The Bolt

After supper I start getting mentaly prepared for the game and by the time I hit the rink at 8:30 I'm more than ready to go. I meet up with the team for which I'm sparing - or at least with the first two of them, a husband and wife. I look around... there should be three people. I ask "who is the skip?" The reply: "he's not here yet". Hmm, that's odd, since game play starts in 5 minutes.

The person at the front desk hollers over to the woman on our team "oh, your skip called, and he can't make it tonight". Even more strange. Since we don't have time to pick up a second spare, we decide to play with three.

We get out on the ice and the husband asks "will you skip tonight?" Oh boy. I'm normally a lead or second - in fact, those are the ONLY positions that I've ever played. And oh yes, this is my first season of curling. "We are just learning to curl," he says, "and neither of us is comfortable being skip." The only thing that came out of my mouth was "OK", even though I was trying to think of any kind of reason why I shouldn't be the skip either. But the looks on their faces - well, it was almost fear, and I just couldn't say no.

We tossed the coin and lost, so the other team had hammer. The first six rocks of ours (thrown by the husband and wife team) all ended up short. The front of the house was just a mess. Unfortunately, the second for the opposition had managed to get one on the button during her first shot, so in total we had about nine guards in front of one lonely opposition rock.

When it was my turn to throw, I patiently looked at our second while he and his wife chatted down near the hack. After a while I called out to him "are you coming?" He looked a little confused. "You have to hold the broom for me!". "Oh, OK". I called a raise on one of our guards, and showed him where I wanted the broom for proper ice.

I sat down in the hack, concentrated, and then delivered a near-perfect raise... the raised stone bumped their counter back, and now we were sitting shot behind that massive wall of guards. And that's the way it stayed for the next three rocks, so that we ended up stealing one.

The second end was almost a repeat of the first - this time I called for heavier weights so that we shouldn't have had so much junk in front. But by the time it came to my first shot, again the opposition was sitting with one near the button. This time, it was behind three of our guards and one of theirs, but there was a rock-and-a-half port that I could see to get to shot rock. I again called the second to hold the broom, and gave ice for a nice chap and lie.

As I set about to deliver the rock, I wasn't paying attention to where our lead was... I just assumed she was watching the game and knew exactly when she might be needed. Bad assumption. I slid out, released the rock, and then realised that NOBODY was there to call on for sweeping. Looking around I saw that the lead was standing at the sideline, talking with two of the opposition players.

I stood up and asked, "did you just assume that I was going to deliver that rock perfectly, and it wouldn't need sweeping?" She and I both looked down the sheet and followed the rock as it sailed gracefully through the port, tapped the corner of the shot stone to send it back, and then slowly rolled behind cover. She looked at me and said "see, it didn't need it!"

This lax attitude toward play continued, but I stayed sharp. Oh boy was I on my game! After stealing for three ends in a row we were up 4 to 0.

Then, going into the fourth end, standing down in the house and holding the broom for our lead, it struck me. These people were not here to win. They didn't care. They were out to socialize with their friends - the opposing team! They were doing way more talking than playing. And I actually think that I was decreasing their enjoyment of the game, as my teammates didn't appear to enjoy beating their friends by an ever-increasing margin.

So I did what I thought was best... I started throwing the game. When it came time to make my shots, I gave myself the proper ice but I purposely did not hit the broom. I ended up "just missing" a few key shots, which of course drew a few "oh, too bad" remarks. I was missing in such a way that it did not look obvious at all.

By the end of six ends, we were now tied 4 to 4. Then, the opposing skip asked if we could be done the game. I looked around and it was obvious that everyone but me didn't care if they were on the ice or off, they just wanted to talk. And actually off the ice might be better, since it would afford some beverages. We all shook hands and agreed to end the game "tied".

So I re-learned that "winning isn't everything". I thought that I had that one down pat from grade school, but decades later it appears not. Everybody wants different things from plying sports, and that night our team's goal was different than my personal goal.

Strangely enough, it was still rewarding to me to see how close I could come to making a shot without actually making it. That can be hard to do.