Stephanie Senneker, a member of the Kalamazoo Curling Club and curling lead with Team McCormick, helped her team produce a BIG win at the "A Event" qualifier during the Women's Challenge Round held in Bismark, North Dakota on January 10th. Why "BIG"?? Because the win qualifies Team McCormick to compete in the upcoming 2015 Curling Nationals held this February 14-21 at Wings Stadium Annex, home of the Kalamazoo Curling Club.
Senneker first became interested in curling when she watched the 2006 Olympics, and really started getting interested in it after seeing Kevin Martin and Cheryl Bernard bring home the gold and silver medals during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. Then, after discovering American curling teams were competing as well, she searched online for curling in the U.S., and that's when she learned the 2010 Curling Nationals would be held here Kalamazoo. Being from the area, Senneker came to watch a few draws played at the nationals competition, decided to sign up for one of our club's Learn-to-Curl sessions, joined a league not long after that, and the rest is history.
With Nationals less than three weeks away, Team McCormick will be getting in as much practice time as possible before heading to Kalamazoo. They have a team practice session scheduled in Wisconsin, and are planning to get additional ice time scheduled during the week leading up to Nationals as well. The four members of Team McCormick have also been practicing individually as much as they can at their home clubs.
Apart from practice, their biggest focuses leading up to Nationals will be staying fit, staying healthy and preparing mentally for the big event. "Eight days of curling is a long haul and we have to be strong from start to finish to give ourselves a shot at the finals," said Senneker. "This tournament will bring some tough competition for sure." In particular, the High Performance teams should be strong opponents, but really any team can win on any given day if their opponent doesn't come into the game focused and ready to play their best.
Senneker and the rest of Team McCormick knows they can do really well at Nationals if they compete to their full potential, and they are excited to put their skills to the test on the ice. Senneker also mentioned they have had lots of encouragement from family, friends, and clubmates this season. "It really means the world to us to have that support," says Stephanie. We can't wait to be back and see you all in Kalamazoo in February!