The above frame sums it up pretty well. There before you, you see the two necessary items for any good curling Bonspiel( tournament). The kegs and the rocks sit at the ready on a quiet Saturday morning at 7am. Why were we there so early, you may ask? Our first game was at 8am and that meant that we needed to get in a few lessons and practice shots before hand. Rebecca joined a friend one night at the club and was able to throw a few rocks down the ice but this Bonspiel would be my first ever intoduction to the fabulous sport.
Just like life itself, there is so much more to it than merely what one sees on the surface. Since we are talking about surface lets look at that for a moment. The ice was not a smooth rink like one might see in hockey. They use this garden type sprayer to sprinkle the ice to actually make it bumpy. They follow that up with a contaption to "nip" the big bumps off before play begins. This gives the rock some purchase so that it can actually curl as it travels down the ice towards the house. There is a ton of science that goes into the whole deal. Suffice it to say that it is a great sport and we had a blast with our team, Cristy, and Erin our 'Skip' as we call her. It was her first time as Skip but she did a fantastic job and even brought home the tie breaking "W" in a toss off known as Skip's rocks. The two skips throw one rock and the closest one takes home the win. Way to go Erin. All said, we had one win and two losses and tons of fun. You'll see us back out on the ice again next year.
The penguin was not really a part of the team but we let him step in just for the photo.
"Good Curling" is the customary pre-game and post-game salutation for the opposing team. Even if it is an absolutely terrible performance(which we saw here and there) they still throw you a cheery "good curling."
The above frame sums it up pretty well. There before you, you see the two necessary items for any good curling Bonspiel( tournament). The kegs and the rocks sit at the ready on a quiet Saturday morning at 7am. Why were we there so early, you may ask? Our first game was at 8am and that meant that we needed to get in a few lessons and practice shots before hand. Rebecca joined a friend one night at the club and was able to throw a few rocks down the ice but this Bonspiel would be my first ever intoduction to the fabulous sport.
Just like life itself, there is so much more to it than merely what one sees on the surface. Since we are talking about surface lets look at that for a moment. The ice was not a smooth rink like one might see in hockey. They use this garden type sprayer to sprinkle the ice to actually make it bumpy. They follow that up with a contaption to "nip" the big bumps off before play begins. This gives the rock some purchase so that it can actually curl as it travels down the ice towards the house. There is a ton of science that goes into the whole deal. Suffice it to say that it is a great sport and we had a blast with our team, Cristy, and Erin our 'Skip' as we call her. It was her first time as Skip but she did a fantastic job and even brought home the tie breaking "W" in a toss off known as Skip's rocks. The two skips throw one rock and the closest one takes home the win. Way to go Erin. All said, we had one win and two losses and tons of fun. You'll see us back out on the ice again next year.
The penguin was not really a part of the team but we let him step in just for the photo.
"Good Curling" is the customary pre-game and post-game salutation for the opposing team. Even if it is an absolutely terrible performance(which we saw here and there) they still throw you a cheery "good curling."
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