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
