Faith On Ice - Our Curling Adventure

What is curling you might ask? The only thing I really knew about curling was that in the Olympics, it was the sport where they use a broom to furiously brush the ice in order to make that round thing go in a certain direction. 

Then one day Faith brought a flier home from school that her physical therapist sent along announcing wheelchair curling at the Capital Curling Club (I had no idea Bismarck had their own curling club).

Faith on Ice!

Honestly, I wasn't too sure about it, but Faith seemed like she really wanted to try it. She was mostly excited that she would get to go on the ice (must be the Canadian in her!) I, however, was not excited to get on the ice and was glad there were going to be volunteers to help Faith.

I'm not sure of all the terms (although my sister-in-law tried to explain it to me the night before we went) but basically one volunteer helped Faith hold a stick thing which they clamped on to a "rock" and then pushed her chair to help her move the rock. There was also something about a hogline but I can't quite remember. And by the way, they don't really use that broom thing in wheelchair curling.

Those rocks weigh 45 pounds each!

They practiced for a while and then eventually formed three groups with two teams of two players for each team. Faith was the only little girl there, but she certainly didn't care. She had a blast and quite often asked the volunteers, "Is it my turn yet?"

The event was put on a by a nonprofit organization called Dreams in Motion. The group hosts adaptive sporting events in order to help those with mobility challenges to participate in them. Faith is definitely looking forward to curling again next week!

Faith tries to perfect her technique!