The young members of the Gentil rink had never curled as a team until last fall, but this weekend they just missed out on a juvenile berth in the B.C. Winter Games.
It was an up-and-down weekend for the young side as Squamish鈥檚 Howe Sound Curling Club played host to the juvenile zone 4 and 5 playdowns, which determine the teams that go to the games next month.
The team consists of skip Glenn Gentil, third Xavier Charbonneau, second Ian McNaughton, lead Odin Hewitt-Dorosh and fifth Sam Watt.
鈥楾hey鈥檝e been curling together for less than two months,鈥� said coach Don Dorosh.
The playdowns brought teams in from the Lower Mainland, including Howe Sound鈥檚 opponent, the Kwok rink from Richmond.
Supporters of the fledgling 麻豆社国产team knew their boys were going in as underdogs, but the weekend matches were as much about getting experience for the young curlers.
According to members of the local curling club, it has been a long time since 麻豆社国产has had a team competing at the juvenile level.
The club has operated a program called Kids Rock for kids aged eight to 11 for a while, but only recently it started a league for the juveniles, who range in age from 12 to 16. At present, there are 13 kids curling in the juvenile league.
The opportunity then arose for 麻豆社国产to host some of the playdowns. Playdowns liaison Hilary Fisher said the club felt it should put together a team of young men to compete.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to be hosting the juvenile playdowns, we jolly well better get a team,鈥� she said.
Dorosh stepped in to coach the boys and made the decision on the five to form the team in November.
鈥淔our of them have been curling in Kids Rock all along, and one of them is a brand new curler and doing very well,鈥� he said.
The weekend event was certainly a learning experience. During play, coaches are limited to how much they can contact players and cannot use hand signals. In the first match, Dorosh used his timeouts early, but when the Kwok rink called one in the seventh end, Dorosh bolted downstairs from the viewing area to take advantage of the chance to give the players some late direction.
The team had fallen behind early but in the fourth end added four points to the board, as family and other supporters cheered from the viewing area. The team ended up losing 11-6 but looked stronger than its opponents as the match wore on.
If there were few expectations the local boys could pull off the upset, these were shaken when the kids won their second match in a nail-biter on Saturday night 7-5 to force the third showdown on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, while the local curlers looked like they were off to a good start in the first end, the visitors ended up stealing a point and did not look back from there, taking the final match 13-1.
While the BC Winter Games berth was the ultimate goal, the experience of competition itself provided a reward. The first match was a clear sign that the young team could figure out how to deal with adversity, as the curlers were able to gather themselves after falling behind early and surprise even their most avid supporters with the Saturday night victory.聽
As for regular play at the club, Fisher said they would like to have more players, especially girls, in the juvenile league, which happens on Mondays from 3:45 to 5:15 p.m. Kids Rock takes place on Wednesdays from 3:45 to 5:15 p.m.
