Moose Jaw’s Marie Wright received an early Christmas gift at the start of the month.

The local curler received a call to represent her country as she was namedto Team Canada for the 2017 World Wheelchair Curling Championships, which will go in Gangneung, South Korea from Mar. 4-11.

“When I found out I couldn’t really even sleep or anything, it was so exciting,” said Wright of the news.

Wright has played for Team Saskatchewan on multiple occasions and previously served as an alternate for Canada at the 2015 Worlds, but she will be a full-time member of the four-player team heading over to Asia this year.

“To wear that maple leaf on your back is pretty exciting. It’s a big honour to represent your country,” said Wright. “To think that you’re picked from all across Canada, it’s a big deal.”

The opportunity to represent her country didn’t come overnight for Wright as she’s put in a lot of time and hard work to get to this point.

From work in the gym to being on the ice curling up to, and over, five times a week, Wright has shown an incredible commitment to getting to the top level in wheelchair curling.

“I’ve put in a lot of work for it and it feels good to have that pay off,” said Wright.

It was a long road through the selection progress for this year’s team as well with Wright attending multiple camps, including one here in Moose Jaw back in October, to have a chance to make the team.

She was able to impress Team Canada coach Wayne Keil enough to secure a spot on the team.  Now the challenge is getting ready to take on the world in just over three months from now.

“We’ll hit the ground running pretty good, we’ve seen each other a lot this winter and we have three more training camps before we go to Korea,” said Wright.

“We have one in Waterloo starting on Jan. 3 and then we have one in Regina on Jan. 17-19 and then we’ll have another one in Feb. before we leave.”

Facing the best in the world will be a new experience for Wright and so will travelling to Korea, which is something that she’s really looking forward to.  “It’s going to be a whole new experience in a part of the world that I didn’t think I’d ever see,” she said.

Canada hasn’t found the podium at the World Wheelchair Curling Championships since winning gold in 2013. They will look to return to the top this year.

The World Championship will run from Mar. 4-11.