Five things I learned from hanging out with Team Glenn Howard

The Team Glenn Howard Fantasy Curling Camp wrapped up at the Guelph Curling Club on Sunday afternoon, ending three days of - of - of what? Learning, laughing, and a fair bit of pain (delivery, after delivery, after delivery....!) Moments of illumination, moments (long ones!) of frustration. Good times with new friends. Lots of failure. A few successes. And a long list of "Things I'm going to do correctly from now on...."

Those boys - Glenn Howard, Richard Hart, Jon Mead and Craig Savill - make it look pretty darn easy. It isn't, as any curler knows. Having a chance to slide shakily out of the hack with a world champion skip critiquing your form, and then watching him demonstrate the ease and brilliance on the ice that years of dedicated training produce, well, "humbling" is the only word that comes to mind.

The Crazy 8s winners celebrate after outscoring the opposition (um, that would be
the campers!)

So here are five things I learned from hanging out with Team Glenn Howard and a staff of coaches and trainers at curling camp this past weekend:

1. Jon Mead is dead funny. Just in case you didn't know. We all know Glenn, Rich and Craig are jokers, but Jon is new on the Team Howard scene. He's got that serious expression on his face, and he's pretty fierce on the ice too, but oh my, he is scary funny. Some pretty good behind-the-scenes stories about life on the elite curling circuit, too.

2. You need really, really, really strong legs to be a curler. Just saying. I don't have those legs. In and out of the hack, up and down the ice on sweeping drills, (rocky) delivery after (rocky) delivery. Day One, then Day Two, then Day Three - the knees are burning, the quads are protesting. Hurray for that wonderful invention known as [insert name of painkiller of your choice here].

The camp coaches: Wendy Morgan, Maurice Wilson, Brian Savill and Jen Ferris,
after entertaining the crowd during the Crazy 8s competition.

3. Canadian flags and Olympic gold medals make me cry. Wendy Morgan, the Team Leader for the Canadian Paralympic Curling Team - yup, the team that won a third straight Olympic gold medal for Canada at the Sochi Games - gave us a slideshow of her experiences in Russia. She got choked up. Sitting in the audience, I got choked up. I hope all Canadian curlers - and sports fans - appreciate the incredible accomplishment of those athletes - Jim Armstrong, Ida Forrest, Dennis Thiessen, Sonja Gaudet and Mark Ideson, with their coach Joe Rae. Bad ice, bad rocks, difficult conditions - they just kept going forward, keeping positive, and winning games - and gold medals. From their wheelchairs. I am in awe, and I think the rest of the room felt the same.

Talking strategy before their turn at Crazy 8s, and in the distance, just between Craig and Jon, there's
coach and Balance Plus equipment expert Scott Taylor,
who coached us all (with help from wife, Bonnie) on our line of delivery, and who,
on the final afternoon, draped the chairs in the club room with jackets and shirts
from his long career of Briers and World Championships with Team Howard, and told us
to pick one and take it home. What a gesture!
(I know what I'm wearing for the Halloween Party at Friday Night Social Curling this year!)

4. Curlers are nice. I know I've said this before (like, in every blog I write), but it can't be said often enough. We were thrown together in groups of eight - two "teams" - who travelled together from session to session. We ended up eating together, hanging out, laughing, swapping emails. New friends, all because of curling. And everyone with something to offer - like a story about a bonspiel, or a suggestion about equipment, or advice on which dessert to pick from the buffet at lunch. Good times with good people. Curlers are nice.

Teams 13 and 14 with that guy, you know? That guy?

And lastly...

5. I learned what it feels like to make a big final shot. Yes, the stars - or rocks - aligned in our game on the last day. A long run-back double. I saw it, I resisted it, I finally went with it (much to my third's delight), and I threw it. Against all expectations, I made it - how?! Because my delivery had been so perfected from three days of close instruction on position and line? Because those sessions on confidence and mental toughness finally kicked in? I don't know, but I do know I felt as if I had just won the Scotties on last rock. That's probably as close as I'll ever get to a championship moment, so I'm going to tuck it away in my collection of great curling memories and bring it out every now and then for a look.

Dale gets some one-on-one advice on how to throw those big-weight bombs.
Or they may have been talking hairstyles. Not sure.

We hung around at the club as the crowd dwindled, gave the coaches and amazing Team Howard players a hug and a handshake. Then we went home to feed the dog and crash on the couch - and soak in a hot bath with epsom salts!

I'm still smiling - and I didn't even tell you about the Hospitality Room....

Thoughts from The Tim Hortons Brier 2012

The view from Section A, Row 12, Seat 7

I've just come home from Saskatoon, where I spent the weekend enjoying the big party that is The Brier. And what a party - not just in the Patch, but in the hotel, at the rink, and around town as well. Saskatoon put on an amazing show.

Some thoughts:

1. Volunteers make the world go round. That is never more true than at an event like this. Those bright green (we were in Saskatchewan, after all) jackets were everywhere, worn by friendly, helpful, busy, smiling and ever-present volunteers who could not do enough to make us feel welcome and looked after.

2. Saskatoon is a beauty. The river, the bridges, the architecture, the trails, the trees forming a canopy over Spadina Crescent... what a gorgeous city.

3. Glenn Howard deserved this win. Watching Glenn lose over the past few years has been, well, painful. This is an incredibly talented and skilled team, but too many times they have come up short. Howard was not to be denied this year, especially with MVP Wayne Middaugh setting him up. Maybe it wasn't a strongly pro-Ontario crowd, but Glenn earned that win, and I think the fans knew that.

4. The Koe story. This was one of the highlights of the week - the brothers facing each other in the Page 3-4 game. It was fraught with emotion (which isn't exactly something you think of when you see those boys on the ice). Clearly, it wasn't fun for either of them. But what was fun, was watching Jamie and his YT/NWT team work their way up, hold on to that playoff spot, prove that they are able to play with the big kids. The team from the north had a lot of supporters - and most of them from south of 60. Both Koes came out on the short side of their playoff games, but what a couple of classy curlers - and what a great story.

5. Annoying fans. I mean, really, people. Heckling Glenn Howard when he got into the hack to throw? Really?

Nice trophy....

7. Relegation and the Team Canada issue. I heard lots of conversation about whether there should be changes to the Brier eligibility format. Relegation games. Ditching Northern Ontario. Bringing in a Team Canada model as they do at the Scotties. Some fans from Alberta, who we spoke to while hanging out the Patch between games, were vehemently opposed to the Team Canada idea. Their view: all curlers should have the chance to represent their province or territory at a national championship, and no one should be given a free ticket. The consensus? There's no right answer.

8. Curlers are awesome. Travelling back and forth to the arena in the vans arranged for VIPs (yes! I was a VIP, thanks to my writing/editing work with the CCA), I had the chance for conversations with all sorts of people - Peter Waugh, the CCA Volunteer of the Year; Michael Burns, the photographer who captures all those CCA photos you see on the website; Brian Mudryk, the TSN broadcaster; and curlers from the teams competing on the ice. Easy conversation, lots of laughs, inside info (which stays inside!) and a fascinating glimpse into the experience of being a high-performance athlete at a national championship. Awesome.

Can't wait for Edmonton in 2013...!

Grassroots Curling: Busy off and on the ice this season

The 2011-2012 curling season is going to the busiest one ever - for me, anyway.

Am I a competitive curler with my sights set on zones and regionals? Am I signed up for multi-leagues, major leagues, three or more nights a week of rec curling at the local club?

Nope. But here's what I am doing:

1. Writing

I'm writing about curling. Writing a lot. Last year it was The Curling News; this year, it's the Canadian Curling Association's website. Here's a peek at what's on my To Do List:

Editing Featured Athlete profiles, some written by Al Cameron of the Calgary Herald; some (profiles of junior, wheelchair and blind curlers) written by me.

Editing and posting short newsy reports about the upcoming Season of Champions events - and there are hundreds of them! Multiples almost every day of the week.

Editing columns that appear on the website: Making Great Ice, House Call, Pebbles to Boulders, and my personal fave, Youth Olympic Dreams (I love the voice of Emily Gray, the young curler who writes about her journey towards competing in the 2012 Youth Olympic Games. What a sweetheart!)

Writing Around The House, a bi-monthly visit to curling clubs around the country - telling their stories.


Writing feature stories about the sport. My first big story will show up on the CCA website this week. No previews - sorry!


Lots of writing, lots of deadlines, lots of great curling content for fans and curlers alike. I'm thrilled to be part of it.


2. Curling


One night a week (Sigh. Wish it were more...) skipping a team in the Business Women's league at my local club. Haven't won a game yet. Don't care. Having fun!


3. Coaching


My son's high school is dipping its toes for the first time in the local high school curling league. No other parents have curling experience. None of the teachers are familiar enough with the game to coach. I'm it. Yikes! 


So a busy season ahead in my own curling life, and of course, a busy season ahead in the curlingspere too. Can't wait to share it here on Grassroots Curling.


******


....Oh, and did I mention that I'll be attending the Brier championship weekend in Saskatoon...?

And I hope Glenn Howard is there.... (Photo J. Mills)