A group of Williams Lake junior curlers are off to a provincial championship.
Michelle Ball, Paige Gudbranson, Tori Sawn, Elisa Giesbrecht and Lexi Swan will travel to Victoria from Dec. 27-31 to compete at the Curl B.C. Junior Provincial Championships.
Representing the Williams Lake Curling Club and Region 5 (the Central Interior) the quintet will fill one spot of an eight-rink draw at the tournament.
Coach Ron Bisaro and parent Robert Gudbranson, who helped organize the team, said the tournament will be a fantastic experience for the girls, who just came together as a competitive unit recently.
“They’ve been playing off and on for a year,” Robert said, noting several of the teams they will be competing against have been playing together for many years.
Bisaro said the girls have been preparing simply by curling, lots.
“They’ve improved a lot,” Bisaro said. “We’re starting to be able to call games without me having to intercede. We’re playing lots of games.”
The girls played an exhibition draw against the 100 Mile House junior boys team and won, along with playing two games against the Prince George girls team who will travel to provincials with them.
“We’ve also played some games in the commercial league,” he said. “They’ve had a ton of curling the last month.”
That said, the WLCC team will face some tough competition at provincials — especially considering the girls up to 20 years old are allowed to play.
The team, with Ball as skip, is a fledgling squad and has a bright future ahead, should they choose to stay together competitively, Robert said.
Ball is 17, Paige is 13, Tori is 17, Giesbrecht is 14 and Lexi is 15.
“This tournament will give them an idea on whether or not they want to stay together as a competitive team for next year,” he said.
Live updates will be posted online at www.playdowns.com for anyone interested in following the girls’ progress.