Last week was a pretty good week. At least as far as I was concerned.
I took the week off to announce the teams at the Home Hardware 2021 Olympic Curling Pre-Trails at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool. I enjoy the game, so spending a week watching top level teams from around the country was not a big sacrifice. In fact, it was a pretty sweet job.
But I know there is a lot of hard work that goes in to putting on such an event. A lot of it can be a bit like herding cats. You have the national curling people who want things done a certain way, you have local people who want things done a certain way, you have sponsors who want things done a certain way and you have to co-ordinate several different groups of people. It’s not always an easy thing to do, but once again, this group did a fine job.
So kudos to all involved. I know it was a big effort. But in the end, it was a great event. Many people, including me enjoyed it.
The only down side was the lack of interaction with others due to Covid restrictions. If you have ever been to any major curling event, you probably know that it is not unusual to be able to talk to some of your favourite players, get autographs, even discuss the game with them. It is usually part of what happens. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible this time.
Although I did spot one instance.
There was a little girl sitting in the stands who was intently drawing a picture through one of the games. It looked as though her parents had brought her to the game and given her a piece of paper and crayons to have something to do. But not to much. At the end of the game, she and her mother went to the edge of the arena area and called out to curler Pat Simmons. Apparently the little girl is a big fan of his, and was busy drawing his picture during the game, which she proudly presented to him. He accepted, got his picture taken with her, and headed back to the dressing room area. But he soon appeared again, called the little girl down from the stands and handed her one of his jerseys with his name on the back.
At most curling events, there might be a lot of those moments. But this one stood out this past week. It was nice to see. And one of the things I like about curling events. Meeting the people and the curlers from all over the country.
So congratulations to all involved. It was a good week.
