Seven done ... 45 to go...

What: #7 Go curling

When: March 1st
Where: Kalamazoo Curling Club 
Why: Apparently, every 4 years there is a major upturn in the popularity of curling. This is called the Olympic effect. This year, I missed every minute of coverage of the Sochi Olympics, so I can't blame the Olympics for my desire to curl. Instead, I blame the proximity of my hometown to Canada, and the fact that in my formative years, we often watched the CBC's coverage of sports, and that included curling. The similarity between curling and shuffleboard (altho many others compare it to bocce ball), also captured my attention because I loved playing shuffleboard with my grandparents when I was growing up, and doing it on the ice during the winter seemed like a fun twist. And let's be honest, this winter has been rough, so anything that can be done to have a bit of fun during these long cold months is worth it!

Prior to our time on the ice, we were treated to an introductory video. That was supplemented with some first-hand knowledge passed on to us by a local curler, including the details on the quarry where they cull the 42-pound curling stones. Armed with this new knowledge, we took to the ice to the tunes of bagpipes, ready to give it all a try. 

As beginners, we were given stabilizer bars, much like training wheels, in an effort to support us going down the ice in the lunge position. Once set up in the hack ("starting block"), the other foot is placed onto a Teflon-coated sole to help us better slide down the sheet of ice. Then, in a tripod stance, you launch out of the hack and then turn the handle ever-so-slightly as you let go of the stone. This all seems ridiculously easy, but it was insanely difficult. To be honest, I had the balance to get down the ice without falling, which wasn't the case for many others, but then I got cocky and tried to do it as the pros do; using only the "broom" instead of the stabilizer bar, and this was the result. 

After getting over my wounded pride, I went back to using the stabilizer bar and improved my skills. It was hard to get the stones down to the house (the target at the end of the sheet) without pushing them off as you release, which are you NOT supposed to do. The whole movement takes a lot of finesse, and then the sweepers get involved. That was a hot and stressful part of curling, everyone awkwardly yelling "Sweep! Faster! HARDER!", but as the Skip for my team, I was excluded from it after the practice round, and instead I was calling the shots for my team and devising our winning (aka losing) strategy. It all ended well; as the losers, we earned drinks from the winners, so we headed off to Bell's Brewery to "stack the brooms" and enjoy the rest of our night!

Good form!

Action shot!