CARSTAIRS - The Plett rink is keeping busy gearing up for provincial playdowns next month.
The U-18 rink features sisters Ava and Myla Plett at skip and third respectively, as well as second Rebekah Frisk, all from Carstairs, and lead Lauren Miller from Airdrie.
The team will be going to Calgary in early February to try to win a berth at provincials.
Brad Plett, coach and father of Ava and Myla, said the team has been working hard and improving.
They practise once a week usually and play in bonspiels two or three times a month throughout Alberta.
"They're a U-18 team that curls competitively from September all the way through to the end of March," said coach Plett. "They compete in the Alberta junior curling tour. There are a bunch of events they compete in all year-long and it culminates into a final where they compete in the playdowns."
The top eight teams from the playdowns qualify for provincials, which is in Medicine Hat in March.
The girls played in Red Deer in early January at the Red Deer Servus U18 Bonspiel where they lost in the final match to the Molnar rink from Strathmore.
"There were 12 teams there," he said. "We went 3-0 and finished first in the round robin. We won our quarter-final, our semi-final, before losing in the final."
The girls got together as a team midway through last year, although all three Carstairs girls played together as bantam curlers.
"I've had an opportunity to work with those three for a while," he said. "Lauren just joined us last year."
Plett said he is hoping the team will win a few games this year and gain some valuable experience.
He said they've played well so far this year in their first together as a team.
"They listen really well and compete really well as a team," he said. "Those familiar with curling, it's not just throwing the rock down. Every shot made well is done by the whole team. Number 1 with the skip calling the line and the sweepers calling the weight and the thrower placing the rock in the right spot. They do that really well."
The team is looking forward to the provincial qualifying tournament, said skip Ava Plett.
For Ava, she likes the strategy of curling as well as the teamwork required.
"I like the strategy - it really makes you think," said Ava. "I have a mathematical mind. It helps with that stuff. I like just playing out there. It's a different kind of sport. It's not aggressive or anything."
In addition to curling, Ava also dances and plays school volleyball at Olds Koinonia Christian School, which she attends with younger sister Myla.
Competing in the final at the Red Deer U-18 bonspiel was very exciting, said Ava.
"We were undefeated right until the final and lost in pretty much the last shot," she said. "We were pretty tired. It was long. We were trying to get back into it after the (Christmas) break."
The team has already seen several of the rinks they will likely be competing against at playdowns.
"We play them all season," she said. "We know them pretty well. It's mostly just in Southern Alberta for playdowns. We travel a lot so we know them. We're hoping to get to provincials and win some games there."
