On Saturday the 3 September, our four person curling team consisting of skip Samantha Taylor, Sarah Jocelyn, Leah Billyard and Erin Ford travelled up to Naseby for our first ever curling competition above novice level.

Competing against Maniototo Area School, who was playing with a skip who has been to the Youth Olympics, we quickly were thrown into the biggest challenge we had yet faced. Although we didn't manage to come out on top of the Maniototo girls, we played a skilful game, and improved beyond our own belief. We were also able to play a tight game against John McGlashan College, our biggest competition in Dunedin, who we had to fight out in a tie breaking end, to come off losing by one stone in our closest game with the boys yet. Along our way, we were taken under the wings of the tournament organisers, getting many tips and tricks, including a coaching session from New Zealand Olympic Coach Peter Becker, who was incredibly impressed with us, and invited our team to be trained by him whenever we are in Naseby. For Curlers, whom only had 20 hours of on ice curling experience under our belts before this weekend, we well impressed ourselves, and received a flood of praise from many Curling executives. We came away with a silver medal, ready to take on the National competition in a few weeks. We would also like to give a big thanks to Mrs Seward and Ms Hokianga for allowing us to take this opportunity and helping us organise our trip, and to Sue Jocelyn for taking us up to Naseby and managing us for the weekend.