The Competitive Curling Life

It's a typical overcast day in Seattle, no snow...yet. Temperature is 53 degrees F with lows of 40. Granite Curling Club looks great as usual. Ice is clear, fast, and curling. Company is friendly. It's like a mini reunion with our favorite people. Plus, there's some new faces in the playdown circle. Excitement is high. Colors are COLORFUL. It's another great, fun-filled, sore-muscled curling weekend.

(All this was very hard to type on an ipad with no keyboard. So I gave up. I apologize for posting the blogs late.)

I was talking to a friend about this competition and what it's like when you move on to Club Nationals, and I told him it's like a self imposed torture. You have to push yourself mentally and physically. You have to deal with all sorts of pressure situations. Sometimes it comes down to the last rock in the last end, which actually did happen in our game against Team San Diego...a heartbreaking loss.

It's kind of hard to explain why anyone would put themselves through this process. Maybe it's the bragging rights. Maybe it's the feeling of victory after overcoming so many obstacles. For some, it could be the satisfaction of doing something new, something that you never thought you could do before. That's how I felt when I did my first take out and later on, a double take-out. I'm looking forward to the one day I get to do a triple. I'm not usually in the position to do take-outs. As a Lead, I throw the guards and the draws. Take-outs are usually reserved for everyone else. So when called upon to do those crucial moves, I get really nervous. I miss more often then I'd like to admit. When I actually do hit it and hit it exactly the way it was called, I feel extreme pride and gratification. It's the best feeling in the world. Of course, when I miss, it's the worst...we are always the hardest on ourselves. Thank goodness there's 4 people on a team; so when someone is feeling down, there's always someone else to pick them up.

In curling, it's not really what you did during your one shot or two shots in the game. For example, the skip wouldn't have to make a miracle shot at the end, if things were going smoothly from the beginning. The game has to be perceived in it's entirety: communication, sweeping, watching line, thinking ahead, setting up, capitalizing, psychological aspects, preventing mistakes, etc. The sum of all this and more determines what the playing field is like (which seems to be constantly changing), and we just have to work best we can with what we've got. Curling is an extremely complicated puzzle, and we, crazy competitors, are all addicted to solving it.

So here we are again, the third time in the MoPAC Club Regional Tournament. It gets better and more competitive every year. There's a lot more at stake and maybe a little more reward. So what is it that attracts all these curlers, sucks them in and traps them in a world of cold temperatures, heavy rocks, and a lot of HARD work? I'll speak for everyone participating in the Regionals, and I hope they all agree. Despite aching muscles, bruised bums, highs and lows, the competitive curling life is the kind of life to lead.

-Domino