Call me a curling junkie….I have some sceptical, mostly non-curling, friends who wondered if I’d lose my passion for curling working at a curling club. Most of my waking hours seem to be hanging around the GE.

There is still something about watching a good shot, a well-played game , a called sensational shot. I can almost tolerate a dramatic fluke — if its not against a team I’m on.

Let’s revisit early Tuesday Morning Ladies League this past week. A couple ladies came off the ice saying, “Did you see Diane Stadel’s miracle shot? And then Diane walked into our office….So I asked her about ‘The Shot.’ She hummed and hawed then with a twinkle in her eye said, “It was ABSOLUTELY TSN!”

It was the buzz of the morning and a couple ladies said this is what keeps you coming back. There is an endorphin-like  rush when a called sensational game-saving or turning shot is made, regardless of one’s skill-level or age.

Then we had this group of Ventures in, late Friday night. Only two of the 18 or so participants had ever thrown a rock before, but most said they enjoyed the sport on TV. I was told that at least half of them had curled before, so instruction might not be needed . So we gave the quickie lesson. I was glad Doug Patterson was around as an extra instructor. I threw in a couple extra ‘Club Bucks.’ Anyway—- one of the newbie’s got set to throw his first ever stone. He draws a corner of the button!!! I asked, “Do you know what you just did?” He had this huge smile on his face, “Yeah, amazing, eh! I might just retire now.”  He couldn’t wait to throw his next rock.

I don’t think a curler ever loses that sense of amazement over a well-thrown curling rock or the fun of a well-played game. I’ve seen this twinkle in the eye or look of satisfaction from so many curlers this season – that it draws me back. You just never know what amazing thing you might see down at the club.

Cheers,

Guy

I am loving this thing you all call winter. The prairie boy in me is still bracing for -30C or worse and we haven’t even hit -15C. I guess its all about Perspective!!!

Starting today the Men’s spiel that has been referred to as the Legion Spiel starts tonight at 7pm and goes through till Sunday’s final draw at 1:30. Should be some very good curling. Come on down and grab a coffee or two and watch the action…

Jan 30 – Feb 1 from 1:00 – 6:00pm we have the Lower Mainland High School playoffs to decide who goes to Provincials. Five area High Schools are taking part. Remember we had our own GE players win it all about eight years ago. Two of thoise players are still active at the GE –  Jeff Cawker and Bryan Kedziora….

Speaking of Bryan he is on the Jay Peachy team that just qualified for Men’s Provincials. He’ll be joining Grant Dezura who plays on the Brent Pierce foursome. Wouldn’t it be cool to throw a ‘Going to the Brier’ party if one of those two guys could come out of BC???

Feb 18-19 Junior Spiel – We have three brackets or levels of teams with Novice, Intermediate and Advanced. We could only take 24 teams and we have 24 teams. We could always use extra VOLUNTEERS!!! Contact Lindsay Shannon at 604-218-9714. These are the players of the future and watching them all year we have some real good up and comers.

Cheers,

Guy

It is with great pleasure that I welcome Fred Fox as our new Club Historian. Fred has been an active member of our club for many years, including Club Manager.

As you may have noticed with some of the ongoing decorating and renovations, your Board of Directors places a great importance on the history of our club. Fred has offered to help us remember our roots and recognize some of the accomplishments our club and our curlers have achieved.

If you have a story to tell, or a piece of memorabilia you think should be displayed, please contact Fred by email at historian@gewc.ca.

Thanks Fred!

Top 10 Reasons to Love Curling

Curling can be underappreciated by those who don’t understand it. However, for those of us who regularly participate in curling, it’s easy to list reasons why we love the sport. Here are some reasons why anyone can learn to love curling.

1. Curling can be enjoyed by just about anyone. Curling is a sport that can be enjoyed by men and women at any age. While it involves a certain level of physical fitness, one doesn’t have to be an extreme athlete to play. It’s even possible for someone in a wheelchair to participate in curling.

2. Curling is inexpensive. Compared to many other sports like golf or skiing, curling is relatively inexpensive to do. You don’t need lots of expensive equipment and a curling club membership typically costs between $100 to $300 a year. Even gym memberships aren’t that cheap these days.

3. Curlers come from all walks of life. Curling is one of the few sports that has such a diverse grassroots base. From farmers to businessmen, people from all walks of life participate in curling all over Canada. You won’t find any pretentious elitism in this sport.

4. Curling has health benefits. Those who know nothing about curling assume that it doesn’t take much physical fitness to play. In fact, one can get a great cardiovascular workout through curling, whether throwing a rock or sweeping those of one’s teammates.

5. Curling is included in the Olympics. Curling has been part of the Winter Olympics since 1998, which introduced the sport to many people around the world for the first time. However, it was actually part of the Winter Olympics in 1924 and 1932 as well for demonstration purposes.

6. Curling is social. Like any team sport, curling involves a great deal of camaraderie between the four members of a curling team, as well as the teams they compete against. Joining a curling club in your local community allows you to meet people from all walks of life and socialize with them before and after games.

7. Curling is one of Canada’s most popular sports. There are over 1,000 curling clubs all across Canada, and it has been estimated that over 750,000 Canadians participate in the sport at least once a year. With so many clubs, there’s almost always one close enough to join.

8. Curling requires precision. Rather than speed or power, curling is a sport that requires great skill and precision above all else. It has been nicknamed as “chess on ice” for the amount of strategy involved in winning a game. This is one of the reasons it is so popular among both players and spectators.

9. Curling is safe. Any injury caused by curling is certain to be a minor one. Slipping on the ice or tripping over a stone is nothing compared to tumbling down a ski hill or crashing a bobsled.

10. Curling is easy to learn and understand. Scoring in curling is simply based on points, not something subjective like technique or style. It is straightforward and easy to learn, which is why it’s possible to join at any age and can be enjoyed by everyone.

This article was written by Nathan Henley. He is a sports psychologist who specializes in performance improvement and injury rehabilitation. He also owns the site Sports Psychology Degree for students interested in getting a degree in sports psychology.

Hope y’all enjoyed watching the Skins Tournament this weekend on TSN. Great triple by Kevin Koe to win it all.

The junior inter-club was on the ice as we older folk we’re watching the end of the Skin’s final. As a side-note our juniors competing against teams from Chilliwack, Mission and Abbotsford won two out of three. Pretty good showing….

The discussion started about where did the origin of Skins come from???

As we googled the definition four plausible explanations emerged. The Skins format did begin with golf almost a century ago. But the PGA website was as much in the fog as the curling world on the origin. So here were the top four explanations:

#4 I believe the following was from Ray Turnbull, former TSN curling analyst, who wondered if it came from the old Cowboy and Indian days of gathering scalps or skins…Oh well, made for good TV ….

#3 A syndicate once sponsored a golf tournament with the skins format and some folk in the PGA assumed the skin was short for syndicate…This definition has lost grounds over the years…

#2 The Scots who invented both golf and curling have had the skins format for close to 100 years and used to give out pelts for the individual holes won in some tournaments which were nicknamed skins. This could be it, but there are very few documented records of golf tournaments of this format. Mostly oral history.

The #1 theory — Back in the 1930′s the term ‘skinned alive’ came into being when you lost some money. Golf tournaments of that era did have skins tournaments and when a golfer lost a hole in the skins format it was referred to as being skinned alive.

Regardless of the origin the skins game of curling is definitely entertainment plus.

Cheers,

Guy