Live and Let Curl!

I thought that the title of this blog was appropriate. Today, we played against Washington in our 9th game of this curling competition. So far, we have played more games in one week, than back at our own curling rink in two months (since we only play on Sunday nights). During this game, we came so close to making a few essential shots, but we just couldn't always get the exact weight or line at the right moment. We nearly came around the guards or took things out or drew around guards. There were moments where I felt that we swept harder in this game than any other game during this whole competition, and I'm going to quote Cindy, "My arms felt like jelly." One good thing that I'd like to highlight from this game was that I was finally getting my most of my guards up. Finally! That's for you, Marissa! NO FAIL!

We took a lot of beating, and in the 7th end, we finally scored 2. They stole another one in the 8th. We decided to go and curl another end despite Washington's lead. Marissa slid down and said, "You ready for one more?" Of course, we were! And I'm going to give you 3 reasons: 1) We are resolved never to give up 2) Mathematically, until we run out of rocks, there was still potential that a miracle could happen (It could happen. We are from Hollywood.) 3) We love opportunities to curl on dedicated ice and this will be the last game...at least for a while. We ended up scoring another 2 points in the 9th end! I think we all would have enough strength for even another end (especially if we scored 3 or 4 points) even though we couldn't feel our arms anymore and there were aches in our legs. BUT to us, those last 2 points represented that our effort was enough. We finally shook.

I admit, today was not our best game. We definitely needed a little bit a tweaking here and there to be perfect. Plus, the score does not reflect how close we came to getting some of these hard shots or the amount of effort we put in trying overcome all the obstacles in our way. We have learned, grown, and curled together which was our goal coming to Nationals. There's a great improvement in our curling, thanks to Utica. We have made some great friends, learned how to curl in a professional tournament/environment, picked up some great advice, and learned the etiquette of good sportsmanship. We won 3 games over exceeding our expectations coming into the tournament, and we're placed 7th in the Women Club Nationals. Now, we are all ready to soak in the tub and take a few ibuprofen, but this has been a extraordinary week.

Here's just a few wishes for the future...Even in that last hour, when it looks grim, may there always be smiles on our faces. That we will always let go our disappointments and heartaches, find the inner strength to keep going, support each other in every win, and learn from each loss. That we will never have a uniform malfunction, and once in a while pull a really great Hollywood stunt. I hope that we will never change, except of course to get better.

Live and Let Curl, Everyone!!