Our team name was “Icy Dead People” and Amazon came through with perfect shirts to keep us uniform, though we didn’t win the costume contest. The ice at Peachtree was quick and it took repeated adjustments through our games to figure it out. While there were close games throughout the weekend, we weren’t able to secure our spot in the semi-final matches.

While I did not experience winning on the ice, I did find a sense of victory in the form of raffle prizes. I locked down two for myself. One was the Cube of Beer representing beers from the Orlando area and the second was a basket full of mini games. I also took home a lesson learned from a fellow curler. What was it, a name stamp. While I was writing my name 80 times on raffle tickets, they used an address stamp to apply their name to the same allotment of tickets in a fraction of the time.

Check out our first game on the ice

This past weekend I made my way down to my hometown to take part in the 2024 Grits and Granite Curling Bonspiel at the Charlotte Curling Club. The host club put on an excellent spiel and ensured all curlers felt welcome. I curled with my friends from the Triangle Curling Club and took up the Lead position responsible for setting up guards and positioning the initial shot stone. While I mainly play in the second position in league, I was pleased with my performance through the weekend. Our team had a great time. I felt our first game was the best all around performance from our team and was a close one til the end (video below) Ultimately, we faced some great teams through the initial rounds and did not make it to the final day.

While our team did not make it to the final day, we participated in several broomstacking events after each game. Broomstacking is a way for teams to relax after each game, discuss plays and get to know one another. In addition, there’s a great tradition within Curling, well two. First, the winners buy the runner up team the first round of drinks which softens the blow. However, the tradition I have come to enjoy is the sharing of your club pin with the other team. Its a great memento to remember those whom you’ve played against and established friendships which persist. I have just started my collection recently but it has grown nicely. I can’t wait to get more.

The Grits and Granite was my second away spiel but definitely won’t be my last. These events are so much fun and I get to play a sport I have come to thoroughly enjoy. My goal for future spiels is to make the final day and get piped out onto the ice and share a drink with my fellow finalist. This is a tradition at Bonspiels and traces its roots back to the Scottish founding of this sport. Naturally, you all will see that happen as I will share this milestone with each of you.