There’s a new curling team at Huntsville High School and last week they hosted 13 teams from Muskoka, Parry Sound and Haliburton for a high school bonspiel in conjunction with the Huntsville Curling Club.
The current curling program at the high school is a young one—there was a large team last year for the program’s first year but many were unable to return this year due to other commitments. The 2018-19 team has six members—four girls and two boys—all of them new to curling, and they are loving it.
“It’s quite fun,” said Julia Caswell, “but it’s harder than it looks.” She joined the team because she thought it would be fun to slide on ice, and had always wanted to try it out but other activities prevented her from getting involved.
At the bonspiel, she curled on a three-person team with Jane Miller and Laura Earl (the fourth member of the girls team joined the HHS club’s two boys for the day), both of whom agree that it’s a fun sport.
“It is hard to start in the beginning, just getting your balance,” said Miller. “But it’s fun doing it with friends.”
Earl added that she has noticed an improvement in her balance on the ice since joining the team. “I was really clumsy before,” she said. And she like playing because “you make good friends, too.”
Their coach, Chantelle Armstrong, is thrilled with how far all of the team members have come this year.
“They are doing fantastically,” she said. “They train twice a week and they are all working very hard and work diligently on their skills. They have really stepped up their game to get to where they are…There’s a lot to curling. There’s a lot of skills, there’s strategy.” The high school playdowns will be in February and Armstrong said the bonspiel is a great opportunity for the team to get experience on the ice against other teams.
Zach Belfry (back) marks the shot for Ben Caplan (foreground) while Stella Keay gets ready to sweep
Stella Keay makes a shot
HHS teacher liaison, Kristi Mulder, who herself curled for the first time last year, agreed. “It’s nice for them to get into the game aspect, instead of just practices, and to be able to interact with the other teams from all around. They learn a little bit more that way as well.”
Mulder said they hope to make the bonspiel an annual event, and that through this year’s players, as well as through the Huntsville Curling Club’s youth programs, that the HHS program will continue to grow and develop.
While it’s too late for students to join the high school team this season, the Huntsville Curling Club does have winter youth programs that will start up again in the new year. “We have such great fun,” said Armstrong. “We do some skills and we have some fun little games we play and then we do a couple of ends afterward. The program is running really well. It’s super exciting. These kids will know curling forever, and they’ll be able to curl forever.
For more information about Huntsville Curling Club programs, visit huntsvillecurlingclub.ca.
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