Last weekend Curl San Diego had a special guest pay them a visit. It would have been a swell opportunity to add a name to my cowbell, but alas, I couldn't make it down. However, I did have a correspondent down there with a unique perspective. Liza is a pal from Hollywood Curling who also plays out of San Diego. Her team, the Shot Rock Girls, played in their league finals match on Saturday. I'll let her take it from here.
Anyone who knows anything about the sport of curling knows that 2010 was a big growth year for the sport. I'm not going to spout any facts or made up figures, I'm just going to say that it seems unanimous that every curling club in the country seemed to be flooded with new people wanting to try out the sport after the Vancouver Olympics. So when Curl San Diego invited a very special guest, none other than Cheryl Bernard, the skip for the Canadian Olympic team, there was a large turnout of people wanting the chance to meet her.
My experience meeting her was just about everything I'd hoped for. Okay, admittedly, there was this tiny part of me that dreamed that she would come to the rink, and upon seeing me curl would insist that I was the most gifted curler that she had ever seen, and that it would be foolish of me not to quit my job immediately and become an alternate for her rink... If you've ever seen me play, you'll know what a pipe dream that is, but still, a girl gets to dream, right?
Anyhow, when Cheryl arrived at the rink, I was mid-game in our league championships. I've been curling with an amazing group of women in San Diego for the last few months, even though I live in Hollywood, and we were playing a nail biting game against a good men's team. We went in as the underdogs, not expected to win. We had a chat prior to the game, and told ourselves to take it one end at a time, to play aggressive, to play our best and forget the rest. (Okay, well, I've been doing a lot of P90X training lately, so I may have only thought that last part, not sure if anyone actually said it aloud...). It was a close game, and we were managing to hold our own.
You could feel the tension on the ice build as it got closer to 7 o clock, when Cheryl was expected to arrive. People were nervous, excited, and getting impatient. So when she came into the club, I could feel it without even having to look. It took everything I had not to stare off the ice and try to get a glimpse of her taking pictures with other club members, letting them try on her silver medal (!!!!), and signing their club gear. I had a game to focus on, and it was a challenging one. But man, oh man, did I ever want to go meet her.
The game was a tight one, right to the bitter end. I made a couple good shots, a couple misses. It came down to the final end, the final shot even, where my skip, Stephanie, needed to draw one in to the button to tie up the game. It was close, but we didn't quite make it, and all of us Shot Rock Girls were totally deflated for a moment when we realized we had missed it. But, in the true spirit of curling, I could feel all four of us do our best to shrug off the disappointment, shake hands with the other team, and head off the ice to meet a woman who knows all too well what second place feels like. I'm sorry to bring up that heart breaking moment from the 2010 games, but it popped into my head because I realized that it was still possible to idolize a second place finish.
Cheryl Bernard really is one of my idols. I don't idolize very many people, but I find her to be inspiring, a woman that I truly look up to. And there she was, shaking hands with my teammates. When she asked if we'd won, and we shook our heads, she said "Oh no! After all that? Well, don't worry, I know how you feel! I've been there." She could relate. She, more than anyone I'd ever met, knew exactly what it felt like.
She was genuinely one of the nicest people I had met in a long, long time. She took a photo with my team (sporting our new team jackets, by the way), and let two of the ladies try on her medal. She gave me a big hug when she heard I was from Calgary, and loved my Canada sweater because she of course has the same one. It was so awesome. Yes, you'd have to be a curler to understand. So if you're not a curler, but reading this blog for some reason, you'd have to compare it to a Lakers fan getting their picture taken with Kobe or something. It was a great moment. And when Cheryl came out on the ice with Terry to present us with our second place trophies, it was one of those awesome moments that I will never forget.
Photo courtesy of Mark Dossett
So a big thank you to my teammates, Mary Chello, Stephanie, and Francesca for having me as a Shot Rock Girl, and for giving me the opportunity to meet an idol. I can't wait to curl with these women in Seattle in January for the Mountain Pacific regionals (where I get to play against my fellow curlers from Hollywood Curling, the Bond Girls!). As much work as it is to drive down to San Diego to train with my teammates, I'm so glad I found such a good group of women to share this sort with!
(And thanks Matt for letting me write this blog post!)
Thanks, Liza! Might I recommend Between the Sheets co-written by Cheryl? Or, at the very least, you can read her CCA blog for free.
Also, props for Skip Messier on rockin' the NoHo Curling hat in her photo op with Cheryl and Terry.
Photo courtesy of Mark Dossett
