When I was little and my dad drove me to curling events he always started the road trip by saying “let’s go spieling”.

Now I am mostly flying to events but I still say “let’s go spieling”.

For this spieling trip, I thankfully didn’t have the 4:00am wake up. 11:00am is a much more respectable time. You know it’s going to be a good event when you get bumped up to first class!!

This event had Tier 1 and Tier 2 levels, all based on your World Curling Tour rankings. We were on the Tier 2 side. We didn’t really see the Tier 1 players, they played in a different arena and stayed in the hotel across the street from us. Back on the Tier 2 side we were fighting it out because the winner would get an automatic entry to the next Tier 1 event.

The first day of an event is usually a practice day; everyone gets a chance to get a feel for the ice and the venue. We also make sure we get to the gym, great to get loosened up from our travels (although I was pretty loose and comfortable from being in first class!). Once the event starts, it’s heads down, nose to the grind stone and get it done. We knew we had a really tough pool so every game was going to be a battle. We played solid, had close games and pulled off three wins and a loss in an extra end. That result qualified us for the playoffs! The wheels came off a little in the playoffs though …. curling is a game of angles and inches and we missed those all important angles by an inch.

Since we were playing in a Slam the format from regular curling is a bit different. In regular curling you can’t hit the first 4 rocks thrown in a game but in a Slam, you can’t hit the first 5 rocks. You might say it’s only one more rock, what’s the big deal? But it changes the strategy a lot; it ensures more rocks in play, more angles to look at and more aggressive play. It’s harder to hold a lead in the score and allows opportunities to get back in the game if you are down in score. I love this new 5 rock rule and am glad it has been adopted for all regular play for the 2018/19 season. More rocks in play, more exciting shots coming your way.

So what do you do when you lose in the playoffs and are out of the competition? That’s right you dance! The curling club had a bar and a dance floor where players, volunteers and really anyone who wanted to be there could socialize and dance. Great music and I LOVE to swing dance, although in Saskatchewan I think I was doing the 2 step, either way it was so much fun. I also like to watch the championship finals. Actually, I would rather play the finals but you can learn a lot from watching it.

Monday is the travel day to the next event. This one was an early wake up call and no first class, back to reality with a normal seat and delayed flights. We had three days off before the next event started.  Day one included a workout and watching the Bachelor in Paradise finale, oh my guilty pleasure! Day two, we had a team practice and workout. Day three, SPA DAY!!! Thank you Nordik Spa, it was amazing.

Thursday the event started and we entered beast mode hahah, I’m not even sure what that would look like. We battled hard every game. This whole event we were “ON” and we felt it. The angles and inches were in our favor and we pulled out our first World Curling Tour victory! Couldn’t be more proud of the girls and how well we all played. I like it, I love it, I want some more of it.

Early wake up again to head back home for some R & R, laundry, dead plants and an empty fridge. I LOVE IT, can’t wait to go spieling again on my road to Olympics 2018.