I found out from a friend that a Curling section had been set up by British Deaf Sports Council (BDSC) and they were looking for players for the 1^st Deaf World Championships Ice Hockey and Curling in Canada. That same friend encouraged me to have a try. I went along to the third practice session, having missed the first two due to work commitments. I did not know what to expect except lots of ice, throwing stones and sweeping.  

 

The practice sessions were tough; learning how to slide, how to throw the stones properly, knowing how fast to throw the stones and how to curl them. ‘Sweeping’ is also important and it is not as easy as it looks! It is important to judge the speed by which the stone is thrown then sweep accordingly, varying the amount of pressure to sweep on the ice, as well as clearing the ice of any dirt. The aim is to get the stone as close to the “button” - the centre of the circle at the other end of the ice - as possible. 

The practice sessions were two hours long; we had intensive training by a hearing coach who also teaches the GB junior teams. The ice rink was based in Kent, the only curling rink in England. Some people, also trying out for the team, were based in Scotland so they practised locally. We only met once, to have a practise game together along with the GB junior team. The GB junior team are really good and play to a high standard, which encouraged us to do our best. The team were selected and I was pleasantly pleased to learn that I would be in the team. This meant I would go to Canada and represent the GB women’s team, along with Jacki Wan and Kathy Walker (also ex-pupils of MH). 
 

We flew to Winnipeg, Canada on 9^th April and stayed there for 10 days. The first couple of days were spent training and practising on various ice sheets at the ice rink. Even though they may be in the same building, the ice surfaces vary from sheet to sheet. We learnt which were “fast” and which was “slow” judging by the speed at which the stones were going.  
 

The opening ceremony was on 10^th April, and it was an awesome experience to get to see entertainment from around the world: there were some deaf drummers, the Native Canadian Hoop Dance, some drama based on curling and ice-hockey and finally the competition was declared open.
 

The week was spent playing matches against the other countries. For Great Britain it was our first chance to play a proper match. The GB women played first against Croatia. They sensed our hesitation and took advantage of that, nevertheless during the second half we upped our game and won 6-4. It would have been 8-4 if we had known not to shake hands to end the game before declaring the last two points! 

The GB men became nervous and wanted to win their first game too! They did, and it was a fantastic experience, GB did well! 
 

During the week more matches were played, we watched the other games if we were not playing, and learnt techniques and tactics from the other teams. As the week wore on, our gamesmanship improved steadily and by the end of the week the GB men were guaranteed a medal. The GB women were not far behind, but due to the nature of the league in terms of win / lose, we ended up being in a tie-breaker. This then became a knock out round, and to our dismay we were against Croatia again!

Nevertheless, despite their confidence after realising that the GB women’s team had only two months experience as opposed to their two years or so of training, we beat them 10-9, in a game with a very nail biting finish, with the time running out. We were through to the next tie-breaker! Unfortunately we only had an hour’s break for lunch then we had to get back on the ice, to play against Slovakia. We lost, but we were good losers and accepted our fate, as we had been playing back to back matches for two days. Nevertheless, we knew that we did well, and we came 4^th, just missing out on the medals, however it was a fantastic experience just to be there in Canada. 

The GB men won Bronze after a very close game against Switzerland. All in all, we enjoyed ourselves, learnt more about the game of curling, got to meet other people from around the world, and improved our game!