I had never heard of a Bonspiel until this week and as a linguist I couldn’t help but wonder if it might have a particular meaning; perhaps from the French ‘bon’ meaning good and German ‘Spiel’ meaning game.  In any case the curling tournament held this week between the local schools was a good game.

As I have mentioned before, Winter sports are big in Canada so curling is pretty popular around these parts, for people of all ages.  Ashern’s claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Sasha Carter World Curling Championship Gold Medalist in 2007.  All the small towns in Manitoba appear to have their very own curling rinks, if not much else!  So what makes this game such an appealing Winter sport?

After watching a few matches, I would say it is because it’s a team sport that anyone can play; old and young.  Working together to create the right combination of strength, speed and accuracy.  For those of us who are not so used to a white Winter, the appeal might also be that it’s an indoor sport and in the harsh cold months, that’s a big deal.

Whatever the reason, I can certainly say that an afternoon spent at the curling rink, learning a little bit about a new sport and observing the students sit quietly (for once) as they attentively watched the curling, was a much better way to spend the day than usual.
Next time I might actually try it out myself!