Teams Advance to City Championships
On March 22, the High School Curling League hosted City Championships, celebrating another successful season at the Huntington Hills Curling Club.
Thanks to the efforts of enthusiastic teachers, coaches, and players, Calgary once again sent one Ladies, Mens, and Mixed representative to compete in the Alberta Schools’ Athletics Association’s Provincial Curling Championships in St. Paul.
Having not had a provincial curling berth position for many years, the league started as a way to help advocate for more Calgary students to get in game and compete.
With over 20 teams from 12 different schools participating this season, league organizer and coach, Lance Humeniuk, says opportunities like these are important. They help to “motivate the kids” and that structured weekly games “help more players come together to grow into something bigger.”
Each year continues to gain real momentum as a range of teams are encouraged to join. Humeniuk explains that the sport is naturally welcoming and provides a unique opportunity for both seasoned and interested students to try.
“The access to this sport is 100% there for all these Calgary kids. Some of these teams are made up of kids that hadn’t tried it before…It’s approachable. It’s attainable. Even the other teams will help them out at this level.”
“It’s like any sport that has a learning curve. Once you get the basics you just want to come back for more. It’s competitive on the ice, off the ice, we’re all having fun. There’s a real comradery amongst the teams.”
Brand new players, Thomas Rilett, and his Henry Wise Wood High School team, decided to take a chance on curling this year. It paid off big time with them taking home the Men’s City Championship banner.
“The first few days [of learning the sport] were definitely a little up and down. It was almost kind of falling around out there, finding out what works, finding out what doesn’t.”
“Coming to the finals was all about being calm and collected and going out there and enjoying ourselves. Having fun became the key, and we just kept doing that throughout the season. The playoffs came around, and it worked out really well!”
Congrats to this year’s Calgary High School League City Champions and all the teams that competed! Check out their March 3, 4, & 5 provincial results here and view the full event photo album on the Huntington Hills Curling Club Facebook page.
