Chantele Broderson will not be competing in the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
Despite an otherwise amiable performance at the trials the Nov. 7th - 8th weekend, 17-year-old Broderson and her team will not advance to the Games as they didn’t perform as well as they could have in the tournament finale, she said.
“It wasn’t a very good game for us,” said Broderson.
“We all played well for the whole weekend minus the final, where we kind of fell apart. But we played really well in the first bit of the weekend for sure.”
After placing second in the round robin and winning one other game, Broderson’s rink clinched a spot in the final.
However, a few bad picks mixed with a little bad luck and strong competition from their opponents meant Broderson and her rink would have to settle for second place.
“Nothing really worked.”
Broderson said her rink lost to another that is also part of the same elite University of Alberta curling program.
While they were opponents in trials, they practice and curl together outside of competitions. Losing to such teammates takes a little bit of the sting out of the loss, she added.
While the final game didn’t go as hoped, Broderson said being at the trials for the 2015 Canada Winter Games was still a great experience for her.
She said being able to place as well as her rink did was encouraging, especially considering her team were not favourites in the competition.
“It was really exciting,” said Broderson.
Now, she has a few smaller bonspiels she and her team will compete in while preparing for Juvenile Playdowns sometime in the New Year. She said that while she is disappointed the team did not play as well as they could have at trials, she is taking the loss in stride.
“It’s not really the end of the world,” said Broderson.
“When one door closes another door opens. That’s what our coach told us.”