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Juniors end season at Curling Club

April 15, 2015   ·   0 Comments

For the final weekend of curling for the season at the Orangeville Curling Club, Junior players took to the sheets for a year end tournament. Teams from as far away as Huntsville and Parry Sound arrived for the Junior Bantam Optimist Bonspiel.

An annual event, 32 players from eight teams arrived to play in a round robin style tournament. Teams were divided into two categories – a competitive tournament for experienced players and a second event for those still learning the sport.

The first round got underway with a 10:00 a.m. start with the second round getting started in the afternoon with teams matched up based on a points system.

Curling Clubs in Ontario do inter-club play through the season, so when the O-ville Club announced its annual tournament, other Clubs were eager to sign up to play.

“Junior players are under age 21. We have kids from nine to 21 in our Junior program on Sunday nights.” Said Orangeville Curling Club youth program co-orinator Craig Glassford. “That way the younger kids can learn from the older kids.”

The youth program is a way for young players to learn the nuances of the game and how to throw a rock to place it in the desired spot.”

“This year, the program was a little more fun,” Glassford said. “Every year for the first month and a-half all we do is skills, then we start playing games. Even the kids that have been here for ten or 12 years, are learning.”

The Orangeville Club also received some good news at the end of this season. Thanks to a Trillium Foundation grant, the Club received $115,600 from the Foundation to go towards replacing the Club’s aging ice plant.

After being in service for 30 years, the current ice plant is starting to show it’s age.

The new unit will be more environmentally friend as well as more efficient.

The award was presented to the Club by Member of Provincial Parliament for Dufferin-Caledon, Sylvia Jones.

“It is great to see the Ontario Trillium Foundation helping the Orangeville Curling Club with its purchase of an ice plant through this grant,” Jones said. “Curlers in our community and the many guest curlers they host throughout the curling season will continue to enjoy the game because of the Club’s equipment improvements.”

The Junior tournament marked the end of the season for the Curling Club as the ice plant closes and curlers move to warmer weather sports.

Since the Club is now closed, at the end of the tournament the Junior curlers did what would be unthinkable during the season – they strapped on their skates and tore up the ice in one final frolic on the ice.

It didn’t matter though. When the new season starts the ice will be back in pristine ondition for a new season throwing the rocks.

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