Altona Curling Club hosts Family Funspiel
The Altona Curling Club (ACC) is looking back on another successful Free Family Funspiel. The fun-filled event was held Feb. 24 to celebrate Curling Day in Canada.
“Once again, it was an excellent day,” shared ACC committee member Quinn Hildebrand. “We had 16 families from all different age brackets. It was just a great, easy-going day, with lots of people enjoying the games.”
The Funspiel ran all day long and gave participating teams the chance to play several four-end games each.
Sandy and Courtney Hutchison and their daughters Kenzie and Hailey had a great time at the rink. Sandy is very involved in the ACC, and one of their girls is in the Junior Curling Club, as well.
“A day like this is a lot of fun, for the kids and for some of the families who are involved in curling, and for those who are not, but took a chance to play together as a family,” Courtney said. “This is a great bonspiel where you don’t have to be an expert or a pro. It’s just for fun.”
It was a three-generational game for the Sawatzky clan. Cassondra Sawatzky was there with her husband Sheridan and their sons Flynn and Felix, along with Sheridan’s father Tim.
“It’s been a really great day,” she said. “It’s awesome to see different generations curling together. Everyone is enjoying themselves. No one got hurt. It was just easy and free.”
Neither Cassondra or Tim had curled since high school, so it was a fun and forgiving way to return to the sport.
“It’s kind of nice to give it a shot again for some friendly competition,” Tim said.
The Sawatzky’s eldest son Flynn is involved in the curling program, and Cassondra says she would encourage other parents to consider it as an activity option for their children.
“Having a child in curling is a nice activity for winter. Summer is always packed with things you can do, you’re always busy. But winter not so much. There are so many benefits. Getting out and getting active, making friends, learning something new. It’s affordable. Learning to be a team member. Lots of good things about curling. And they can take it as far as they want to.”
The Altona Curling Club also hosted a Junior Bonspiel the following day. Hildebrand says the building was packed with parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, eager to watch the young curlers in action.
“I have never seen the building so packed. We were thrilled to have five other towns represented along with our Altona group—Morris, Miami, Morden, Steinbach, and St. Anne—so it was great to see so many curlers from out of town,” says Hildebrand. “We hadn’t hosted a junior bonspiel since 2019, and that would have been mostly local. It was a good, competitive day, with lots of great shot making and very close games.”
Another bonus was the $400 that was raised during the Funspiel, as well as during the Junior Bonspiel the following day for the Terry Peters Legacy Fund.
“Thank you to out of town as well as our local Altona Junior teams for participating,” Hildebrand says.
Photos by Lori Penner/Voice
