Team Clendenan

Staying true to their training plan to include advanced competitions in their season, the purple crew entered into the Pepsi Junior Women’s Zone 12 play downs in Arthur this past weekend. Much to the chagrin of their singular opponent, Team Clendenan not only got competitive practice ice time but they confidently shut the door with a 9-2 win that included four stolen points, two controlled forces and a final end with hammer that used a runback to grab a four pointer. The momentum toppled (WALSH) who conceded with two ends still to play and since there were three berths up for grabs, it was all that was required for advancement to the Junior Women’s Regional competition in Gravenhurst November 28-29.

As they nervously accepted their very first OCA Junior Women’s Zone winner patches, it was hard to deny that Team Clendenan’s persistence seems to be far more lethal than their experience. With that said, this is the second time this year that Team Clendenan has earned a ticket to an upper level competition because they refused to listen to extraneous advice to stay in their own age category. Furthermore, they aren’t about to shy away from the next challenge either. Just like Ernest Hemingway said, "Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”

The funny thing about experience is that you generally have to go into it without any and you usually come out of it with more than you bargained for but in either case, it ultimately makes you stronger. Never was this more evident than for Team Clendenan when they recently competed at the Ottawa Valley Super Spiel. Surrounded by decorated teams from across the country, U.S.A and Europe, the girls quickly discovered just how far they had been launched outside of their comfort zone; yet one calming factor was that the heartbeat of the event was the same curling game that each had played to get there. Despite the multilingual competition, the rocks were the same and the rules were the same so why not tackle it like any other game?

Facing the Atlantic U18 champions from New Brunswick right out of the gate, followed by the WORLD junior women’s Switzerland team and finishing with a face off against the back to back Northern Ontario Gold medalists from both the Ontario and Canada Winter Games, the package of talent that Team Clendenan had to face was daunting. Just the fact that the purple crew had earned their place to compete with these heavy weights was admirable, but they went one step further by keeping the games either tied or within a point for at least half of each game before they were eventually out matched by strategy and execution. So what measuring stick is appropriate for gauging success? Certainly not the W’s because not only did Team Clendenan prevent any ends with more than a deuce (without hammer) in the entire event, but the losses were never by a spread of more than two points either – quite an accomplishment for a bantam team without any national experience.

“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat.” – Navy SEAL’s

Young competitive curlers are very familiar with the OJCT (Ontario Junior Curling Tour) which is a collection of the province’s largest tournaments for curling athletes under 20 years of age. Teams are attracted to competitions recognized by the OJCT more than any other because they have the opportunity to face off against the best in their sport but more importantly to be eligible for tour points that are awarded based on their results from each competition. The points are accumulated throughout the tour season (mid-September to mid-February) and the subsequent provincial ranking is used for qualifying criteria for elite events and in special cases, funding.

The inaugural Coldwater OJCT host club is a new addition to the tour options for Bantam curlers under 16 years of age. Playfully named “ROCKTOBERFEST”, entrants from all over southern Ontario were eager to participate and Team Clendenan was no exception. In a traditional round robin pool format, the purple crew got down to business early and soundly advanced to the playoffs with a 3-0 record against ROBERT (High Park), STEELE (Uxbridge) and WARRINER (Oakville). Maintaining their momentum and embracing the spirit of Zusammen! (tsoo-zamm-in) which means “together” in German, the good guys earned a fourth win in the semi-finals against TITKAI ( Bayview) and finished strong with an early handshake championship win in game 5 against BERNARD ( Elmira ).

The payoff for an undefeated weekend in Coldwater will be a precious handful of OJCT tour points that will go into the Team Clendenan coffers – which incidentally will only be half of the number that would be awarded for a junior age competition in the same circuit. The bonus value of those points, however, occurs as a result of the process of earning them with people who would have your back even if you didn’t win them. For Team Clendenan, they were fortunate enough to become Rocktoberfest champions, win tour points AND deepen a friendship that will be around long after the posted standings. Look out Ottawa, the power of purple is on its way!

Lass uns das nächstes Jahr wiederholen. (Let’s do this again next year!)

The Brokerlink OVCA Junior Super Spiel is an opportunity for local teams to play against some of the best in the world and it has a long standing history of entrants who later went on to accomplish great things in curling. As is prudent, there is a qualifying process for attendance at the OVCA (Ottawa Valley Curling Association) and limited berths are awarded to either Provincial or National Champions or to winners from a designated qualifier event such as the SOSSQ (Southern Ontario Super Spiel Qualifier). Just getting into the qualifier event is no easy feat, and OJCT (Ontario Junior Curling Tour) teams must first prove they are worthy through a selection committee who evaluates participants based on their previous season’s accomplishments. Only 12 teams from the OJCT make the cut into the SOSSQ and Team Clendenan was one of them.

The original goal was to play in the junior SOSSQ to stretch the purple girls so that they would be stronger in their own (lower) bantam age division this season but it wasn’t long before the learning curve was also producing results. Adapting to their opponents quickly, Team Clendenan snuck out a first game win in an extra end but then they added to their leader board score with a second win that wrapped up with a four pointer in their favour. The following two games were separated by a single point up until the last rock and though they ended in losses, the good guys were creating chatter in the club. When the shootout score was posted after the round robin play and Team Clendenan had the second highest ranking (amongst the girls and boys combined) it was hard to tell if the girls or their opponents were more shocked that they had earned a place in the playoffs as well.

It’s a common motivational speech that there is nothing more dangerous to a successful team than another team that has nothing to lose. Team Clendenan had already surpassed what they thought they were capable of at the SOSSQ and the quarter final game against GREENWOOD – who had previously beaten them in round robin play and had also been to nationals – was a matchup with a fairly predictable outcome. Yet, the underdogs prevailed. The purple crew not only executed until the opposition shook early but they continued their innocent momentum in the semi-final game as well by stealing their way to a win over the dual Ontario and Canadian Winter games champion (SMITH). Given that there were two tickets to the OVCA, the final game against MURPHY was merely to determine first and second place which was fortunate because Team Clendenan had long since exhausted their gas tanks. Admirably keeping up for the first half of the game, the purple girls were eventually overpowered but it didn’t sully what they had accomplished up to that point and the smiles were huge. Against all odds, Team Clendenan would be going to the OVCA Junior Super Spiel at the end of October.

Keeping in mind that the fabulous foursome are only 14 and 15 years old, competing in a category for players under 20 is a scary endeavour and kudos go out to them for bravely taking it on. The fact that they were able to complete their experience by moving on to compete against teams from every province in Canada as well as teams from USA, Scotland and Switzerland is amazing. Apparently, “ Nothing reduces the odds against you like ignoring them” ~ Robert Brault.