// BROOMSTACKING IN THE USA GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT


Team chemistry leads to on-ice success


San Francisco teammates continue winning ways


Editor’s note: Please welcome our newest columnist, Bobbie R. Todd, to the


Curling News team! Bobbie will be writing about a variety of topics focused on club activities with her column titled “Broomstacking in the USA.” Feel free to send her story ideas at broomstackingbobbie@gmail.com.


By Bobbie R. Todd, U.S. Curling News columnist


Te team, composed of Sarah Walsh (Oakland, Calif.), Kimberly Chapin (San Francisco, Calif.), BriAnna Weldon (El Cerrito, Calif.), and Pamela Montbach (San Francisco, Calif.), is back-to-back Arena Nationals champi- ons (2015 and 2016) and Pacific International Cup silver medalists in 2015 and 2016 with Emily Schermerhorn (San Francisco, Calif.). Tey achieved these feats and more with teamwork, respect, and the team’s cheerful na- ture. While the ladies’ individual paths to the sport of curling varied, Team


T


Walsh officially got its start when Sarah was recruited to be a skip at a 2011 barbecue hosted by competitive curler Gabrielle Coleman. Even though Team Walsh has gone through several lineup changes since originally forming in 2011, their objective has always been to have fun while improv- ing their curling skills. In 2011, they wanted to go to the Club Nationals


eam chemistry. Anyone who has ever been on a team has likely heard about how important it is – and Team Walsh of the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club (SFBACC) demonstrates why.


playdown to gain experience. Tey did, and, as Sarah Walsh put it, “ac- cidentally qualified.” While the team ended up getting trounced at Club Nationals that year, they decided to continue on. “Te first year was a huge learning experience,” Chapin said. It helped them learn how to have fun even when losing. So, Team Walsh soldiered on and losing soon gave way to winning as


they gained experience and gelled as a team. Already facing many obstacles common to curlers in untraditional curling locales, such as lack of practice time and facilities, the team also deals with having to coordinate busy work schedules to have access to better ice and time to travel to events. Addition- ally, the team has dealt with injuries. Te ladies joke that the foam rollers they attach to their curling bags have become a Team Walsh trademark and wonder if they will ever have a competition where Wheldon is fully healthy. When asked about their favorite curling moments aside from the obvious


(i.e., winning), the team responds with anecdotes concerning the people who curl. Chapin, for example, loved being around all the other teams at Arena Nationals. She thinks arena teams are “a special community” and she also loved having the on-ice officials. Walsh loved the level of community involvement when Cedar Rapids hosted the 2015 Arena Nationals. “Tere were actually a lot of spectators. Tey had news organizations out there. Tey had local sponsorships. Tey really made it feel like a championship event which was really nice,” she said. Team Walsh plays relatively few bonspiels together, has no coach, doesn’t


have an off-ice curling training routine, and, due to work and other obliga- tions, gets ice time once a week, at best. Yet, they still manage to do well and win at a relatively high level – especially for arena curlers out of California. On paper, it makes little sense, but when talking to ladies, it’s abundantly clear why they are so successful: it’s their team chemistry. Not only do the women of Team Walsh work hard at curling, they enjoy competing togeth- er. “We have a lot of fun,” Chapin said. “I think that’s why this is going well… ‘cause we’re all really good friends in addition to being teammates. I don’t think we could tolerate each other if we weren’t.” Tough they’ve all competed with others, when it comes to participating in women’s curling, they come back to Team Walsh because as the skip puts it: “I think we’ve all played on teams at one time or another with people who were good curlers but weren’t really—we didn’t really gel as friends . . . I’d rather play with someone I get along with,” Walsh said. While Team Walsh is still planning next season, they will likely skip


2017 Arena Nationals as they feel they have conquered that challenge and would like to see another SFBACC team win. Te team is also looking to try their hand at Club Nationals, but as Sarah says, “Fairbanks is an ex- pensive trip, so [they’re] still figuring it out.” Mainly, though, they’d love to have dedicated ice at SFBACC. Tis is something the club is working on; unfortunately, finding an appropriate building is taking some time. In the meantime, however, the women of Team Walsh will keep curling. “It’s ad- dicting. Sometimes I think that my non-curling friends think I’ve joined a cult,” Chapin said. Truer words were never spoken. n


Team Walsh members (l-r) Sarah Walsh, BriAnna Weldon, and Kim Chapin, who captured back-to-back Arena Nationals titles, were recently honored at the 2016 Golden Gate Bonspiel opening ceremony at the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club.


12 usacurl.org )) Bobbie R. Todd is an amateur curler located in the Greater Sacramento,


Calif., area. She began curling in 2015 and curls out of Wine Country Curling Club in Roseville, Calif.


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