This is the story of my very first curling experience. I was living in Minnesota and knew nothing about the game, but my girlfriend (now wife) was in Toronto and was a diehard curler and determined to convert me. I recall practicing delivery techniques on the linoleum kitchen floor of their apartment the night before my first experience on the curling ice. The next morning they got me outfitted with some curling shoes, showed me a bit about how to sweep, and then it was time to try sliding from the hack. Our skip Ron went first to demonstrate, and boy could he slide a long way down the ice. He must have been looking down at his foot positioning as he slid, because he did not notice the ice technician who was backing toward us pebbling the ice. Ron plowed right into him and both tumbled to the ice. It was quite an auspicious beginning to my love of the game.

(Photo is unrelated to story, but is of my skip Chris and I at a Canadiana Bonspiel much more recently in Kelowna, BC. I’m on the left)