Give me a "T"... T !!!

Give me a "T"... T !!!
Give me an "E" ... E !!!
Give me an "A" ... E !!!
Give me an "M" ... E !!!

What's that spell!?! TEAM!!!

We have a team!!! A team of dedicated, motivated, goal-oriented curlers, who are going to the top! This is crazy....
I know, "crazy," I have to stop saying that. My friends would agree that I should also stop overusing words like
surreal
amazing
unreal
unbelievable
surreal
surreal
surreal...

But really...how can I cut those words out of my vocabulary at this point? Maybe it's because it really hasn't "hit" me yet.
I mean come on!!!

• Working with a coach who has coached national, champion, world champion and OLYMPIC curlers


• Meeting a Skip who is motivated and dedicated, and sets her goals high


• Getting to chat with our team 2nd, who also seems great! Definitely as crazy as I am when it comes to the "want" in this whole competitive curling thing (she may even be crazier - I drive 1 hr 10 min to curl league...she drove 3 hrs one way - she's got me beat)


• Our Skip lining up our 4th teammate last week.

Things are all starting to fall in place. Ever few days there is something new and wonderful that comes to light!!!

Now...I need to practice, practice, practice. I wish there was a way to get on the ice more than once a week right now! As much as I love summer, I am looking forward to my home club getting ice in October. :)

Once a week practice will have to do for now I guess. This past Thursday in Poynette Spring League, I got to try out my "new-and-improved" delivery. I was pleased. My slide has never felt so balanced and consistent. I had a couple slides where I almost felt like I was floating. I don't think I've quite hit the "sweet spot" quite yet, but I am sooo close.

Starting out, I was soooo nervous. My spring league team knew I had been training with Dex the prior weekend and I was feeling pressure to show some awesomeness. LOL My first shot I lined up a bit outside. I'm pretty sure it was because I didnt' relax in the hack. It was a draw shot, and I ended up a little left of where I wanted to be, but it was okay. The rest of the night, I hit the broom. There was only one time where I "drifted" off the line of delivery after I released the stone...and I know exactly what I did to make that happen. The rest of my shots, I was right on line, and even after releasing the stone, I slide right down the line of delivery. I know Dex would have been proud!

I didn't always have exactly the right draw weight, but I was within a few feet in most cases, and with more practice I will get the feel for it. My take-out shots were good. It's nice to be balanced and consistent every time coming out of the hack. Okay..with that said, I have to say that it was not exactly "every" time on Thursday. Out of 16 shots that night I did have one that was "bad"... where I was not balanced coming out of the hack, and although I didn't "give up" on my delivery, it still wasn't a good shot. Pretty sure I rushed the forward motion of my delivery...ugh, the rest of the night I had no problems with my tempo.

Beyond the one "bad" shot, my skip was pleased with my delivery, and I also did a decent job at vice for the night. It's a amazing what a little confidence does when calling line. I wasn't second guessing myself, and didn't miss any calls because I waited too long.

I love this game, I love this game, I love this game!!! ...and I am sooo excited to curl with my competitive team in May, and I am soo excited to curl this upcoming Thursday(tomorrow) in Poynette, where we play a certain Olympic Skip's husband's team...I am sure it will be another great learning experience!

When Everything Starts to Come Together...

At Poynette league last week, our team curled better than the prior week. The score, however, did not reflect that. We lost...BIG.

The good thing about loosing big, was that I got an early start on my drive. I left Poynette a little after 8 PM, with an ETA of 11:50 in St. Paul, according to my GPS. When I left, it was pouring rain. I got on the highway into one shiny, wet lane bordered by orange barrels. Ugh! Rain and construction to slow my late-night trip. Wonderful!

Called the hubby for a weather report, and he said it looked like I had about a half hour's worth of rain ahead, and smooth sailing after that. I only wish he could have given me a better outlook on the construction forecast. :)

The drive seeemed like it took forever. I was nervous and anxious to curl, and excited! Why does it seem like a drive with an exciting destination takes FOREVER!?!

I have to thank my buddy Brett for letting me crash at his place, and for waiting up for a late-night arrival. ...and making sure there was a box of cereal for me so I could eat before what happeded to be one of the longest, most exhausting, fun days of my life. :) I crashed hard that night, but slept like crap because I was sooo anxious/nervous/excited for the next day.

I got to the club Friday morning around 9:30 AM (with an unknown ETA of finishing up around 11 PM that night)

I laced up my NEW AWESOME SHOES that were waiting for me, and headed out on the ice to slide.

Dex is an AMAZING coach. I had no idea what to expect, if I had incredibly high expectations, he would easily have exceded them. Dex broke every piece of my delivery down into small pieces and we spent time tweaking each one. That day we worked on my delivery/line of delivery, body position, hand position, arms, hips, shoulders, wrist, release...

Coach was impressed. He said I was very "coachable"... He would tell me a correction to make, and I would do it...and it would stick. We accomplished more that weekend than he had expected. It was exciting. My delivery is almost a "P" for perfect. (I got 3 Ps that weekend by the way)

I cannot wait to play league on Thursday.

I also got a chance to meet a prospective teammate. I will be playing with her and another teammate in the Summer Spiel in May. I am excited. We've started communicating by email and facebook...and are looking to set some goals and come up with a tentative plan for the year.

I am so excited. I know we are going to do great things! After this weekend with Dex, I am confident that with hard work and dedication, I have what it takes to be part of a winning team and make it to the top!

Ah, the Smell of the Ice

I have always loved the smell of ice. My Mom always tells the story of figure skating lessons when I was 3 years old. While the rest of the class was working on their grape-vines, I was bent over licking the ice. So, my love affair with the ice began many years ago. Who knew it would lead to curling.

It had been 8 days since they melted the ice at Kettle Moraine Curling Club...it felt like it had been weeks. So, it was nice to get on the ice for Spring League at Poynette last night.

We curled a marathon 17 ends last night. In the 8 week league, there are 7 teams on 2 sheets of ice for 2 shifts. Each week, one team has a double-header. We got to get ours out of the way the first night. It was nice, because it gave us a chance to play on both sheets of ice (the ice is a bit different from our home ice). It also gave us more ice time with our 'new' team. I have played a handful of games with our skip, as a lead in mixed play...but last night was the first night the other two on our rink have ever met the skip. We had a lot of ends to work on figuring things out.

Our first game, we played catch up...and scored 5 in the 7th end to tie the game at 9-9. Coming back without the hammer, we were unable to steal to win.

~Then we had a 10 minute break for a quick drink...and a quick visit with our opponents~

Our second game, we played catch up again, and scored 4 in the 7th to bring us to 1 behind. (9-8). We stole 1 in the 8th to take us into an extra end. We weren't able to steal to win in that game either, but it was a great game.

We are excited for next week! We play the early shift, which will give us some time after to snack and socialize...and them I'm off to St. Paul for my training weekend!!!! I can't wait!!!

But Who's Counting!?!

4...6...14

4 days since they shut down the compressors and melted our ice
6 days till Spring League in Poynette starts
14 more days till I'm in St. Paul...but who's counting.

Me! I cannot wait to get back on the ice next week, and I'm sooooo unbelievably excited to get up to St. Paul and prove I can do this!

It's the Little Things

It's amazing how the little things can make such a big difference. I had a friend take some photos of my delivery yesterday a lunch, and I posted them on facebook when I got back to my office. Some of them were a little blurry because we didn't have a big enough flash on the camera...but it was good enough to see some things I hadn't noticed about my delivery.

Within a couple hours I had a message from a curling friend with some comments and suggestions. Tim is an excellent curler and instructor, and I appreciate his advise. I'm always happy to get advice on improving my technique and game. There were a few things he pointed out that I hadn't realized I was doing. So, when I practiced today, I focused on making a couple adjustments.

The biggest change I noticed, came from a very slight adjustment...how I held on to the rock during delivery and release. I knew that I should have the rock handle somewhere aroud 10 or 2 o'clock when sliding, and release at 12:00... but in the photos, every picture had my wrist bent and the handle at 3 or 9 o'clock. I was really amazed when I made the adjustment, and turning and releasing the stone felt effortless! That, and I noticed the stone seemed to be rotating at a better rate than I normally throw (normally I think I get a little too much spin). It was definitely something I'm going to need to think about for a while as I do it, until my muscle memory is corrected and it becomes natural.

Other things I worked on were keeping my shoulders parallel to the ice while I'm in the hack, and I worked for a while sliding without a stone or brush. I also did quite a bit of sweeping practice...my 4-year-old can run a "little rock" down the ice, release at the hog line and almost get it to the house. I swept 12 little rocks in a row, hog to house, with no break between. That was quite a sweeping workout! (which I need...and I LOVE sweeping, so I'll have to make sure to do this a lot next fall)

I also noticed myself that I tend to turn in my back toe when sliding, and I think that causes me to drift and to slow down. When I concentrated on pointing it straight back, it seemed to work better for me.

I appreciate any helpful hints and advice! Thank you to all my curling friends who are willing to give it!

From the Mouths of Babes

When I went to throw stones at lunch today, I had my 4-year-old with me. He sat at a table in the clubhouse while I got ready to head out on the ice.

He asked me how long it was going to take. I told him it wouldn't be long because I wasn't going to throw that many stones. ...to which he replied... "Well Mom, you should throw lots of stones. You know you gotta throw lots of stones if you're going to the Olympics!" Bless his little soul, he is sooo cute! (and very wise for his age).

He also mentioned later that afternoon that if I go to the Olympics, he can watch me on TV all day. (we watched a LOT of Olympic curling as a family this year)

Knock Knock...

Sometimes you just knock on the right door...and when someone opens it, you get something much better than you even realized.

I'm not sure how well-written this blog entry is going to be. I've been really excited, and a bit distracted with all the possibilities that are opening up in front of me.

I've been sticking to an exercise schedule, working out something every day...cardio, abs, strength & flexibility...not to mention I've thrown stones at the curling club every day that there's been available ice time.

I am serious about this, I'm motivated, and dedicated! ...and I'm loving every minute of it!

So...last weekend was our Men's bonspiel. I always help out, and play "ice cream girl" Saturday night for dessert. I've been doing that for 4 or 5 years, and have gotten to know a lot of people. Last year, I met Dex. I didn't know till now, his full name is Jim Dexter...but he just goes by "Dex."

Anyway, I knew Dex was a curling coach, and that he knows a LOT of people in the curling world. I figured he would be a great resource for some advice. I had it on my "to-do" list to talk to him over the weekend when he was down from St. Paul for our speil. I came over to the club Saturday afternoon, and Dex greeted me with a big hug! He asked what I had been up to, and I told him I had decided I wanted to start curling competitively. The first thing out of his mouth was "do you need a coach?" To which I replied "YES"...

We got a chance to chat before he left the spiel, and he said I should call him and come up to St. Paul and he would work with me.

I spent about a half hour on the phone with Dex last night, and it's set...I'm going up to St. Paul to work with him in April, and again in May. I'm also hoping he holds his curlig clinic in the fall, so I can work there too.

The plan is this...
Couple hour sessions
*Friday afternoon/evening,
*Saturday Morning
*Saturday Afternoon/evening
*Sunday Morning

Intense!!! I am nervous and extremely excited. Nervous, because Dex has never seen me curl. Excited, because I know I have potential (Russ Howard said I have a really nice delivery), and excited because I know Dex will bring the best out of me!

Until I googled Dex after the speil and talked to my buddy Brett from St. Paul, I had NO idea how BIG Dex is as a coach in the curling world. I am wondering how the heck I got so lucky. It's just so surreal. I guess I knocked on the right door, and Dex answered. This is a huge door opening in my curling career, and I'm excited to see what it leads to!

Where to Go From Here

The week following my decision to pursue competitive curling, I started digging online to find out ANYTHING about becoming competitive.

It's a bit overwhelming when you don't know where to start. I called on advise from curling friends, and started to put out some "feelers" to figure out what to do next.

I did a LOT of research. I found information on rules and procedures for earning "points" needed to qualify teams to qualify for Nationals. I looked at many club web sites to find out information on their competitive leagues and membership options. I did a lot of surfing, and a lot of reading.

I immediately started to work on becoming a better individual curler and athlete. I have thrown stones every day since March. 8th. (That's easy, since I work a half mile from a curling club, and can easily spend my lunch hours throwing stones while we still have ice.)

I started exercising, and came up with a training schedule for curling and becoming more physically fit. I am going to work hard in the off-season to build strength, endurance, and flexibility (which is not an issue). I plan to contine a workout schedule throughout the curling season as well.

I started trying to plan possibilities for league play and practice in the fall. I lined up friends for practice buddies to work with during lunches, and on weekends in the Fall. I am attempting to find bonspiels during the summer so that I can at least get some ice time in the off-season.

My goal is to curl at a national level within a couple years. I will work every day to make that happen. I have been keeping a notebook of my progress, my schedule, and reasearch findings. I still have a daunting trail ahead, but am prepared to work hard to acheive my goals.

The Curling News printed an article about "getting commited now." Well I'm ready...Commit Me!

Where it All Began

My husband and I started curling in 2003. We enjoyed the game, as well as the social comradare of this unique sport. After playing in club leagues for about 6 years, I got a chance to skip in one of our womens' leagues for the second "session" of our season. Our team did well, and were runners up in the championship game. We were tied coming back in the last end, and I we lost due to an amazing shot by the oposing skip on her last rock. My shot making increased 10-fold during that session. I came home every night, amazed by how well I played...and of course, gave my husband the exciting play-by-play of every end. My competitive nature took over, and I wanted more. (unfortunately, the season was over)

The following year (last year), due to a big project at work, I wasn't able to curl full-time. Luckily, I was able to play in a handful of bonspiels during the spring session. Playing in these bonspiels, I realized that, even though I hadn't curled much in the recent months, I was still able to curl well. (lacking a bit of consistancy from lack of play...but not too bad)

I got a call from a friend the night the National Championships started. (I had just gotten off the ice after Friday night leagues) He mentioned that there hadn't been a playdown for the Women's Championship this year, and that I should have gotten a team together.

That got me thinking...I was still on a natural "high" from curling well in a mixed bonspiel the weekend before, and from a well played game that night. I was excited about how I curled after curling only a handful of times that season. I had always thought I would like to take my curling to the next level and compete.

So this is where it begins...

March 5th, 2010... I decided to pursue competitive curling.