USA Curling has named Helena attorney and Paralympian Katie Verderber to the 2026-27 USA Wheelchair Curling National Team as the program begins its push toward the 2030 Paralympic Winter Games.
The national governing body announced the team Sept. 8 after a three-day selection camp at Rock Creek Curling in Lafayette, Colorado. Verderber is one of eight athletes named. She joins Steve Davis, Laura Dwyer, Steve Emt, Emily Obert, Sean O’Neill, Shawn Sadowski and Jeff Snover. USA Curling will set final mixed team lineups, which field five athletes, as competitions approach.
The national team is the pool USA Curling draws from for world championships and, ultimately, the Paralympic Winter Games. The International Paralympic Committee has confirmed wheelchair curling for the French Alps 2030 Paralympic Winter Games, set for March 1-10, 2030. Selection to this team does not guarantee a spot in 2030, but it puts Verderber inside the national program at the start of the four-year cycle that leads there.
The team travels first to Lohja, Finland, for the World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship, Nov. 22-30. The Americans will compete there for a berth in the 2027 World Wheelchair Curling Championship.
Verderber made her Paralympic debut in March at the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, where she competed on the U.S. mixed team with Matthew Thums, Oyuna Uranchimeg, Sean O’Neill and Dan Rose. The team finished outside the medals, losing several games by a single point. She had taken up the sport only two years earlier.
Verderber grew up in Valier, Montana. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Montana Western and her law degree from Syracuse University College of Law, then commissioned as a Judge Advocate General officer in the U.S. Army. She deployed to Afghanistan in 2019, where she sustained a spinal cord injury that resulted in paralysis. She medically retired, returned to Montana and took up adaptive sports. She curls with the Last Chance Curling Club in Helena, where she has helped introduce others to the sport.
She served as a civil litigator for the Montana Department of Justice before joining Silverman Law Office, where she focuses on business, contract, real estate and probate litigation. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines named her a Montanan of the Month in March, and YWCA Helena named her its 2026 Woman of the Year in April.
Verderber continues to balance her work as an attorney with her commitment to adaptive sports and her role on the USA Wheelchair Curling National Team. Those interested in learning more about Verderber, her legal experience, or the services provided by Silverman Law Office, PLLC, can contact the Great Falls, MT law firm at 406-449-4829.
