SUNDRE - The number of teams participating at the recent Sundre Junior Curling bonspiel was down a bit this year.
“We had 12 teams altogether,” said Jill Fee, president of the Sundre Curling Club who also helps mentor the juniors alongside coach Bev Konschuh.
The bonspiel has in the past usually drawn an average of 16 teams, including some U-18 groups, said Fee, adding there were this year just eight U-15 teams and four U-12s taking part in the bonspiel, which ran Jan. 11-12 at the Sundre Curling Club.
The players hailed from Rocky Mountain House, Didsbury, Olds, Airdrie, and of course Sundre, she said.
Everything went well, she said, adding the team from Airdrie won the U-15 A event, while the U-12s played more casually in a round robin format with shorter games focused more on practising and having fun than competing.
“For some of our club curlers, it was their first bonspiel experience and first time to play an eight-end game,” said Konschuh.
“It is fun to watch the learning and improvement of skills from game to game,” she said.
“To see the excitement of the youngest curlers when their rock makes the rings or when the older curlers make the shot that was called is rewarding,” she added.
“To learn to stay focused on the game when playing in front of friends and family is another big learning curve for all curlers.”
Aside from a number of "no bus" days resulting in several cancelled practices, the season to date has been good, Fee said.
Quite a few new faces joined the junior curling club’s ranks, with many others who returned, for a total of 33 registered, which is essentially on par with previous years, she said.
This year’s junior curlers include a team from Sundre High School, who will be aiming to try out for divisions, and possibly provincials, she said.
The next bonspiel is the ladies’ event, which is scheduled for Feb. 7-9.
Visit www.sundrecurlingclub.com for more information and to follow the club’s upcoming activities.
