Plainfield Curling Club

An area where I think the GNCC has done a great job is in the creation of events that are limited to curlers who are relatively new to the sport. For players with five years of curling experience or less, they offer a terrific way to discover the excitement and challenges of a competitive event against teams that are also learning and developing. Last weekend, a team from the Plainfield CC competed at the Women’s Challenge in Ardsley. Here’s Sarah McCulloh’s report:

I skipped, Linda Carubia played vice, Grace Roth played 2nd and Shara Dellatore played lead. We had a fantastic “flower power” weekend!!! 

In the first game, we stole four in the 8th to win the game by 1. That was pretty exciting, although we didn’t feel like we “won” the game, we felt like they “lost” the game. Their skip flashed a take out to end the game but they were pretty consistent throughout. (Ed. Note: Yes, I’m fairly certain that skip felt like she “lost” the game. Been there, done that.) All in all, we really enjoyed the friendships we made with the ladies from Broomstones (II) and closed down the bar like good Plainfielders do.

Our second game was against Schenectady I, and we lost a tight game by one point and dropped down to the Third Event. It was a friendly and competitive match. 

In the third game against Ardsley (our first game on Saturday), our team was solid. We made our shots, I called decent ice and we even took a four. (Or was it five, I can’t remember.) They shook in the 7th and the game was a welcome confidence booster for us. 

But we knew our next game would be against last year’s First Event champs and I really began to get nervous. I was even shaking a little through the first end or so. As a fairly new skip, I was trying to remember all the strategy I had been reading about. I also knew my team was tired and injured. Grace was having shoulder pain and Shara was having knee problems. (Ed. Note: Part of the learning and developing, I guess. When you’re competing in an event with multiple games over the course of a weekend, you realize how demanding curling can be. Even more so when you close the bar. Just once, I’d like to see marathoners run a race after closing the bar the previous evening. Curlers are the true athletes.) Unfortunately, we had a hard time keeping it together and it led to our demise. Potomac/Broomstones took an early lead and never looked back. At least we can say we were eliminated from the spiel by the eventual Third Event winners. 

The spirit of curling was well and alive at Ardsley during the Women’s Challenge this year! The 5-and-Under women have really developed some nice friendships over the last few years, and it was quite enjoyable to spend time with such wonderful women! 

I look forward to bringing a team to the WC for the remainder of my eligibility (two years) and I really hope that another PCC team — or two or three — will join us next year. The 2010 Women’s Challenge will be held at the Utica Curling Club  from March 18-21, 2010. The theme? Camp Wannacurl, Childs Challenge 2010.

I’m going to hang a sign up at the club later this week.