The Coach's View - Matt Sagle

 

 

This week-end we curled in the Junior Regionals at the Cataraqui Club in Kingston.

 

While one of our major goals of the year was realized by getting to the regionals in our first year as juniors, we were all a little disappointed that our level of play fell off somewhat, and we did not compete as well as we had hoped we would.  We were knocked out of the spiel by a team from the host club ( Sills), which then went on to win the 2nd spot for the Junior Provincials. Chris Gardner won the 'A' side with 3 straight wins.

 

Having been at a number of  these highly competitive spiels, over the years, I note that, when the dust clears, there are usually 4 very disappointed teams, 2 teams who are a little disappointed,  and 2 very happy teams. For every team that is ecstatic over a big upset, there is a team seemingly devastated over that big loss.  You might see a team losing its very last opportunity to get to the Junior provincials, or see another team win a huge upset, and get a chance it may never have expected, or ever get again. A competitive team will, over the years, likely be on both sides of this fence several times, and hopefully, they develop  a sense of perspective which makes the losses easier to rebound from, and the wins more appreciated.  These "life-lessons",  painful as they sometimes are, form part of the reason for having kids in competitive curling. In the end, it ought not to be the 'wins-losses' statistics that are the most important thing coming from the competitive experience, but how that experience helps our children develop character that will guide them throughout their lives.  As a coach, and as a parent, I am sometimes guilty of forgetting this, but I am lucky enough to have 4 curlers who, if I pay attention, will remind me regularly.  I will see success mitigated by concern over the feelings for the losing team, and see the memory of a painful loss dissipated by the time the first slice of pizza is consumed.

 

This week the boys will be back at practice, and next week-end most of the same boys teams will be back at it, curling and competing in the 2nd stage of the Branch.  8 strong bantam/junior teams from this region will meet 8 teams from Quebec for fun and competition.