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Emma Miskew: Onto the off-season

By Emma Miskew

The 2015-16 season is winding down as we head into our last event of the year, the GSOC Humpty’s Champions Cup. Having played our first event of the season at the very start of September, our last event heading into May has really extended the normal length of our competition schedule. With four short summer months off before we start curling again, there’s a lot that will get packed into that precious time!

Aside from the normal summer plans of catching up on work, golfing on every nice day (I emphasize nice — I’m a fair-weather golfer, I’m sure that surprises no one!), working out, and getting together with friends and family, there are still a lot of curling-related things that fill our off-season.

I’ll be attending the Brad Jacobs golf tournament again, which is taking place in July. I think my main goal will be to not receive the last place award for the second year in a row! I’m a pretty competitive person, so winning that award in the first place was enough to fuel plans for a little extra practice time!

For our team, a bunch of time is always allocated towards planning for next season and determining which events we want to play in. This summer, we will also be finalizing details for the inaugural Team Homan Junior Curling Camp, which will take place Aug. 19-21 in Ottawa. We have experience with coaching at various curling camps across the country, where we learned a lot about how they operate and also the best teaching methods to use. For us, it’s really hard to help out with junior programs during our competition season, so a summer camp is a great way for us to spend some extra time on the ice with the young players. We’re pretty excited about the camp this summer; it will allow us to give back and help develop the future of curling.

Overall, I’m really looking forward to the nice weather and the break from travelling for a few months. The time always flies by but I cherish every moment until we’re ready to hit the ice again in September. The summer months are just long enough to feel rested, but by the end of the summer, I always enjoy getting back on the ice with my team!