When Tedde Barker steps off the ice and into the clubhouse at the Cityview Curling Club the room becomes instantly louder. After an intense semi-final match, Team T. Barker has thrown, skipped and swept its way into the final round of Eastern Canada's largest women's bonspiel.

"This competition is for heart and stroke and we hope to raise $60,000 this year," says Tedde Barker.

At 92, Barker is one of the most oldest and well known non-professional curlers in Ottawa. Not only is she fiercely competitive, the talented skip is a co-founder of the Carleton Heights Curling Club. Barker, along with her husband, were part of a group of World War II veterans who created the club after the war.

"It's in my blood. I guess I just like to play. I like the camaraderie," Barker says.

Barker plays an average of twice a week and enters bonspiels when she can.

"There's no people as much fun, on or off the ice, as curlers," Barker says. 

Known for her hot pink gripper and her precision as a skip, Barker's teammates and friends say she continues to inspire them every day.

"I just look at her and think I can do this forever if I just keep looking at her," says teammate Myrna Latham. "She's amazing."

'She's a mentor to all of us. She takes the game very seriously, but win or lose she has a happy face," says Judy DiMillo with the Carleton Heights Curling Club. "She's probably one of the most competitive curlers in this town."

Team T. Barker will compete at 9 a.m. Sunday, February 9, in the final of the senior women's event at the annual Crystal Heart Curling Classic. The event is the largest of its kind in Eastern Canada.