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Teens ready to take on the world

Brooklyn Clark, Callie Gibson, Sydnie Stinson and Samantha Gibson share a common bond.
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You can curl as your favourite tv characters next weekend at the Human League Association's annual curling bonspiel. Spots are still open. Supplied photo.
Brooklyn Clark, Callie Gibson, Sydnie Stinson and Samantha Gibson share a common bond.

It is a bond forged from a mutual passion for curling, though it is sometimes interrupted, quite spontaneously, for melodic outbursts of show tunes, typically either from a Disney movie, or possibly from “Les Miserables.”

While on the ice. In the middle of a game.

It is a bond strengthened by memorable sleepovers, providing ample opportunity for the chatter of teenage girls, morphing to curling talk, then quickly back to typical teenage girl talk.

It is a bond that will soon take on an international flavour.

The four young ladies, who form a competitive bantam curling team at the Copper Cliff Curling Club, will represent the Northern Ontario Curling Association ( NOCA) at the International Junior Curling Club Championships, next March, in Arlesheim, Switzerland.

Pretty heady stuff for a quartet of young curlers who are only just entering year two as a team.

"Me and Sydnie started a little team, and Callie was kind of a spare, and then she joined, and our vice dropped out, and Samantha joined last year," said Brooklyn of the genesis of Team Stinson.

Fourteen-year-old Brooklyn has been curling for six years, following in the footsteps of her cousin, and finding out, like most, that her perception of the sport might not mirror the reality.

"It was a lot different than I thought it would be, and a lot harder," she said. "When you watch it on TV, it looks so easy."

The youngest of the group at 13, Callie serves as vice.

"I feel that I want to participate more in the house this year," Callie said. "Since it's only my third year of curling, I don't see the shots that easily, and calling the line is still tough."

Thankfully, Sydnie is typically at her side with the steadying influence skips provide. A definite student of the game, the 14-year-old Lockerby Composite student shows the confidence to throw the last stones of the end, and the self-assuredness to know "it's OK to be wrong."

"As a skip, you have to focus, almost 100 per cent of the time," said Sydnie. "You have to pay attention to your team's shots and the opposition shots. And you have to stay positive."

Helping calm her down in those high pressure situations is the elder Gibson sister, the self-anointed "Dr Phil" of the group.

"I'm really calm and don't really over-react about things," Samantha, the team's lead, said.

Though older, Samantha is the newcomer to the team, picking up the sport a year ago.

"I watched (Callie) for two years and then thought to myself that if I'm here watching her … I might as well just play," said the 15-year-old Lo-Ellen Park student.

With the team still early in their development as curlers, coach Sandra Lahti has signed on to help the bantam rink develop.

"They've started the next step already," said Lahti. "I really wanted them to start seeing the whole game, and not just one shot, or one end. They are now starting to structure their game with strategy.”

That approach will be key in Switzerland as the Northern Ontario youngsters tackle the world's best young curlers.

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