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CHAMPIONSHIPS Continued from Page 17 *


playing to your team’s strengths and not trying to play like the WCT TV games he watches constantly. Te sport’s IQ of my teammates was phenomenal. Teir teachablity and


coachability was as good as it gets. Did it guarantee success? Of course not. But it gave us a chance to be competitive. All three of these players wanted to be a difference maker, whether they were throwing or sweeping. Tey wanted to make the shot that could be the potential defining moment. Tey didn’t shy away from the pressure. Talk about refreshing. Case in point: In our bronze-medal game versus San Francisco, we were trying to run them out of rocks in the final end. I was getting my mind around having to throw the last rock, just in case. On Kevin’s last rock he could make it official. He nailed it, just perfect. Aſter the game he says to me, “I wanted to be the guy that threw the last stone to win the medal. I wanted it to be me and experi- ence that feeling in a game that really mattered.” You have three players like this and it’s a treat to play this game. We may


have had lack of game experience collectively due to geographical growing up restraints, but we had chemistry, moxie, teachability, the willingness to practice (when we could) and a passion most teams in any sport would die for. And fun, just plain old fun. Back to Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour theory, or 10 years of devotion,


to master a craſt??? I believe in much of it, but in a modified way. My Colo- rado teammates don’t have the 10,000 hours in (yet), but their devotion to the other sports they have mastered has got to count for at least 6,000-7,000 of those hours because the principles of mastering a sport are so similar. Are we ready for the Olympics or the USA Men’s Nationals??? I would think not, but these guys are ready to compete against some pretty good teams and hold their own. I would take them back to my old home club in Calgary or to the Madison, Wis., club and wouldn’t be surprised if they could com- pete in and stay in the A-Block of these clubs. Tat was my big takeaway from the USA Curling Arena National Cham-


pionships – recruit proven athletes regardless of their sport. n Indiana Arena Nationals Top 10 List by Guy Scholz


Since Fort Wayne is only a couple hours away from David Letter-


man’s old stomping grounds, here is a Top 10 list from the Arena Na- tionals: #10 Congrats to the medal winners on the women’s side. Dakota


CC from Minnesota taking the gold (Darcy Ellarby rink) over the San Francisco CC (Sarah Walsh rink) and Kalamazoo CC (Stephanie Sen- neker rink) taking the bronze over my favorite Dallas CC women’s team (the skip, Liana Knott , grew up about 90 minutes from my hometown.) #9 Outstanding ice conditions provided by two of the best – Dave


Staveteig and Kevin Madsen. Not one complaint about the ice the en- tire championship. #8 Equally outstanding Organizing Committee from the Fort Wayne


CC and the USCA volunteers. #7 Learning that Wil Wheaton of "Star Trek" and "Big Bang Teory"


fame (my favorite sitcom) loves curling out of the Hollywood CC. Tis is an up-and-coming good curling team and I believe they were all So- Cal born and raised. (Okay, just double checked, three of them have northern roots.) #6 Femme line of the week from Dallas lead, Carrie Scarlata. I was


standing beside her just before taking the ice for the medal games. Tey had been beaten ‘bad’ in their previous game. I was getting the game summary from their skip (see #10) when Carrie just blurted out, “Ahh- hh, we played like crap. Just crap. We got flat out beat – period. Crappy,


18 )) usacurl.org ))


crappy, crappy.” (For the record, this was the PG-13 version.) Is it me or are arena curlers more honest and give fewer excuses? And Carrie was fun to watch. She got her teammates’ rocks ready ev-


ery time. She would pull them out with her hand, slide them over with her hand and position them for her teammates before cleaning them. I thought she must have an arena curling background because sometimes it is just so darn hard to kick them out with your feet on arena ice. #5 Not embarrassed by my relatives. My cousin, Regan Mizuno, curls


out of the SF Bay Area CC and everyone on the two teams had nothing but nice things to say about her. She probably paid them off with that Sas- katchewan Screech… #4 Fort Wayne has the coolest name and logo for any Minor League


baseball team and politically correct for its meaning. Te Fort Wayne Tin Caps named aſter Johnny Appleseed, who lived out his later years in Fort Wayne and is buried there. Remember Johnny wore a pot on his head for a hat. I guess they couldn’t be called the Pot Heads, eh. #3 Not one complaint about the ice. Not one! I have covered Briers, Scot-


ties and Worlds on the best ice conditions possible and always hear com- plaints. Arena curlers get it. You miss because you missed – period. #2 Simple taking-for-granted gratefulness – You throw an in-turn and


it curls clockwise every time, and you throw an out-turn and it curls coun- ter-clockwise every time. And, 14-15 seconds between the hog lines every game. Tank you. #1 Arena curlers have an almost pure love for the game!


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