I like to consider myself an athlete. And as such, I plan on playing sports well into my older years. The only thing is that the sports may change to more social sports instead of contact sports. This is why I want to get good at curling now...that way when I get older people will want me on their team. If I'm 60 years old and just learning to curl, nobody is going to want me on their team because I'll be no good. It'll be like elementary school all over again when you always get picked last for the team. I vowed that wasn't going to happen to me when I get older.
So to help remedy this I decided a few years ago that I needed to learn to curl. I was too busy to join a league or anything, but as luck would have it a couple friends of ours needed two extra people on their curling team one Sunday afternoon. I was so excited I jumped at the opportunity to get out on the rink and learn this game.
When I got to the rink I was handed a broom along with a "slide" (a slippery thing you put on the bottom of your shoe to slide better) and I was set. The only problem was that the other team didn't show up so we had no one to play. Thinking that my curling day was over I was about to leave when I found out that we were actually going to split up our team onto a couple other teams in a "skins game" (this is where whichever team wins each end gets $1.00 per point scored). I was extremely scared and told the other team that this was my very first time ever to play the game and that I would be terrible. They assured me it wasn't a problem.
So there I was, curling for my first time with a bunch of people I didn't know. I was obviously throwing lead and threw my rocks down to the other end. I didn't do too bad and the people I curled with were very encouraging. The hard part was the sweeping. I had already swept a couple rocks down the rink and thought I was getting the hang of it...but I was obviously just getting cocky. The next time down the rink I was sweeping away at the rock going as fast as I could when suddenly the next thing I remember was looking up at the ceiling and wondering where the rocks, ice and all the people went. The sharp pain in my butt as I landed on the ice brought me back to reality and I realized that I had just completely wiped out. And while wiping out I had kicked the rock we were sweeping eliminating it from the game (it was the first of a few that I would eliminate due to touching it while sweeping). Obviously not a lot of people wipe out a lot there because suddenly practically every person on every rink in the whole building stopped and stared at me while offering shouts of "are you ok?" I struggled and slipped back to my feet, brushing off the snow and assuring everyone that I was just fine (even though it did hurt a bit). Nevertheless, it was a miracle but our team actually managed to win and I walked away $2.00 richer. As I handed back my slide at the end of the day I realized that I still need a lot of practice before I get old. Luckily I have about another 40 years or so until I need to be good!
Let me know if you think this great curling adventure is fact or fiction!
2 comments:
i think it's fiction...i'm not exactly sure why i think that...but maybe because i'm just hoping that you don't want to take up curling later on in life!
FACT. I think it's true. I can picture you hesitant at first, trying the slide out casually and then building up to the "cockiness" as you mentioned. You would try to go as fast as you could because you are so competitive. And you would tell a story like this because you like to laugh at yourself with others.
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