The year 2020 begins with what else but curling again.
On the very first of January, the girls of the Kubešková team flew to Perth, Scotland for a tournament (photo). I followed them the very next one, but I missed the first game against the traditional opponent - team Jentsch. The evenly matched duel against the Germans culminated in an extra end, in which the opponent rounded the guard as narrowly as he could and pushed our stone out of the winning position. The second match, however, ends with our win, and a rather curious one at that. We play well against the Korean team Gim until the sixth end, in which we get behind three and thus have a two-point deficit. The Koreans, however, don't realize that they are playing for a timeout, and in the seventh end, when we push for more points (a two or a three) with aggressive play, they waste so much time that they have nothing left for the eighth (but actually for the end of the seventh) end. The umpire ends the game and we have the win. Korean coach Guy Hemmings (a member of St. Lambert CC, like me), sitting next to me, just shakes his head sadly and mumbles something to himself in unintelligible French. He definitely has a topic for the team meeting. On the men's side of the tournament, it's worth noting Team Klima's win yesterday over Olympic champion Brad Gushu. Lots of friends and acquaintances, along with good curling and Scottish friendliness, makes for a fine atmosphere that we like to enjoy here.