of friends and is host to a benefit concert from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, at Hall-Dale High School Theatre on Maple Street in Farmingdale.

Tickets are $10 for individuals, $25 for a family, and will be available at the door, which opens at 6 p.m.

If you cannot attend the concert, but want to help these people represent the United States in this competition, send your tax-deductible contributions to Alpha One, 41 Acme Road, Brewer 04412, or call (800)-300-6016 for more information.

Congratulations to members of the Maine Credit Union League whose just-concluded seventh annual BearHugs for Kids drive collected a record 1,300 bears, more than doubling last year’s record of 610.

The 500 bears collected at credit unions and the league’s headquarters in Westbrook, combined with 800 bears collected in conjunction with an annual concert sponsored by Portland radio station WJBQ, Q-97, resulted in this year’s record-setting drive.

Jon Paradise, MCUL director of communications, founded the program that provides bears of all shapes and sizes to be donated to hospitals, health care clinics, law enforcement agencies and other emergency agencies throughout the state.

Agency and hospital personnel give the bears to children involved in traumatic situations such as fire, accident or an abusive or violent event.

The MCUL is just beginning to distribute the bears throughout Maine.

If your agency or hospital would like to be included in that distribution, call Paradise at 773-5671, Ext. 273, or e-mail jparadise@maineclu.org.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.