Nova Scotia

We have team "water boy" Chris (Marissa's hubby) doing some blogs and updates on the Nova Scotia trip.  Check out all the new updates here: http://chrismarissanovascotia.blogspot.comhttp://chrismarissanovascotia.blogspot.com

So it is official...Bond Girls are active this curling season. I will try my best to add some additional updates as well.

Good curling everyone!

Come Together

This morning's game against Team Wiesen took us a little time to warm up.  We were still trying to get up to speed with hand signals and timing information as well as adjust to the ice. We started to gel together as a team after about the 4th end. By that time, we were down 5, and dug ourselves into a pretty deep hole.  Then, we started to crawl our way back. Granted, there were times where we got a little lucky, but we'll take what we can get.  It's all about the set-up, right? By the last end, we were only down by 1. Here's a screengrab of the results end by end:

Courtesy of http://www.bonspieler.com/

Two highlights of the game (that I remember):

1) A rock that ricocheted off of Jessica's takeout entered into the next sheet over, and would have messed up the current rocks in play.  I dived into the house (hoping they weren't in the middle of a delivery), and tried to prevent the renegade rock from hitting a red rock in the house. Granted the rocks could be put back, but I figure might as well give it the "Bond Girl all." So the house was safe, and I got a lot of nice comments from the observers. Hopefully, it all looked graceful in the kilt. 

2) Marissa also threw a sweet draw to the 4ft for 2 points. It was beautiful.  Granted there was a lot of sweeping to drag it there, but that's why curling is a team effort. Great job, Team! They should have a tank of oxygen at the end of the sheet for situations like these...come to think of it, a masseuse wouldn't be a bad idea as well.

It's really great to be back at the Crush. It always feels like a reunion, and I love seeing the familiar names and faces as well as meeting some new blood. I was talking to Matt Gamboa (@NoHoCurling) who has been to this bonspiel 5 times in a row so far, and even though I don't have the same track record, I agree with him and do feel that traveling to Wine Country is a tradition. I hope for many more Crush Bonspiels to come.

So our next game is actually tonight at midnight. I'm hoping that the baby Bond Girls will sleep nicely and soundly for my in-laws who I want to give a personal shout out to.  Thank you, Mom and Dad, for making it possible for me to curl this weekend.  I don't know what I would do without you guys! I think we had a pretty good warm up game, and I am hoping that we're settle into our routines as a team now and will kick some BG butt. We are playing against Team Kong so we'll see what happens. 

For all those who want to be updated on the schedule and the results. Here are the links: 

Draw Schedule: http://www.bonspieler.com/draw.php

Score: http://www.bonspieler.com/

Thanks for putting up with my horrible memory and bad jokes!  I'll probably write an update on our midnight game in the morning. For now, this is Domino signing off!

We made it!

We made it after 7 hours of driving, 2 babies, and a 1/2 of the Gamboas (Big thank you to Matt for driving up with all the chaos). It's time for another curling bonspiel up in Roseville, CA at the Crush, one of our favorites. We have Jessica Shultz (originally from Team Brown) and Regan Mizuno filling in for Cindy and Jen. It's going to be lots of fun with the new blood though we will miss our BG counterparts for sure!

Our first draw will be at 9:15 am (PDT) against Team Wiesen. I'll try to keep the blog updated, of course.

I'm keeping it short tonight to save up some strength for tomorrow. Wish us luck! I'll be dreaming of guards, draws, and an occasional take-out or two.

Signing off!

- Domino

Fort Wayne Was a Blast

So Team Zissou did not make it all the way in the Arena Championships, but it was great to watch them play and represent the Hollywood Curling Club. I am very proud of all of them. They each had a lot of great moments.  We also got to meet and hang out with a few awesome curlers from other areas. Hopefully, we'll see them again soon! 

As a parting blog for this event, I wanted to write about Fort Wayne, Indiana (since we had a little free time to explore the city).  It's not a very big town and to be honest, there's not a lot to do there. Fortunately, we came during an interesting time. There was a 3 River Festival going on (44th Annual). It's a 2 day event, and the 2nd largest fair in Indiana. It's like a mini version of the LA State Fair with rides, shopping, and fried food. You could even ride a helicopter around the city. It's a very short ride, but I can see how that would be cool. On the last day of the festival, the family and I stumbled upon an event at the Botanical Gardens.  There was a live jazz band in the outside gardens, and the whole building was open to explore which was great for Leianna. This entertainment lead up to the fireworks display which was set off on top of a nearby building. Surprisingly, I was actually quite impressed by the whole event and the fireworks.

Here are a few photos:

A shot of one of the flowers in the gardens

Leianna Playing Tea Party with Dada in the New Orleans themed garden

View of the stage in the outside gardens

Jazz Band playing amongst the crowd

Fireworks #1

Fireworks #2

Fireworks #3  -  I thought this was really pretty

Fireworks #4

This was a very nice surprise end to our trip in Indiana. Special Note: Yes, there was more curling drunkenness going on with the other half of the team...maybe I can convince Matt/Jen or someone to complete their version of the trip because I've only got the family friendly version.

One more thing...advice for those visiting Amish Country: Don't go on a Sunday, and don't start in Elkhard County especially if you are driving from the east. It is the least Amish town ever!

Okies, this travel guide to North/East/Central Indiana was brought to you by Domino and Team Mendoza signing off.

The Art of Tweeting Curling

Since I had the live Tweeting during today's game (@TeamZissouCurl) I will make the update short and sweet:

Team Zissou Wins!

Now, onto to the real subject of this blog, the art of Tweeting Curling. So I actually have about 3 Twitter accounts, one personal, one business, and one for the pets (which I have completely abandoned). Out of all my social media avenues, I use Twitter the least. (I only really post on the business Twitter since that actually makes sense to me, and that's maybe once every few weeks when I get inspired.) I have never really joined the tweeting band wagon, and here I find myself live tweeting the games for about 2 hours straight. It's hard work!

Maybe I am getting old, but I have to say it was challenging to get up to speed on everything. First of all, I am unfamiliar with the platform. Thank goodness Jen was there so she could explain to me how to edit my posts. Otherwise, I would have wasted a lot of time clicking around on my own.

In the past, I have attended various seminars on social media, search engine optimization, etc. I still don't truly understand the # and @ signs that everyone litters their posts with. All I know is that if I write something, I have to leave enough room to include #ArenaNats which can be kind of annoying when I start running out of space.

I am not really good at abbreviating things especially from the very beginning. I like to just dump out the thoughts and then edit them shorter later. It becomes a problem when I fall behind with the descriptions and the curlers are moving onto the next shots. So I've learned to just keep an eye on the number of characters I have left. When I get close, I start making adjustments or just hit "Post" if it is too much of a hassle. I still find myself rewiting lots of things...

Tweeting and watching curling at the same time is not advisable. I sometimes miss what is being called as I am finishing up on a post. Again, Jen is my life saver when I have to confirm information or if I had questions about what really happened with a shot. I've learned that it is easier to post the result of the shot rather than interpret what was being called and if the shot was successful or not. Thus, I avoid most of the misinterpretations when reading calls on the ice.  (Learned that lesson from day one when I guess a curl around a guard what not a great shot after all...LOL)

Lastly, it is even more so challenging tweeting with a toddler and a 3 month baby. I knew it would be hard, but it is actually insane.  What was I thinking?  Overall, the babies have been pretty good. Halia slept all throughout game three so my only challenge was keeping Leianna occupied. Behind the scenes, I'm changing diapers in between shots, cleaning up spilled water over my keyboard, scrambling to find new and interesting toys (4 plastic cups) for Leianna, feeding Leianna, making sure she doesn't touch anything with her dirty fingers... Jen was a BIG help with being a 2nd pair of eyes and playing with her when things got a little busy. Thank you, Auntie Jen!

Overall, tweeting went better than I expected, and it kept me very involved with the curling game which I love watching. It does require a different way of thinking and writing...my life has benefited from this experience though I am not sure how yet. Live tweeting kind of reminds me when we live webstreamed our games (which I think was a way easier). I think we should do that again...

Hope you enjoyed some behind the tweet information. I figured I should change some things up with the blog.

Tomorrow is a very early game, so the girls and I will not be there.  We will continue to tweet during normal hour. Until then, this is Domino signing off.

Curling Continues: Arena Curling Championships

We didn't have enough curling in Cape Cod; so I am going to continue the fun doing some extra blogging for our "husband team" (Team Zissou) who are competing in the 1st Arena Curling Championships in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Yesterday, from all sorts of different routes and travel times, we converged together in time for the tournament.  Richard Cruz is the Lead, Matt Gamboa will play 2nd, Ryan Berdan as Vice, and Paul as Skip. Jen, me, and the kids are their biggest fans. I even donned my light blue Zissou shirt.

They had 2 games, 8 AM and 5:30 PM (EDT). The boys did very well adjusting to this new arena ice. They won their first game against South Carolina. Team Zissou, in true Hollywood fashion, liked to keep things a little dramatic, and it ended up being a very close game.  The 2nd game started off really well, but the other team from Long Island kept doing some fancy angle take outs that made it a little hard for Team Zissou to defend against. And so the boys will now have a long route back to the top. 

I am trying my best to juggle the kiddos and live Tweeting @teamzissoucurl The next game is tomorrow at 5:15 PM EDT. I apologize ahead of time...I am not good at tweeting or commentating especially when I get distracted by the kids, but I will try my best. Anyway, will keep you updated!

Good looking men from Hollywood & South Carolina ;)

- Domino

Cape Cod reCap

We wanted to share some of our favorite moments during the Cape Cod Bonspiel. Here are a few highlights:

Going on the Bourne Bridge to Falmouth

Private Beach

Gingerbread houses on Martha's Vineyard

Our new dos on the Ferry to Martha's Vineyard.

Clams from the Clam Bake

Yum, Yum! Lobsters from the Clambake

Action in the tent at the Clam Bake

Leianna having a whale of a time

Crazy costumes

With Capt. Steve

BIG FISH

 

 

Beach Themed Banquet

Cape Cod, we miss you already!!

- Domino

Cape Cod Bonspiel Game 4: Finals (Thistlettes)

 

In the last game against the Thistlettes, Team Bond Girls played with a lot of guts. There were a couple of ends that were set-up for some big points but the ice was a little trickier, and in the end, we could not pull it off. The ice would sometimes fall and the rocks seemed curlier at times. It needed the perfect weight, line, and a little bit of luck to get the curling gods to listen.

Overall, the Cape Cod Bonspiel was an amazing bonspiel, and Team Bond Girls were so honored to participate this summer.  We met such wonderful people, had a couple reunions with fellow club nationals alumni, and created some great memories. I'm sure Team Bond Girls will want to return to Cape Cod soon.

Here's a photo of our beautiful prize, 2nd place in the consolation event. (4th in the spiel, which is not bad)

Go Team Bond Girls!!!

- Domino

Cape Cod Curling Bonspiel Game 3: Canadian Club of Boston

It was a rough game 3 for Team Bond Girls. There's something about the semi-finals that makes us lose our momentum.  We gave up some points early on in the first and second end. Towards the middle we started to come back hanging on one point at a time. We gave up 2 3-point ends which killed us. By the eighth end, we were 5 stones behind which is possible to come back from but of course proved very difficult. We struggled a lot with the weight and had a few overcompensation with the adjustments. Maybe it's sore muscles or maybe it's nerves. Maybe we didn't rub the magic pink curling tattoo for good luck. Whatever it is, it just wasn't our game this afternoon, and the opposing team did very well keeping us from getting more points.

Well, we're going to shake it off, and tomorrow is a new day. I think we've played enough on Cape Cod's ice to get it dialed in for the final game. The main thing is for us to have fun and stay loose. Plus, best thing about the finals here is that win or lose, we'll get a prize. There's just a size difference, and yes it does matter. Here's a pic of the whale bone pin:

It's been an amazing bonspiel, and hopefully we can pull out the good old "Hollywood ending" in the last game at 8 AM EDT. Wish us luck!

- Domino

Cape Cod Bonspiel Game 2: Nutmeg Curling Club

Pink and black between the rainbow spouts.

It was fun times playing with the ladies from the Nutmeg Curling Club. We played on the middle sheet for the first time, and there were a few rough spots literally. The shot of the game in the 4th end which was Marissa's double take out for 3 was almost ruined by a Donna's double take down by the ice. Here's the play by play:

Bond girls were kind of in trouble. Blue had 2 scoring stones in the house, and Red (Team Bond Girls) had a few stones only on the edges. It was Marissa's last stone. Unfazed, Marissa executed a very beautiful take out. Jen yelled, "Hard!" Katie and Donna tried to sweep to hold the line. Halfway down the ice, Donna suddenly goes down and down goes the broom flying straight out in front of her. Katie brushes the broom away (Curling is a team sport...) while Donna continues to slide forward, collapsed on one knee.  Paul from behind the glass watched the whole thing and saw that, unbeknownst to her, Donna was very close to burning the stone with her right hand that was extended outward for some reason. At the last minute, Donna moves her hand out of the way, and the stone's path was clear to complete the take out. This made it an 8 - 1 game instead of a 5 - 3 game.

Everyone was really nice making sure that Donna was okay. It was only a small fall, and there were no injuries.  Jen also had a couple of small "stalls" on the ice prior to Donna's big spill. Sometimes there's patches of frost that forms on the outside in the path where one might be running, and it can be a little dangerous if you are not careful.  I give credit to the super kilts (made by Cindy Wood - Cinsational).  It always makes falls look so graceful even though it sure didn't feel graceful. So get one today if you want to look good: http://www.cinsationalshop.com/curling-gear.html

Bond Girls are having a great time at the spiel.  Now, looks like we have to go all the way. The next game is at 12:00 noon EDT in the semi-finals. Good curling, Everyone!

Signing off,
Domino

Cape Cod Bonspiel Game 1: Curlfriends

So our game against the "Summer Sisters/Curlfriends" went very well. Our opposition's team members were Coco, Jackie, Annie, and Paula from various clubs, and they came together after meeting each other at the Friendship tour. It was a pleasure to curl against them. Here are a few memorable moments from the game:

- Katie threw the first rock of the game, and it ended up exactly where it needed to be. Stone cold throw. Great job, Lead!

- Marissa threw a great run back in the 1st end to score our 1st point.

- Katie and Donna sweeping Jen's stone furiously. Marissa asks, "Where is it?" Donna yells, "I hope it's a 2!" It actually ended up around the 1-2 area. Go Super Sweepers!

- Coco Commentary: "Good news is I have last stone. Bad news is I have last stone."

- Jen did an awesome hit and roll to tuck away our stone behind the guards.

Having a whale of a time!

It was a lot of work trying to keep up with the fast ice. I know I had at least a couple stones that went through the house in the beginning. I find that I have to focus harder to get the weight down, and we have to sweep harder to guide the stones in the house especially at the last few feet. There were straighter parts on the ice, but at certain speeds especially toward the scoreboard, the stones will start hooking a lot at the last minute. It was quite a tricky sheet, but Marissa did a great job reading the ice. Oh, I should mention that it was a comfortable 60 degrees. No extra layers necessary. I love summer curling.

The final score ended up being 9 - 1, Team Bond Girls. It was a nice start to the bonspiel, and hopefully we can keep up the momentum.

Tomorrow, we hope to receive our new jerseys from Foxglide. Hopefully, we'll get them in time to show them off. We'll take lots of pictures.


Our next game is 2:30 PM EDT. We have great motivation to win since loser plays the next draw at 7:30 AM. Wish us luck!

Curl, Baby, Curl!

Signing off,
Domino

Kicking Things Off At the Cape

Team Bond Girls are finally at "The Cape"! Of course, we miss our favorite Third, Cindy, who couldn't make it, but overall we are mostly intact with Marissa, Jen, Katie, and me - Donna on the beat once again).  To kick things off, The Cape Cod Curling Club in Falmouth, MA hosted a clam bake. This was my first clam bake ever, and for all those who do not know what that is I've looked it up on Wikipedia:

"The New England clam bake is a traditional method of cooking foods, especially seafood such as lobster,^[1] mussels, crabs,^[1] steamers, and quahogs. The seafood is often supplemented by sausages, potatoes,^[1] onions, carrots, corn on the cob,^[1] etc. Clam bakes are usually held on festive occasions along the coast of New England."

There was a lot of food! Here's what was on my plate:
Shrimp
Lobster
Clams
Corn
Potatoes
Watermelon

I haven't eaten lobster in a very long time, and so I got a refresher course from the Connecticut Mixed Team on how to properly crack it open. I have to say it is easier than eating a crab, and it was deeelicious. I also have had my 4th clam chowder since I've been here in Boston, and each one has been better than the last.  Gotta get it while I can! We're just storing up some energy for the big day tomorrow. Our first game is at 2 pm EDT, and thank goodness since most of the girls flew the red eye and walked part of the Freedom Trail before driving to the Cape today.

Also, we brought along a small but powerful cheering section with us. Team Bond Girls are accompanied by Paul Mendoza (my wonderful husband and Skip of Team Zissou), 2 Baby Bond Girls (Leianna who just turned 2 years and Halia, our newest addition at 3 months who has got a great set of lungs), and we can't forget Katie's Dad, our gracious host.

Ice analysis:
So there are a few factors to keep in mind for tomorrow's game...
1) It's really humid here at the Cape.
2) The Mixed Spiel will be ending in the morning. Will there be time for a scrape?  This might affect the speed of the ice; so we'll see what the ice guys end up doing before the Women's Spiel begins.
3) We've witnessed the ice to be very fast.  Adjusting to the weight difference might prove a little challenging since we haven't done one of these in a while...During times like this I always refer to one of my learn to curl sessions, "just ooze out of the hack."

Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to a few people who made it possible for us to get situated in Cape Cod, Carolyn Ryczek, who was so patient with my million of emails back and forth and checking in on some of our details.  Also, I wanted to thank Liz Abeltin who we met way back at our first Club Nationals Tournament in Utica and is an awesome host to me and my family. We wouldn't be here without her. There's also Katie's family who are housing the rest of the gals at their beach house.

Team Bond Girls are so excited to be curling again at the long awaited Cape Cod Spiel. We are looking forward to the great ice, fun people, and lots of fresh seafood.  I'll keep you posted on our progress.

See you on the ice!

- Domino

New Sponsor Highlight

Team Bond Girls is proud to add The IN Turn in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada to the list of 007 sponsors who have accepted the mission of supporting us to spread curling love in the world. 

The IN Turn has been in existence since the 60's and has been in it's current location since the 70's. It's gone through three owners and three names: The House of Granite, On The Rocks and now The IN Turn.  Aside from the curling clubs themselves, they are one of about a dozen curling stores in the world dedicated to curling supplies and carry almost every curling brand.  In the summer, they also carry lawn bowling supplies to fill in the gap but still carry curling equipment throughout the summer, too.  

I had the opportunity to get to know Michelle, owner of The IN Turn, better and would love to share some interesting "top secret" information. For your eyes only...

• Michelle is a super woman managing the store with a 6 month old, Emily, and 2.5 year old, Mason.  Like mother like daughter, Emily "works" at the store 3 days a week.
• Michelle found out about Team Bond Girls from a retweet from one of our loyal followers. Thank you, social media! 
• Michelle's curling roots were planted in Nova Scotia where her grandmother represented this notable curling area twice in Women's play as well as her grandfather and aunt in mixed competitions several times. Her mother was a major influence in getting the whole family curling. Now, even the youngest curler in the family at 6 months has curling shoes! 
• What Michelle likes about curling: "It's a social sport that can be very competitive.  You can play on a team, or against a team, of all different skill levels and ages.  Most sports get segregated by age and ability."  
• Michelle's favorite Bond Girl is Halle Berry: "She was tough and sexy but not in the same way previous bond girls had."

If you are interested in contacting Michelle at The IN Turn: 
The IN Turn Curling & Lawn Bowling Supplies Ltd.

4249 Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC  V5C 2J5

604-294-4044

sales@theinturn.ca

www.theinturn.ca

Like us on Facebook:

facebook.com/TheINTurn

Follow us on Twitter:

The_IN_Turn

Thank you, Michelle, and The IN Turn Curling.  The Curling World is Not Enough! This is Domino signing off...

Disney Bracket Champions!

It was a great weekend for curling at the Hollywood Blockbuster Bonspiel. It was hot as heck; so it was a good thing, we found ourselves mostly on the ice.  After 5 games, Team Bond Girls found themselves at the top of the C Bracket (Disney Event) beating the Lionel Richies with a dramatic game.  Team Bond Girls were down by 1 point going into the 8th end with the hammer, and we were able to pull it off. Of course, it wouldn't be the same without the Hollywood finish. Arena ice tried to play it's dirty tricks with some negative ice and opposite handles, but we were able to adapt and overcome.  We had a few tricks under our sleeves as well.  We had a special broom for the frosty ice.  Little Yoda was keeping watch over our games.  Marissa's Red #8 stone (Marissa's sponsored stone) on B sheet was good luck. And on top of it all, we had a few fans that sent positive energy our way. We couldn't have done it without ya'll!

Also, we have to send some love to our boys, Team Zissou (The Bond Boys, as I like to call them), who were the overall champs of the bonspiel. Great job, guys!

We are very proud of Hollywood and putting on such a great spiel despite adversity and of all the Hollywood teams that participated. We've all come such a long way.  Also, we love the out-of-town participants who continue to support and keep curling alive in Southern California. We hope that you had fun and come back next year.

It's late so I'm going to end this with: Go Bailey Go!  

Domino signing out!

PIC Game One - Biter

Domino sitting out and watching game 1 of the Pacific International Cup. Only one word describes this game, and we've got a biter!  I've got two computers, one running the webstream and another updating the blog. In between pacing between the computers, I've got another handful with Little Leianna.   8 end curling games last about 2 hours, and that's a long time to keep a baby happy. We've got quite a juggling act behind the scenes, but she's doing pretty good considering she's only nine months old.

Team Bond Girls started with an early lead. They had a couple of lucky opportunities which they were able to take advantage of in the first 2 ends. Colorado scores 1 in the 3rd end. Team Bond Girls responds with another point in the 4th.  Colorado climbs bit by bit in the 5th & 6th end, tying the score. There was an attempt to clear the house to start the 8th end with the hammer.  Instead Colorado takes the point. At the end of the 8th end, there's 3 stones in the house. Colorado sitting one in the 2 ft. and team Bond Girls lying 2nd and 3rd in the 12 ft.  A take out and stick to sit 3 would make it a win, but looks like the rock didn't have enough weight. Colorado wins with the final score 6 - 4, but it was a very hard fought win.

Highlights:

- Jennifer lost a sock during the game. It's somewhere by her toes, and could have been a BIG factor in the game.

- Marissa had 2 great takeouts in the row in the 4th





- Cindy also had a great double take out


- Here is our new mascot. We're still trying to figure out his name and story...coming soon

Team Bond Girls had a very good warm up. This is only the beginning...Stay tuned to the next curling match:

Thursday, April 19
10:00 AM - vs. Alaska

Good Curling!

- Domino

Practice Time

All five Bond Girls have arrived safe and sound with enough time to make it to practice. We get 10 minutes per sheet on half of this amazing 8 sheeter. The Richmond Curling Club is beautiful with a great 2nd floor viewing station and bar. The ice is fast as we expected. We hope to adjust quickly to the proper weight to prepare for our first game which will be a few hours later against Colorado. Looks like ice really curls into the center and hangs out on the edges a bit. If we are not careful, the rocks will fly out of play or won't curl as much as we expected.

We had some surprising changes to the weather. It's still cold, but there was actually sunshine and blue skies. There's also another addition to the Bond Girl team, Grandmama Domino, all the way from Hawaii.  This is her first time in Canada, and she's excited to spend it with Little Domino, despite "extreme" weather adjustments.

Also, we are debuting our new t-shirt logo.  Here's what they look like. For all those interested in donning our Team Bond Girls T-shirts and pins, we have them available for sale on www.bondgirlscurling.com  Thank you in advance for your support because without YOU, we would not be able to curl competitively and represent Hollywood Curling/West Coast/competitive women curling. Sending out love to all our fans!

Well, the ice is smooth, the rocks are curly, and the company is sweet! This is a fantastic start to the curling tournament. Up next some highlights of our 1st game...

- Domino Family

PIC - Day 0

It is curling time again! Team Bond Girls find themselves in Vancouver, Canada. It's a cold rainy day. Currently, the temperature is 45 degrees F and expected to stay that way all weekend long. (For all those who prefer metric, 7 degrees C sounds even colder!) Will that affect the girls as they curl for the first time in Canada?  We shall see...This is Domino with a new addition, Little Domino, on the beat! We'll keep you updated with everything you will need to know about the 2012 Pacific International Cup held at the Richmond Curling Club.

Here's a quick schedule of our games:
http://www.picup.ca/draws.php

Wednesday, April 18
5:00 PM -  vs. Colorado

Thursday, April 19
10:00 AM - vs. Alaska
4:00 PM - vs. San Francisco

 Friday, April 20
10:30 AM - vs. Washington 2
4:30 PM - vs.Yukon

Saturday, April 21
8:00 AM - vs. Minnesota
2:00 PM - vs. Washington 1

So it looks like we have a mostly American plus Yukon Women's showdown in the preliminary games.  We have a few familiar faces from previous tourney's such as the Club Nationals.  We can't wait to see them all again. There are also a couple "mystery" teams from Alaska and Yukon who we'll meet for the first time. It'll be fun to get some new competitive blood into Team Bond Girl's mix.

To commemorate the start of this tournament, I have put together a little rhyme.

We're pink and black
And that's a fact
We'll give some bruisin'
Cause we hate losin'
But we always have fun
Even with no sun
Hollywood!
We're up to no good!

Yo, Bond Girls are back in the hack!


See you on the ice!

- Domino & Little Domino

Curling International

So I know it's been a while since we've posted something. I'm still trying to catch up with myself to schedule time in between traveling, sightseeing, feeding the baby, and curling. Whew! It's been quite a whirlwind trip, and I love it. There's a lot to update from our 1st time in Utah at the Club National Playdowns to our travels all over Scotland. We'll just say for now that there's castles, history, great architecture, and a lot of food. I'll come back to update you with the rest including our trip to Kay's of Scotland where we had the opportunity to see how our curling rocks are made. Thank you, Bill!

Tonight, we had our first curling practice at the Braehead Curling Club, and it's a beautiful facility with FAST ice!  On top of that, it's true curling ice. I don't think we are going to need our negative ice strategies. Thank goodness!  We briefly saw the rest of the girls. It's a cacophony of foreign languages,  and we're going to have some stiff competition.  What they don't know is that we've got a couple Hollywood tricks up our sleeves, and most importantly, we're going to have fun. I can't wait. 

Hopefully despite it all, we'll get some sleep tonight since our first game is at 8 am.  That's a 6 am call time to get everything ready. We will try to stream the games, but every new venue presents a whole set of challenges...so we'll see if we can get it up and running. 

It's Domino on the beat once again, reporting from Glasgow, Scotland.

Good Curling, Everyone!

Training Days

Early December, a few of the Bond Girls traveled to upper Wisconsin for some additional training with world class curler and coach, Lynita Docken at the Centerville Curling Club. We had the pleasure of meeting Lynita and her Wisconsin team (including daughter, Laura Delaney Roessler) in a couple of Club National games. Talk about competition!

We flew into Minneapolis, MN, and for Jen and me, it felt like we were just there.  The 14 degree weather was a very big difference to the 40 degrees in November, and I thought that was cold. This was worse, bone chilling.  Of course, I, again, was at the wheel maneuvering the 2 1/2 hours to get to Trempealeau, WI, but we arrived safe and sound.  I might be getting used to this.  Nearing our destination, we were greeted by never ending fields beautifully blanketed in snow. It was like a glittering fairyland.

We've only met Lynita about a couple of times, but when we saw each other again, it was like reconnecting with a longtime friend. I guess that's what happens when you participate in the grueling schedule of the Club Nationals.  She would always get our spirits motivated even if we were playing against her team. I remember one time we were down by a lot, and she reminded us to have fun.  She was right! The whole dynamics of the game changed. And so here we are...Lynita is now the newest addition to the Team Bond Girl coaching staff.

After a quick nap, we started drills, drills, and more drills. The Centerville Club was like heaven!  It was wonderful to be back on dedicated ice. Here's what it looks like:

There was a ton of sliding as we had to get used to this new playing field. You could really hear the roaring of the rocks and feel the vibration on our feet.  This ice was clean, fast, and fancy. Hockey skate gauges and negative ice did not exist here, but there were other, very subtle things to pay attention to now. Also, mistakes were less forgiving.

Over the course of the trip, we had so many drills, it would be hard to describe them all here. Most of them focused on our aim and alignment. Lynita said that we needed to think of curling as a shooting sport, and every aspect from head to toe controls where that bullet is going to go. We needed to "sight" the target starting from our dominant eye and translated that all the way down to the rock, and of course, everything must stay in place as we slide. Lynita surprised us by bringing out a contraption made out of copper piping and a fishing bob which hung around the area where we would aim for the broom. We would slide to it, and if the bob touched our eye, we would know that our form was perfect, and our rocks would have good line. At first, it was intimidating to slide towards this hanging ball in our way, but it was nice to see our line without having someone hold broom at the other side of the ice, and we can make fast adjustments accordingly.

Jen in curling form

It wasn't all work and no play.  In between curling training, we had quite a few fun field trips. I'll share a few photos:

Wine tasting at Elmaro Vineyard. What a great facility! Check it out if you are ever in the area.

Caramel apples at Ecker's Apple Farm

Driving through a Wisconsin State Park

Took us a few times to take this photo. The camera was propped on the rental car, and I ran just in time.

Katie finds her Starbucks!

Dinner at Hillside Fish House

All in all, we had a great time with Lynita, received all-star training, and lived like a Mid-Westerner for a few days. 

Thank you Lynita and rest of the Delaney/Roessler clan!

- Domino

Introducing Team Bond Girl TV

A little late blog, but here it is with some updates: 

What did you do this Thanksgiving weekend?

Instead of braving Black Friday sales and stuffing faces with leftover turkey, a couple of Bond Girls found themselves in the mid-west jimmy-rigging webcams with tape surrounded by Fireball crazed curlers. It was not your typical bonspiel weekend...

It was a very "warm" curling season according to the locals.  There was lots of curling, fun, and FIREBALL! Most importantly, we debuted Team Bond Girls Curling TV with their first webstream test from the Fireball 500 Bonspiel in St. Paul, Minnesota. With 2 Bond Girls present, Jennifer Gamboa and Donna Umali Mendoza, we figured this event would be a great opportunity to practice setting up the new webstream in an unfamiliar venue.  For previous matches, we streamed our games through a site called ustream. You can see some of our old games recorded here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/team-bond-girls-curling-club-nationals

This year we signed up as an affiliate of The Twelfth End Network through Justin TV to offer a more sophisticated stream.  Using the The Twelfth End scoring program, we are able to update the scores for each end, and we are experimenting with a wireless 2nd camera set-up through an iphone.  We also have the capability to give our sponsors more advertising options. With this new system, we can now raise more funds for our curling endeavors which is now going international since we've received our invitation to Scotland at the Glynhill Ladies International Tournament.

Our test stream wasn't perfect, but we'll try to get it together before the next stream. 


You can visit our new stream site here: http://www.justin.tv/tesn_bondgirls

We have confirmation that Team Bond Girls will stream their MoPAC Playdown games: Salt Lake, Utah (January 13-15th)

See you on the ice!

- Domino