High School Curlers finish season
Amy Gregson – Times Reporter
It was a short season for the curlers at Strathmore High School as they attended their only event Feb. 11 and 12 in Airdrie.
Even though the teams won’t be moving on to provincials, their coaches are very pleased with how they did at the zones competition.
“They did very well considering they had no previous competitions and haven’t even played an eight end game all year,” said Michelle Saver, who along with Brad Steele coached the teams.
Usually, the team practices against the Catholic High School, enters bonspiels and goes to other competitions, but that didn’t happen this year.
Saver said at zones, they played against some very strong teams from schools like Hanna and Crossfield.
The girls team of Amanda Douchminsky, Ashley Smith, Mackenzie Siba and Lauren McGougan came in fourth place.
“They were out of medal contention unfortunately,” said Michelle Saver, coach.
The boys team of Jeff Vooys, Calum Oliphant, Matt Schultz and Kyle Bexte, along with the mixed team of Brandon Nelson, Catherine Loade, Hayley Walker and Kyle Chizmazia, didn’t qualify for the play-off round.
Had the teams placed first they would have been eligible for provincials being held in Okotoks next month.
“One of the biggest things that just made me absolutely so proud of these students was that I had other coaches and parents coming up to me saying how sportsman-like they were, how great they were to play against and how fun they were,” said Saver.
The team had been practicing for two hours once a week since October, but added another practice as they approached zones.
“We try and run a fun practice for them, [but also] so they can get the skills and technique down,” said Saver.
She said all three teams had a combination of both inexperienced and experienced curlers.
Saver said it’s tough to train new curlers from scratch, but she is very impressed at how much they improved over the course of a season.
“We are always looking for new curlers because several of these kids are grade 12’s that won’t be back next year,” Saver said.
Saver encourages all of them to stick with curling because it’s a life-long sport.