The library school goes curling

I used to curl regularly when I was younger. I took up the sport (after my father and brother) when I was in grade six (approximately 12 years of age) and curled weekly from then until I switched from the University of Waterloo to Ryerson University (approximately nineteen years of age). I curled on the ladies junior team from Woodstock, Ontario for a couple years, once as the spare and once as the lead. Unfortunately we didn't make it out of zones (i.e. zones, regionals, provincials, nationals) either time. I also curled for the mix bantam team from Woodstock for one year. We were all just barely young enough to qualify for bantam (16 years of age as of June 1st the year before, I think) and so handily made it through zones, but failed to win any games at the regional level. When at UW I played a year with the recreational league. I recall having a nicely balanced team that year, all of us with a similar experience level for the sport (and all in our first year of university). After that I got an occasional game in over the holidays, filling in on my dad's team and haven't curled at all since moving to Edmonton.

The streak of winters without curling was finally broken this weekend. My friend Lisa (and hypothetically me, but all I did was provide encouragement and collected one person's payment) put together a Funspiel for SLIS (School of Library and Information Studies) students this past Saturday. It was held at the Saville Centre, which is a big-time training centre in Edmonton. This is where Kevin Martin curls (he was there, working in the Pro-Shop, which also bears his name). We had a great turn out, 33 people in all, and I think for the most part people had fun. No major spills occurred, although a few slips, but no one hurt themselves and I think a few people gained a new found love for the sport. I skipped (being one of the few with actual curling experience) although I played like garbage (hey, I haven't been on pebbled ice for at least 4 years). On the upside, I get to spare for Lisa's team in a couple of weeks and I'm seriously considering signing up with a club next fall when I'm no longer in school.



That's all for now, although there'll probably be another sporty-post later this week on my favourite past time: figure skating.

Ciao,

Andrea