Miskew: Progression of the Grand Slam of Curling
By Emma Miskew
There is nothing better than competing in an arena; the atmosphere, the crowd, the ice conditions … it’s what every curler loves to play on.
While we’ve had the chance to play in a couple of Junior National championships on arena ice, the majority of our early events were played in curling clubs. In our last years of junior play, we qualified for the Players’ Championship and were lucky enough to get our first taste at the Grand Slams.
Since then, there have been major progressions in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series for the curlers, especially for the women. This has been not only great for the curlers, but also for fans in the arenas and at home as they watch the whole season of play!
A few years ago, the Masters was added to the women’s schedule. It was such a big event that in addition to the arena where the men played their round robin games, the women’s games were held at a curling club with the playoffs going to the arena. We managed to qualify for the playoffs that year, and it was a great start to the GSOC circuit for us, as we ended up winning the first ever Masters championship.
Last year, there was the expansion of the Canadian Open to feature both the men and women. We thought that was amazing for women’s curling, and then this year Pinty’s GSOC announced the new schedule, which included three additional Slams for the women’s tour. The progression of the sport over the past few years has been amazing as we went from having three to six Slams in a year.
As the Slams have grown in prominence, some have expressed concerns about a skill gap that could develop in curling. However, this is not necessarily the case, given that two Tier 2 women’s teams from the first Slam of 2015 qualified for the playoffs in the second Slam of the season (the Masters). This just shows how great these events are for the game of curling.
The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling also incorporates one of the best aspects of curling — players help govern the play. Our game is always evolving but the Slam events put players’ opinions and ideas first. You only need to look at the three, four and now five rock rule for proof of great ideas being put into practice.
We are now approaching the start of the National with this year being the first season that the women will also be competing in the event. To say we are grateful for the progression of the GSOC would be an understatement; we look forward to every single Slam we get to play in. The amount of behind-the-scenes work that goes into the events is impressive and the players are treated amazingly. We look forward to everything that’s to come with this fantastic Grand Slam series!