Curling is so much fun!

Last night, I went curling for the first time. My friends took me to the Avonlea Curling Club, located at Lawrence and Hwy 404. There were 8 of us, and it cost about 11 dollars per person. Every cent was worth it because curling is such an exciting team sport to play.

I have been a long-time viewer of Olympic curling, but I had never tried it before. Watching it on TV, I honestly couldn't tell what was so physical about the game. I thought it was the mental toughness that made it such a formidable sport. Last night, I was enlightened. And enlightenment did not come without a bit of pain and embarrassment.

At first, the hardest thing was not throwing the rock. It was staying on my feet...or, foot. When I pushed off, I fell 80% of the time. After I finally managed to stay on my feet somewhat, the next thing to master was how hard or how lightly to throw the stone. Several times, I was able to come within the circle, but because I was the first one to throw, my stones always got knocked out. Some of my opponents have impeccable aim! Other times, I had very good aim but I threw the stone too hard and it went past the target. Clare was the skip and she was great! At one point, we were down by 3 points, and by the time she was in line to throw, we had 3 stones in the target area. She was able to knock out our opponent's stone and win us those 3 points. In the end, however, my team lost by 1 point.

I really can't wait till the next time we go curling. I love it!