Dropping in....

In addition to League Play, the Orange County Curling Club offers drop-in games as well.

I wrote about my first match some weeks ago -- my very first game.

On Tuesday, I went to another drop-in session, and got a glimpse at the other side -- three of us with some experience, and one guy playing in his first match.

It made me think again about how raw I was when I first played with Gail, Gordon and Eric.

We had Craig play "second" so that he wouldn't be the first one throwing in the very first end. (I remember playing "second" in my first game -- I was more than happy to watch someone else throw those first two stones).

By the end of the game (we tied) he was playing pretty well -- and he had fun.  We all did.  Good Curling!

It was also another lesson on Ice.  Last time fast, this time slow.

I played "vice" on Tuesday.  Part of the Etiquette of Curling is to not interfere in any way with the other team's shots, and part of that is for the Skip (or the Vice when the Skip is throwing) to hold their broom horizontally so there is no question which broom is held by their Skip.

On a slightly related topic, this was probably my last game in "street shoes."

I think I lucked into a decent pair of beginner-shoes: they're well worn Dockers' brand casual-dress shoes that happen to have soft rubber soles -- shoes that always felt warm.  Very smooth rubber, not that different from boat shoes.  Sticky enough to stay with the ice.

Tomorrow, UPS brings a pair of "real" curling shoes.

Proper shoes have a "gripper" on the throwing side (I'm right handed, so on the right shoe) and a slider on the other side.  My shoes will have 3/16" teflon on the left.

Several sources suggested the Balance Plus 200, and that's ultimately what I chose. 

I'll report the number of times I fell because I forgot to put the gripper back on next week.