Renée Sonnenberg (born Renée Handfield March 22, 1971) is a Canadian curler from

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Curling career

Sonnenberg had a fairly successful junior career, having won two provincial junior titles in 1989 and 1990. She placed third at the 1989 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. At the 1990 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, her team finished 4–6, out of the playoffs. In 2001, Sonnenberg won the provincial mixed title, playing third for

Kurt Balderston Kurt Balderston (born c. 1963) is a Canadian curler from Sexsmith, Alberta. Career Balderston is a former Canadian Mixed champion, having won the 1992 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship. Since then he has played in four national mixed champi ...

. They finished the round robin tied for first with another ''six'' teams at a 7–4 record. They lost to Saskatchewan in their first tie breaker match, eliminating them. Sonnenberg has won two provincial titles, in 1999 and 2001. At the

1999 Scott Tournament of Hearts The 1999 Scott Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's national curling championship, was played February 20 to 28 at the Charlottetown Civic Centre in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. In the final, Colleen Jones and her Nova Scotia team would w ...

, she finished 5–6, out of the playoffs. At the

2001 Scott Tournament of Hearts The 2001 Scott Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's national curling championship, was played at the Sudbury Community Arena in Sudbury, Ontario. The final pitted 1999 champions Colleen Jones and her Nova Scotia team against the defending champ ...

, she finished 4–7, missing the playoffs again. Sonnenberg was asked to be the alternate player for Team Alberta (skipped by

Kristie Moore Kristie Moore (born April 22, 1979) is a Canadian curler from Sexsmith, Alberta. She was the alternate player on the Canadian women's team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She was five months pregnant at the time, making her only the third Olympic a ...

) at the

2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian women's national curling championship, was held from February 16 to 24 at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario. It was the ninth time Ontario hosted the Tournament of Hearts. Ontario last hos ...

, following losing to Moore in the final of the

2013 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2013 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Alberta's women's provincial curling championship, was held from January 23 to 27 at the Lethbridge Curling Club in Lethbridge, Alberta. The winning Kristie Moore rink from Grande Prairie went on to ...

. In

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, she was also asked to be the alternate player, this time for the

Valerie Sweeting Valerie Sweeting (born July 9, 1987 in Redvers, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian curler from Lottie Lake, Alberta She currently plays third for Team Kerri Einarson. Sweeting skipped Alberta to a silver medal at the and Scotties Tournament of Hea ...

team. At the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

, Sonnenberg coached the Danish national team. Sonnenberg and her team qualified to play in her first Olympic Trials by qualifying out of the 2013 Olympic Pre-Trials tournament, giving her the right to play in the

2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials The 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials (branded as the 2013 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings for sponsorship reasons) were held from December 1 to 8 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The winners of the men's and women's events were chosen to ...

. Sonnenberg was named as part of the

Curling Canada Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association (CCA)) is a sanctioning body for the sport of Curling in Canada. It is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country, and organizes C ...

High Performance staff, acting as the Performance Consultant & Analytics Lead for the 2018-19 National Team Program.

Personal life

Sonnenberg has a husband and a son, and is employed as a teacher with the Grande Prairie & District Catholic Schools. She currently is running the Grande Prairie, Alberta KUMON Learning Centre.

Grand Slam record

Sonnenberg's only Grand Slam victory came at the

2011 Manitoba Lotteries Women's Curling Classic The 2011 Manitoba Lotteries Women's Curling Classic was held October 21 to 24 at the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was the second women's Grand Slam (curling), Grand Slam event of the 2011–12 curling season and the eighth tim ...

Former events

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnenberg, Renee People from Grande Prairie Curlers from Edmonton Living people Canadian women curlers 1971 births Canadian schoolteachers Canadian curling coaches Canada Cup (curling) participants