Every quarter at work, team leaders nominate agents that
have exceeded expectations to become that quarter’s best of the best. I was
nominated last quarter. Along with the kudos, is an off-site activity like a
movie or lunch. This time it was an afternoon of curling at the Appleton Curling Club. I was excited that I actually could try curling and get paid to
do it.
Let me tell you, curling is a lot harder than it looks. It
takes coordination and finesse which I seem to be lacking…and a good sense of
balance. In case you never watched curling during the Olympics, it is kind of
like shuffleboard on ice. The thrower (not the technical term) releases a 44
lb. stone down a sheet of ice while sweepers try to help it along. The captain
directs the thrower where to aim so they can try to knock the opponent’s rocks
out of the circle or bump their own in.
Getting a lesson in throwing rocks
Attempting to push off
A perfectly thrown stone only spins about 4 times down the
ice. The thrower wears a sliding shoe to help in releasing the stone. The captain
tells the thrower to start at 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock. You always end up back
at Noon. The direction is the direction of the spin -- clockwise or counterclockwise
At least I stayed on my feet
The first couple of times, I practiced throwing the stones,
I ended up on my backside. I learned that if I didn’t get all the way down on 1
knee, I had a better chance of staying upright. I was able to kind of get the
hang of rotating the stones but I definitely got more than 4 spins.
One would think that sweeping would be easier. In way it is
since you are not sliding on the ice but I still struggled with it. I think
part of it is you need to know when to sweep and when to let it go. Sweeping
helps the rock from stopping sooner. You only need to make short little sweeps
in FRONT of the stone. The first time I was sweep, I tried to sweep from the
back. Apparently I missed the directions of in front of the stone. Even with sweeping, I couldn’t stay upright and ended up face planting
because I tripped over another rock which I didn't see. Of course, I was the only one to draw
blood... a cut lip, bloody nose but I didn't lose any teeth. After that I stuck with being captain. That seemed the safest.
Attempting to sweep
Although I am not ever going to be a curling expert nor do I
plan on getting out there anytime soon, it was a lot of fun. Some of the guys
were really good. The team that my team was playing actually ended up in the
white little circle in the center. We were lucky to even to get it on the red
outer ring. Even when we tried to knock their stones out, we couldn't manage to get the stone anywhere near them.
The guys were pretty good
Yeah, Points for us
I know the hubby was jealous that I got to try curling before he
did. He probably would be one of those natural people that would be able to
perfect the art of throwing a curling rock within a few hours.
I am glad that I got to try curling and discover it is not a sport for me. I have several large nasty looking bruises from falling on the ice not to mention my face plant. Maybe I just need to wear one of those bubble wrap suits next time...
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