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!