Disney Bracket Champions!

It was a great weekend for curling at the Hollywood Blockbuster Bonspiel. It was hot as heck; so it was a good thing, we found ourselves mostly on the ice.  After 5 games, Team Bond Girls found themselves at the top of the C Bracket (Disney Event) beating the Lionel Richies with a dramatic game.  Team Bond Girls were down by 1 point going into the 8th end with the hammer, and we were able to pull it off. Of course, it wouldn't be the same without the Hollywood finish. Arena ice tried to play it's dirty tricks with some negative ice and opposite handles, but we were able to adapt and overcome.  We had a few tricks under our sleeves as well.  We had a special broom for the frosty ice.  Little Yoda was keeping watch over our games.  Marissa's Red #8 stone (Marissa's sponsored stone) on B sheet was good luck. And on top of it all, we had a few fans that sent positive energy our way. We couldn't have done it without ya'll!

Also, we have to send some love to our boys, Team Zissou (The Bond Boys, as I like to call them), who were the overall champs of the bonspiel. Great job, guys!

We are very proud of Hollywood and putting on such a great spiel despite adversity and of all the Hollywood teams that participated. We've all come such a long way.  Also, we love the out-of-town participants who continue to support and keep curling alive in Southern California. We hope that you had fun and come back next year.

It's late so I'm going to end this with: Go Bailey Go!  

Domino signing out!

PIC Game One - Biter

Domino sitting out and watching game 1 of the Pacific International Cup. Only one word describes this game, and we've got a biter!  I've got two computers, one running the webstream and another updating the blog. In between pacing between the computers, I've got another handful with Little Leianna.   8 end curling games last about 2 hours, and that's a long time to keep a baby happy. We've got quite a juggling act behind the scenes, but she's doing pretty good considering she's only nine months old.

Team Bond Girls started with an early lead. They had a couple of lucky opportunities which they were able to take advantage of in the first 2 ends. Colorado scores 1 in the 3rd end. Team Bond Girls responds with another point in the 4th.  Colorado climbs bit by bit in the 5th & 6th end, tying the score. There was an attempt to clear the house to start the 8th end with the hammer.  Instead Colorado takes the point. At the end of the 8th end, there's 3 stones in the house. Colorado sitting one in the 2 ft. and team Bond Girls lying 2nd and 3rd in the 12 ft.  A take out and stick to sit 3 would make it a win, but looks like the rock didn't have enough weight. Colorado wins with the final score 6 - 4, but it was a very hard fought win.

Highlights:

- Jennifer lost a sock during the game. It's somewhere by her toes, and could have been a BIG factor in the game.

- Marissa had 2 great takeouts in the row in the 4th





- Cindy also had a great double take out


- Here is our new mascot. We're still trying to figure out his name and story...coming soon

Team Bond Girls had a very good warm up. This is only the beginning...Stay tuned to the next curling match:

Thursday, April 19
10:00 AM - vs. Alaska

Good Curling!

- Domino

Practice Time

All five Bond Girls have arrived safe and sound with enough time to make it to practice. We get 10 minutes per sheet on half of this amazing 8 sheeter. The Richmond Curling Club is beautiful with a great 2nd floor viewing station and bar. The ice is fast as we expected. We hope to adjust quickly to the proper weight to prepare for our first game which will be a few hours later against Colorado. Looks like ice really curls into the center and hangs out on the edges a bit. If we are not careful, the rocks will fly out of play or won't curl as much as we expected.

We had some surprising changes to the weather. It's still cold, but there was actually sunshine and blue skies. There's also another addition to the Bond Girl team, Grandmama Domino, all the way from Hawaii.  This is her first time in Canada, and she's excited to spend it with Little Domino, despite "extreme" weather adjustments.

Also, we are debuting our new t-shirt logo.  Here's what they look like. For all those interested in donning our Team Bond Girls T-shirts and pins, we have them available for sale on www.bondgirlscurling.com  Thank you in advance for your support because without YOU, we would not be able to curl competitively and represent Hollywood Curling/West Coast/competitive women curling. Sending out love to all our fans!

Well, the ice is smooth, the rocks are curly, and the company is sweet! This is a fantastic start to the curling tournament. Up next some highlights of our 1st game...

- Domino Family

PIC - Day 0

It is curling time again! Team Bond Girls find themselves in Vancouver, Canada. It's a cold rainy day. Currently, the temperature is 45 degrees F and expected to stay that way all weekend long. (For all those who prefer metric, 7 degrees C sounds even colder!) Will that affect the girls as they curl for the first time in Canada?  We shall see...This is Domino with a new addition, Little Domino, on the beat! We'll keep you updated with everything you will need to know about the 2012 Pacific International Cup held at the Richmond Curling Club.

Here's a quick schedule of our games:
http://www.picup.ca/draws.php

Wednesday, April 18
5:00 PM -  vs. Colorado

Thursday, April 19
10:00 AM - vs. Alaska
4:00 PM - vs. San Francisco

 Friday, April 20
10:30 AM - vs. Washington 2
4:30 PM - vs.Yukon

Saturday, April 21
8:00 AM - vs. Minnesota
2:00 PM - vs. Washington 1

So it looks like we have a mostly American plus Yukon Women's showdown in the preliminary games.  We have a few familiar faces from previous tourney's such as the Club Nationals.  We can't wait to see them all again. There are also a couple "mystery" teams from Alaska and Yukon who we'll meet for the first time. It'll be fun to get some new competitive blood into Team Bond Girl's mix.

To commemorate the start of this tournament, I have put together a little rhyme.

We're pink and black
And that's a fact
We'll give some bruisin'
Cause we hate losin'
But we always have fun
Even with no sun
Hollywood!
We're up to no good!

Yo, Bond Girls are back in the hack!


See you on the ice!

- Domino & Little Domino

Curling International

So I know it's been a while since we've posted something. I'm still trying to catch up with myself to schedule time in between traveling, sightseeing, feeding the baby, and curling. Whew! It's been quite a whirlwind trip, and I love it. There's a lot to update from our 1st time in Utah at the Club National Playdowns to our travels all over Scotland. We'll just say for now that there's castles, history, great architecture, and a lot of food. I'll come back to update you with the rest including our trip to Kay's of Scotland where we had the opportunity to see how our curling rocks are made. Thank you, Bill!

Tonight, we had our first curling practice at the Braehead Curling Club, and it's a beautiful facility with FAST ice!  On top of that, it's true curling ice. I don't think we are going to need our negative ice strategies. Thank goodness!  We briefly saw the rest of the girls. It's a cacophony of foreign languages,  and we're going to have some stiff competition.  What they don't know is that we've got a couple Hollywood tricks up our sleeves, and most importantly, we're going to have fun. I can't wait. 

Hopefully despite it all, we'll get some sleep tonight since our first game is at 8 am.  That's a 6 am call time to get everything ready. We will try to stream the games, but every new venue presents a whole set of challenges...so we'll see if we can get it up and running. 

It's Domino on the beat once again, reporting from Glasgow, Scotland.

Good Curling, Everyone!

Training Days

Early December, a few of the Bond Girls traveled to upper Wisconsin for some additional training with world class curler and coach, Lynita Docken at the Centerville Curling Club. We had the pleasure of meeting Lynita and her Wisconsin team (including daughter, Laura Delaney Roessler) in a couple of Club National games. Talk about competition!

We flew into Minneapolis, MN, and for Jen and me, it felt like we were just there.  The 14 degree weather was a very big difference to the 40 degrees in November, and I thought that was cold. This was worse, bone chilling.  Of course, I, again, was at the wheel maneuvering the 2 1/2 hours to get to Trempealeau, WI, but we arrived safe and sound.  I might be getting used to this.  Nearing our destination, we were greeted by never ending fields beautifully blanketed in snow. It was like a glittering fairyland.

We've only met Lynita about a couple of times, but when we saw each other again, it was like reconnecting with a longtime friend. I guess that's what happens when you participate in the grueling schedule of the Club Nationals.  She would always get our spirits motivated even if we were playing against her team. I remember one time we were down by a lot, and she reminded us to have fun.  She was right! The whole dynamics of the game changed. And so here we are...Lynita is now the newest addition to the Team Bond Girl coaching staff.

After a quick nap, we started drills, drills, and more drills. The Centerville Club was like heaven!  It was wonderful to be back on dedicated ice. Here's what it looks like:

There was a ton of sliding as we had to get used to this new playing field. You could really hear the roaring of the rocks and feel the vibration on our feet.  This ice was clean, fast, and fancy. Hockey skate gauges and negative ice did not exist here, but there were other, very subtle things to pay attention to now. Also, mistakes were less forgiving.

Over the course of the trip, we had so many drills, it would be hard to describe them all here. Most of them focused on our aim and alignment. Lynita said that we needed to think of curling as a shooting sport, and every aspect from head to toe controls where that bullet is going to go. We needed to "sight" the target starting from our dominant eye and translated that all the way down to the rock, and of course, everything must stay in place as we slide. Lynita surprised us by bringing out a contraption made out of copper piping and a fishing bob which hung around the area where we would aim for the broom. We would slide to it, and if the bob touched our eye, we would know that our form was perfect, and our rocks would have good line. At first, it was intimidating to slide towards this hanging ball in our way, but it was nice to see our line without having someone hold broom at the other side of the ice, and we can make fast adjustments accordingly.

Jen in curling form

It wasn't all work and no play.  In between curling training, we had quite a few fun field trips. I'll share a few photos:

Wine tasting at Elmaro Vineyard. What a great facility! Check it out if you are ever in the area.

Caramel apples at Ecker's Apple Farm

Driving through a Wisconsin State Park

Took us a few times to take this photo. The camera was propped on the rental car, and I ran just in time.

Katie finds her Starbucks!

Dinner at Hillside Fish House

All in all, we had a great time with Lynita, received all-star training, and lived like a Mid-Westerner for a few days. 

Thank you Lynita and rest of the Delaney/Roessler clan!

- Domino