Monday, May 02, 2016

Curling season 2015-2016

The 2015-2016 curling season is officially over! Technically, my last thrown rock was two weeks ago...  but there was still curling on TV. Now, it's really the end till next September. Sigh.

It's really hard for me to believe that this was my fourth curling season. I feel like I've just started curling yesterday!! Then again, I can't imagine my life without curling now LOL. Yes, it's time-consuming... but the friendships I've made and the fun I've had make it worth it :)

Lots of highlights this season... so I'll try to name a few :)


 1) No injury this year! Woohoo! LOL. This was my first curling season where nothing happened... No concussion, no appendicitis, no shoulder injury. I did spend the whole month of November knocking on wood LOL.

2) My sister joined! After 2 years of being constantly asked when she was going to play/join by all the other members... she finally jumped in and started curling. It was nice for her, because she knew everyone from hanging out at the club so much. This past season, she only played on Friday... but I think she'll play two nights next season :)

3) Supper club. A lot of us have a tendency to buy fast food for supper before a game, simply because it's convenient. Especially when you don't go home because lack of time or it's just out of the way. This year, I happened to curl the same night as D and he likes to cook... and being Asian, he tends to cook wayyyy too much and start feeding everyone. So this year, a few of us band together and started having supper together on Monday and Thursday. We each took turns to cook... or in my case, beg my sister to cook LOL. One of us "crock-potted" it the whole year LOL. Seriously though, it's been a lot of fun and way tastier. I think next year, we'll have a few more joining us in our supper club :)

4) The Briers. The Briers is the Canadian Men's Curling Championship and this year, it took place in Ottawa which is only 2 hours away from me. Ever since curling has become an Olympic Game discipline, the level of curling has been rising everywhere and so in international competitions, Canada is no longer guaranteed to medal... Still, the Briers probably exhibit the best competitive level of curling every year... because many countries only have one great team that represents them... while in Canada, there are soooo many teams that could do it. To win the Briers is probably harder than to win the world championship! Anyway, since the Briers were so close, my sister, curling best friend Jen and I went to watch it live... and it was sooooo great! We made a little trip out of it, staying overnight and went to four draws (3+ hours each). On each draw, there's 4 games going on at the same time. We had great seats and it was just awesome to watch such high level curling live, to hear the players discuss and joke, and so on. Even got a picture with my favorite team, Team Gushue... I thought this year's Briers was great... The only thing that would have made it better is if Team Gushue had won it all instead of being runner-up. Sigh. In December 2017, the curling Olympics trial will take place in Ottawa and so, we're already making plans to go and watch :)


5. Speaking of favorite teams... Team Gushue had an amazing season and so, it was fun to root for them :) I also fell in love with the Japanese women team, Team Fujisawa. They won silver at the world championship and were just so much fun to watch :) Definitively will be rooting for them from now on.

6. I'm very happy with how I played this year. On my league teams, I play lead and I've become quite consistent at it. It's just great when you make your shots LOL. Our open ladder team did really well this year, going from section D to C! The beginning of the season was a bit frustrating... made me and Jen even consider changing team next year... But then, Jen switched position (from 2nd to 3rd) and we started winning more! As a result, we're sticking together next year :) On my mixed ladder team, there were ups and downs as well... but in the end, we're staying in the A section, so we ended on an up :P We'll also be sticking together next year. On TGIF nights, I play 3rd and even skipped a few games. I have to say, it's fun to play other positions... the last tournament of the year, I actually skipped the team and we had a blast.


7. Volunteer of the year! Yep, that was me this year! woohoo :)


Last but not least, the people at the club. Pretty much what the romance community in blogland brought to me, I found at my curling club. I'm so happy I joined this one. Every event is so much fun, so much laughing! I've been very blessed... first with the romance blogland and now, with curling :)