Former resident appears in Women of Curling Calendar

Former Shellbrook resident, Regan Mizuno (Scholz) is one of 12 international curlers featured in the 2012 Women of Curling Calendar.

The charity benefiting from the sale of the calendars is Shoot for a Cure charity in support of the Canadian Spinal Research Organization.

Mizuno, who currently lives in San Francisco, California, got involved through a simple Facebook posting. In the post, she expressed her desire to bring a bon spiel to the Bay area featuring some of Canada’s elite curlers to compete with some US rinks. Her idea was to host an event that would merge a cash spiel, featuring elite curlers, with a Lupus fund raiser.

That got the attention of the calendar’s publishers who reached out to her to see if she would like to get involved.

“One line on Facebook, that’s it.  I never applied to be part of the calendar,” said Mizuno.

She signed up, took part in a photo shoot and will be in the calendar in a bikini beach photo along with another smaller picture in her workout gear.

“What’s more fun than getting your picture taken on a beach? I had a great time,” said Mizuno.

She is still working on organizing the event to bring a World Curling Tour event to California in conjunction with a Lupus fund raiser.

“My goal is to create a bonspiel, invite a bunch of top Canadian teams down  and have a small bonspiel with people like Cheryl Bernard and Stef Lawton and have a few teams from (the States) involved,” said Mizuno.

The event merges two of her biggest passions, curling and Lupus advocacy.

A Lupus survivor, Mizuno has been a long time advocate for research for the disease, having spent time volunteering for Lupus Foundations in the states where she has lived.

She currently works with the Lupus Foundation of Northern California and is striving to offer her specialized fitness program Regan MOVES to lupus patients across the northern part of the state. The fitness program is tailored to those suffering from the disease taking extra care to be lower impact.

Meanwhile, she continues to sing, having performed the American national Anthem for the San Francisco Giants game on Easter Sunday, April 24.

Scotland’s Eve Muirhead graces the cover of the calendar while fellow Europeans Cissi Ostlund of Sweden and Ekatarina Galkina, of Russia are featured inside along with Mizuno, the lone US representative. Canadian curlers include Shannon Aleksic,  of Vancouver,  Sonja Gaudet, of Kelowna,  Kalynn Park, of Edmonton,  Kaitlyn Lawes, of Winnipeg,  Laura Crocker, of Kitchener-Waterloo,  Emma Miskew, of Ottawa,  Jill Mouzar, of Toronto,  Heather Smith-Dacey and of Halifax.

Calendars are  $25 and can be ordered by contacting Mizuno via email at  reganmizuno@gmail.com or go to www.reganmoves.com.

For more information on the charity or the cause check out www.shootforacure.org and www.csro.com.