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A Stone’s Throw Away

It’s about what you give back and how you change and help other people to become their best selves. I just want to give to others what they have to me.

Bay Area curler Gabrielle Coleman stands out in a sport that doesn’t.

Most Tuesday nights, Gabrielle Coleman can be found inside Stanley’s Sports Bar at Sharks Ice in downtown San Jose. She doesn’t drink, she’s not an employee, and she says she’s…

Being in Scotland, sometimes I really miss the U.S. Thanksgiving was tough, but then Jen made and awesome dinner. Even though the ice is infinitely better and more abundant than in California, I've gotta say I miss the curling. I have to live vicariously through my friends and my team back home. Like watching them on an iPhone while at the Olympic Trials. So, here's Adam Kapp from the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club with a recap from the California PIC Playdowns. Since he took my spot on Team Zissou for the competition, it was only fitting that he write up a recap of his experience for the blog.

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of competing in the California playdowns for the Pacific International Cup, commonly referred to as "The PIC." There are a lot of great things about playing down for the PIC, or playing in any competitive event. The ice at Evergreen was--for the most part--fantastic, and it's a great feeling to know that friends and family can watch the games streaming live. And of course, the competition features some of the best curlers in California, which means a weekend of exciting, closely contested matches, and celebrating our curling progress as a state. 

My club (the San Francisco Bay Area Curling club) actually sent more teams to the PIC playdowns this year then we are sending to MoPac playdowns for Club Nationals--I think many teams felt that they would have better odds of qualifying for the PIC, and it's certainly an attractive alternative for those who can't get a full week off to do to Club Nationals. 

Squeaked out another win. Adam is getting interviewed on the stream right now. Back on the ice at 1. pic.twitter.com/uQmHYKbHhF — Team Zissou (@TeamZissouCurl) November 16, 2013

These are all wonderful reasons to play down for the PIC, but there was another reason that I was most excited for this year: Our PIC playdowns, interestingly, have a rule that allows teams to have a single member from a different club, so long as that club is also in California. 

So let me explain a little bit why this was exciting.

My first competitive event was the mens' MoPac regional playdowns for Club Nationals just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a weekend of a lot of mixed emotions; my father had passed away suddenly less than a month before.  It was a really interesting experience.  Most of the teams were a bit older than us, and more experienced. There was a lot of eye rolling about our homemade uniforms and our constant status updates on our team's social media page. 

On the second day of competition, we played a team from Hollywood Curling Club known as "Team Zissou." Now, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I was sort of instantly on board with the gestalt of this team. And these guys were like us; fairly new to curling, from California, and approaching curling seriously, but not too seriously. They were probably the most friendly team I met that weekend. Beating them in the pool phase of that playdown punched our ticket to the playoffs, and a rivalry was born. One that intensified when Zissou snagged the wild card spot in the playoffs, eventually beating us, and another team from our club on their way to qualifying for Club Nationals. 

Great game against @CDervishes. 1-1. Will continue this at the PIC playdowns next month! — Team Zissou (@TeamZissouCurl) January 15, 2012

We would run into these guys again several times at bonspiels around California and MoPac, trading wins and losses. There were several phases to the rivalry--itself a one-sided affair, I think. After the loss at playdowns, I think we were referring to them as our archnemeses. At some point (possibly around the time we found out Zissou was pro-Red Vines, and we were pro-Twizzlers) we started throwing around the term "frenemies," which was silly enough to be accurate. 

This year at our home bonspiel, The Golden Gate, when I ran into our counterparts from Hollywood shooting Fireball and getting pumped up to a rap about Hot Cheetos before the bonspiel finals (we were playing in different events this time), it finally clicked that I wanted to curl with these guys, in some configuration, at some point. I think we discussed it for about 30 seconds in the bar after the final. It seemed like a nice idea, but I wasn't sure it would go any further than that. 

Lo and behold when the announcement came out calling for teams to play down for California's berth to the PIC, I sent a message to the guys on Team Zissou seeing if they were interested, as Matt was recently departed for Scotland. After a few long email chains, it was settled and our registration was submitted. 

Now, smashing together individuals from two different teams who had never actually played together before was not without little challenges. Wrapping my head around timing from the back line (instead of the T-line, as I usually do) was a piece of cake compared to the anxiety of not wanting to be an albatross around the neck of my hosts. But on the ice I asked a lot of questions, and I think every time I did, I learned something new about a sport I've been following for over 10 years, and playing for almost four. How do they decide who sweeps inside or outside? What calls does their skip use? What kind of feedback do they want when they throw their rocks? How do they like to spend time between draws? What are their favorite Voodoo Doughnuts?

Adam is such a good guy, the team was able to overlook his unnatural affinity toward Twizzlers. - Ed.

I will say one great thing was that (so far as I know), playing with a team from another club was a total non-issue with anyone I ran into. Though Evergreen's live streaming commentator Eric Toews did once (jokingly!) refer to me as "the traitor" in a post-game interview. Which is fair; It's not that common to see composite teams at events like these, but I hope it becomes more common. Sure, the inability to practice together on a regular basis can be a challenge, but many of the teams we played had formed just for the purposes of that weekend. Team dynamics and chemistry are a huge part of the sport, but clearly these are issues that can be managed. 

Won our first game with a measure in an extra end! Back on the ice at 6 PM. pic.twitter.com/HYy45YoUmt — Team Zissou (@TeamZissouCurl) November 16, 2013

As for the results of the playdown, Barry Ivy's team (SFBACC) ran the table during the round robin and will represent California in Richmond next year. We had a narrow loss in our final game against Jesus Barajas that would have forced tiebreakers had we won (due to the double knockout provision). Jesus' team finished third. Many of the games were decided in the last end, and many on skips rocks.

In summary, I had a great experience at the PIC this year, and subbing in on a "rival" team from another club was a big part of that. When I got into curling, I was excited about the team building aspects of the sport, but I am constantly impressed by the close knit curling community in California, and this is what keeps me curling more than anything else. Having friendly rivalries is a great motivation to bring your best game to each new bonspiel or competitive event, and, you never know: You might just end up playing on the same team somewhere down the line.