So you're going to your first bonspiel
So you're going to your first bonspiel
Some pointers for first-time spielers
Dawson (Yukon) Curling Club (source)
I posted at SI/Curling News about the Scotties (which starts Friday!) and now I’m simultaneously excited and nervous and wondering if the bubble will truly be successful, and even if goes well, if it will have all been worth it, even though Dynasty Curling just released the Scotties jacket and jersey designs, which are incredible, and I want all of them.
I got this question over the weekend.
Ah, the bonspiel.
For obvious reasons I’ve done zero bonspiels this season (it’s simply not the time). Things are getting better in the world but I’m still going to wait until the fall to go crazy.
But I get excited in several moments for a new curler’s life. Of course, the first one is their learn to curl, seeing eyes of bewilderment turn into true feelings of love for this damn good sport. Another one is the bonspiel.
I have trouble putting into terms how cool bonspiels are. First of all, they’re not “tournaments.” Tournaments are competitive slogs where only the fittest survive. Bonspiels are goddamn parties. They’re weekends where your opponents and your friends are one in the same. They’re experiences. If you’ve never played one, you aren’t ready for one, and won’t be until you go to one.
My “first” bonspiel could be a number of events. Maybe it was the 2002 College Curling GLCA championship; it was a one-day, two-game event. I think our team (which was me and three other first-years from our curling class) finished second out of four. Maybe it was the one in 2004 where we went to Detroit (my first time curling away from BG) and finished third in an eight-team field, or either of the times we went to College Curling’s national championships in St. Paul or Chicago. Those latter ones were far more social. My first non-college one was as a college student with three men in their 60s and 70s; I threw lead, we lost all three games, but there was cornhole and other festivities. That’s more like the traditional bonspiel experience.
So here are some truths and advice for new spielers:
There’s a good chance you’re going to lose all your games. It depends on the team, obviously. Maybe you’ll win your third game. There’s a remote possibility you’re playing your first spiel with a Very Good Skip, and the skip has brought along a Very Good Sweeper. With any luck, you might play your way on that team into an event final. Just try and hit the broom. One of the old adages is: if you made it to Sunday, you had a good weekend.
You’re going to see 80 percent of these people again. The bonspiel circuit is … smaller than you think. Some curlers absolutely live for the spiels. They make shirts. They have nicknames. Some are there to have fun. Some keep winning the events, and the rest buy all the raffle tickets.
Bring some club pins. With any luck you’ll play people from a club you haven’t been to. Or, they haven’t been to yours. Bring, like, 10 pins and exchange them with your opponents afterwards. It’s what we do, and with any luck it’ll remind them to come to the next bonspiel you host.
Thank the volunteers. These things are hard as hell to put on, but from the ice makers, bartenders, drawmasters, and hospitality crew, they all tend to spend their weekends making sure everything goes smoothly.
If schedule permits, watch the pipe ceremony. If you have the means, and the other team doesn’t want to go home early, stay at the club until the event final teams are bagpiped onto the ice. It’s the best bonspiel tradition and it’s just really cool every time. It gives you something to look forward to next spiel. And if you do get piped on in your first bonspiel, absolutely brag about it for the next 30 years.
There’s a new show on FOX called The Great North. Jenny Slate, Nick Offerman and Will Forte are all voices on it. It’s the same animation company that made Bob’s Burgers, and it takes place in Alaska. The first couple episodes are worth keeping it around, but in a few weeks one of the episodes is about curling. Congratulations, now you have to watch it.
