'It's super exciting': Curling seeing a resurgence among Calgary high school students

The Huntington Hills Curling Club was abuzz with activity over the weekend as the site of the Calgary High School Curling Championships.

Sixteen-year-old Cohen Mann and his 14-year-old sister Reaghan are both representing Heritage Christian School in the mixed division.

Cohen is the skip and he says they’ve been waiting to play on the same team for a long time.

“We’ve been curling since we were super little at a curling club and we were always put on different sheets because of our ages,” he said.

“Now we get to curl together and it’s fun because we’ve been right beside each other and watching each other.”

Curling is cool

More than 20 teams competed in this year’s event from four different divisions: men’s, women’s, mixed and open.

The winners from the men’s, women’s and mixed divisions will represent Calgary at the Provincial High School Championships in Drayton Valley, Alta., from February 22 to 24.

Reaghan says curling is cool again.

“In the past few years there had been barely any interest in curling,” she said.

“This year, so many people decided to show up and so many people from our school. We had four teams this year and last year we had one. It’s super exciting.”

More than 20 teams competed in the Calgary High School Curling Championships. (Glenn Campbell/CTV News)

From the football field to the ice

Seventeen-year-old Jonathan France was skipping a team from William Aberhart in the men’s division.

France says this is the first year of curling for him and his team.

“My football coach told me he was coaching the curling team and he was like ‘You should come out,’” he said.

“I was like, ‘That would be a lot of fun,’ and so we came out and for some reason, it’s super fun. I mean really the boys, you know the rest of the boys they’re really coming to work. I’m just yelling at them from behind really.”

Good times

Winning is obviously the ultimate goal but for those competing in the city championships, it’s just as much about having fun.

Ava Brayton, 16, is the skip for the Joane Cardinal Schubert’s women’s team. She says everyone gets to enjoy themselves a little bit more in this sport because there’s less pressure.

“Curling is a very big sport for having a positive attitude around all the teams,” she said.

“There’s hardly ever any negative energy with any teams. Even if you’re going head-to-head against them in the gold medal match you would never see anybody try to put each other down.”

The Manns and their team from Heritage Christian ended up winning the gold medal, so they’re headed to Drayton Valley later this month.

Despite being their first year curling, France’s team from William Aberhart took home the bronze medal in the men’s division.

Brayton and her rink from Joane Cardinal Schubert ended up getting the silver medal in the women’s division.

Westmount Charter won the gold medal in the open division.