Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The First Night of the Rest of Your Life


We had our first night of training camp to earn a spot with the U.S Olympic Curling Team. Spent most of the practice getting oriented with the coaching staff, and sizing up the new people. I'm sure it psyches a lot of them out to know there's an honest to god curling prodigy like Brad in the room.

Coaching staff could tell we were anxious to hit the ice, but forced us to watch a lot of tape, sign liability waivers, etc. I swear the training tape wasn't much better than this recruitment video. Trying to put everyone in the right frame of mind for what is sure to be a brutal next few weeks. We all hate to hear it, but it's back to basics.

I may be getting ahead of myself. If you're new to curling, it may look like janitors trying to play shuffleboard on a skating rink. Don't be fooled by the seemingly slow pace, and elegance of the veterans. It's sport, and like any competitive athletic endeavor can be brutal on the weak or uninitiated. Particularly when it's for a battle to be played out on the world stage. You should get up to speed, and learn the basics of curling. We'll have more next week.