Hapnot Collegiate’s curling program, much like a well-executed draw to the button, is hitting the mark.
While Hapnot’s curling program has been dormant for periods in the past, a wave of recent interest starting four years ago has led to not one, but two curling teams for Flin Flon’s high school.
“I’ve been involved in the curling program myself for two years – this is my second year coaching,” said coach Kim Bryson.
“It’s been off and on as to whether or not they had enough kids – there was a stretch where nobody was doing any curling whatsoever. Last year, we had quite a few kids show up to practice. We took three teams to zones in Thompson last year,” said Bryson.
While interest has increased, the number of players is still small. There are not enough male players to form a full boys’ rink, leading to an interesting compromise.
Hapnot’s teams both curl in women’s divisions, but each features one male player. Ryan Nawrocki joins Hanna Baynton, Kalena Kittle and Chloe Reitlo on one team, while the other rink features Haleigh Belcourt, Lalain Bashir and Gracie Baynton joining up with Matt Ellis.
“The organizers and the directors who get together for zones agreed that we could have a mixed team, as long as it consists of three of one gender and the other one can be one of the other ones,” said Bryson.
The situation is unorthodox on first glance, but it’s caught on – each of the eight participating rinks in the zone championships featured at least one male player, while being classified as girls’ teams.
The resurgence for Hapnot curling led to last weekend, when Flin Flon played host to teams from The Pas, Thompson and Gillam at this year’s Zone 11 championships. A spot in this year’s provincials, to be held in Winkler from Feb. 23-24, was on the line.
Both Hapnot teams finished highly, with the team of Baynton, Kittle, Nawrocki and Reitlo winning the title against Thompson on Feb. 3. The group has now qualified for the provincial championship tournament.
“I’m very excited about the youth that are coming forward and wanting to take part in the curling. I try to stress to them that this is a life sport. It’s not just something you’ll only do in high school, it’s a team sport and I’ve been trying to encourage the kids all along to look at this as something they can do with their family, with their friends, long after high school,” said Bryson.
Hapnot’s team practices every Friday night during the season.
“These kids come out on a Friday night for practice. That says something to their commitment to doing this. They come out during mixed curling and it’s been noted how great it is to see these kids. They wonder, ‘how did we get eight kids to come out on a Friday night at commit to do this?’ said Bryson.
“They’re having fun –
that’s my main goal for all of this, that these kids have fun. Hopefully, we can start to pique some interest in getting more younger people out.”
