Team Clendenan

The official term for a one day curling event is Bonspiel but with only two games to determine an overall winner amongst 16 teams, a more apropos label is “Stealspiel”. In order to be successful, you must not only win both of your games, but also accumulate as many ends in the process and ideally a LOT of points on the scoreboard as well. Consequently, the fancy ranking system that combines wins, ends and points dictates a curling strategy that is contrary to standard competitive play. In an almost unsportsmanlike nature; less experienced teams are arguably at a marked disadvantage and for competitive teams the necessary mental switch is borderline counterintuitive practice ice time. The upside is that players are generally treated to a fabulous meal as part of their entry and for the teenagers at the Donalda spiel, the prize table of massive Toblerone chocolate bars and Itunes gift cards was likely more attractive than a trophy anyway – especially when everyone was entitled to a parting gift – so the purple girls happily slipped into the fun.

Beginning with a win against a home club mixed team (Sayers) which settled Team Clendenan into a second place overall ranking and then finishing out the day with a game against a school girl team (Titkai) who had a first place ranking, the good guys racked up a lethal combination of 8 points with hammer, 13 stolen points and secured an impressive position on the leader board by winning and stealing nine out of 12 ends that counted as well. There was no question that the hard finish with the stones allowed for tucking rocks skillfully and with draw weight very much in control, the smiles were primarily in the purple corner. To be completely fair there were also some strategy hiccups that could very well have turned things around were it not for a gift miss or two by the opponents to allow the girls to get things back on track. It was probably no consolation to the victims of the Purple Bandits who kept posting points against them but the coach debriefs after the games would have had some constructive items on the scratch pad and the counterintuitive bonspiel learning theory was a very real elephant in the room. In the end, the girls placed first in their draw and remained untouched on the leader board after the late draw as well so after collection their choice at the prize table, the day was rounded out with unexpected bragging rights and recognition on the club trophy to boot.

A big thank you goes out to the Donalda club, organizers and support staff for such a fantastic event. The food was amazing and the memories from the experience won’t soon be forgotten!