Val Sweeting

Sweeting grew up in Maryfield, Saskatchewan. In 2007, Sweeting played third for Hailey Surik's junior rink out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.[2] The team represented Saskatchewan at the 2007 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. After posting an 8–4 record, they lost to Manitoba in a tie-breaker match.[3]

After juniors, Sweeting moved to Alberta where she formed her own team with Megan Anderson at third, Carly Quigley at second and Whitney Eckstrand at lead.[4] In 2010, in her very first provincial championship, Sweeting surprised many by defeating former World championship bronze medalist Cathy King and Olympic bronze medalist Shannon Kleibrink to capture the provincial crown. She would be the youngest skip ever to represent Alberta at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts. At the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, she skipped her province to a 4–7 record.[5]

Sweeting played in her first Grand Slam event later in the season. Ranked 44th going into the 2010 Players' Championship, she won three straight games after losing to Kleibrink, qualifying her for the playoffs. She then lost in the quarter-final to Stefanie Lawton.[6]

After the 2009–10 season, Sweeting re-jigged her team's lineup, adding Leslie Rogers at third, replacing Quigley.[4] The team had a less eventful season in 2010–11, including winning just one game at the 2011 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts.[7] After the season, Sweeting brought in a new front-end of Joanne Courtney and Rachelle Pidherny.[4] The team improved on the year before, and finished in fourth place at the 2012 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts.[8] Following the season, Sweeting added Dana Ferguson at third position, replacing Rogers.[4]

In the 2012–13 season, Sweeting's rink narrowly missed the playoffs at the 2013 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts,[9] but the team was able to gain enough CTRS points to qualify for the 2013 Canadian Olympic Pre-Trials. The team was one of the qualifiers in the event, giving them the right to play in the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.[10] At the trials, Sweeting led her rink to a 3–4 record, failing to qualify for the playoffs.[11] Also in the 2013–14 season, the rink had two quarter-final appearances at Grand Slams, at the 2013 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic and the 2013 Colonial Square Ladies Classic.[12] Sweeting continued her success that season by going undefeated at the 2014 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where her team beat Cheryl Bernard in the final.[13] Sweeting then represented Alberta once again at the national championships, the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. At the Hearts, Sweeting led Alberta to an 8–3 finish following the round robin. This put her into the playoffs, where she beat Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton and Manitoba's Chelsea Carey to advance to the final. There, she lost to Ontario's Rachel Homan 8–6 to win the silver medal.[14]

After the 2013–14 season, Sweeting's third Joanne Courtney left the team to play for the Homan rink, whom they had lost to in the 2014 Scotties final.[15] She would be replaced by Andrea Crawford, who left the team early in the season when things weren't working out.[16] With Cathy Overton-Clapham playing third as their spare, they won their first slam at the 2014 Masters of Curling.[17] With Lori Olson-Johns as their new full-time third, they also made it to the semifinals at two slams and the quarterfinals at one other.[12] They also won the 2014 Canada Cup of Curling, defeating Homan in the final.[18] The team would win the 2015 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts, earning the team a berth at the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. There, Sweeting led her rink to a 9–2 round robin record, good enough for second place, behind Team Manitoba, skipped by Jennifer Jones. They would go on to lose to Manitoba in the 1 vs. 2 game, but rebounded in the semifinal, beating Saskatchewan (skipped by Stefanie Lawton), before losing to Jones again in the final.[19]

The team found less success in their next season. They won just one tour event (the 2015 HDF Insurance Shoot-Out), though they still made the playoffs in 5 of the 6 slams of the season, including making it to the finals of the 2015 Masters, where they lost to Homan.[12][20] The team would not represent Alberta at the Scotties, as they lost in the finals of the 2016 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts to the Chelsea Carey rink, who would end up winning the national title.[21][22]

In the 2016–17 season, the Sweeting rink made the playoffs in five of the six slams, including winning the 2016 GSOC Tour Challenge and losing in the final of the 2017 Players' Championship.[12] The team again lost in the finals of the 2017 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts, this time losing to Shannon Kleibrink.[23] The next season, Sweeting defended her title by winning the 2017 GSOC Tour Challenge.[24] Sweeting played in the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, going 4–4, just missing the playoffs.[25] Her dreams of making the Olympics would not be over though, as she teamed up with Brad Gushue to play in the 2018 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Olympic Trials. The pair went 5–3 in the round robin, but rallied off three straight victories in the playoffs to make it to the finals. There, they lost to John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes.[26] Sweeting then turned her attention to the 2018 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where she lost in the 3 vs. 4 game.[27] In addition to winning the Tour Challenge, the Sweeting team made the playoffs in one more slam that season, the 2017 Boost National.[12]

In February 2018, it was announced that the Sweeting team would be breaking up with Sweeting joining the all-skip squad of Kerri Einarson, Shannon Birchard and Briane Meilleur for the 2018-19 curling season. Sweeting would played third on the team.[28] They began the season by winning three straight World Curling Tour events in three weeks: the 2018 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, the inaugural Morris SunSpiel and then the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic[29] with a fourth win at the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Classic in October.[30] In December, the team lost in the finals of the 2018 Canada Cup and 2018 National.[31][32] Their strong play during the early part of the season earned them enough points to put team Einarson in the Wild Card game at the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. However, the team lost to the lower-ranked Casey Scheidegger rink.[33] The team would rebound to have a strong finish at the end of the season, winning the 2019 Players' Championship and losing in the final of the 2019 Champions Cup.[12]

Team Einarson had two playoff finishes at the first two Slams of the 2019–20 season, losing to Anna Hasselborg in the quarterfinal of the Masters and once again to Hasselborg in the final of the Tour Challenge.[34][35] The team did not have the same success at the Canada Cup as they did in 2018, finishing with a 2–4 record.[36] However, at the 2020 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, her team succeeded. They finished the round robin and championship round with a 7–1 record, which qualified them for the final. There, they defeated Jennifer Jones.[37] It was Sweeting's first Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts provincial title. Team Einarson represented Manitoba at the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where they continued their success. They finished first in the round robin with a 9–2 record and then won the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game, qualifying them for the final.[38][39] Sweeting won her first Canadian Championship when they defeated Rachel Homan 8–7 in and extra end.[40] Sweeting was named the All-Star Third for the tournament.[41] The team was set to represent Canada at the 2020 World Women's Curling Championship before the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[42][43] The Scotties would be their last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were also cancelled due to the pandemic.[44]

Sweeting is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan. She is currently a case processing agent at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Case Processing Centre Edmonton.[45] She has one son.[46]

• Val Sweeting at CurlingZone