Team of teens scores N.L. berth at Canadian Junior Curling Championships
One of the youngest teams heading to the 2018 Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Shawinigan, Que., is coming out of the Re/Max Centre in St. John's.
The national event has been a launching pad for the career of almost every successful curler this country has produced and this year Newfoundland and Labrador is sending a team of teenagers.
Lead by skip Mackenzie Glynn, 17, third Katie Follett, 17, second Sarah Chaytor, 15, and lead Camille Burt, 17, the team will make its under-21 junior championship debut when they play the Northwest Territories on Saturday.
"I don't feel there is a lot of pressure, it's just we are going up there and we are hoping to do well," Glynn said.
"We are not going up there thinking we have to win. We take it one game at a time and see where that gets us."
Just like mom
Chaytor is bringing her mom, Danette Kirby Chaytor, who competed in the same event in 1992.
"Of course she put me in curling when I was little and I just loved it and stuck with it and here I am, following in her footsteps, I guess," said Chaytor.
Team Glynn beat four other, older teams in December at the qualifier in Gander. They weren't the favourites going in but they didn't let that stop them. Now, with the national championships days away the ladies aren't letting their young age control their fate.
"It's really exciting. It really is a good experience," Burt said.
"We are going to turn all of this into motivation to do good and to represent the province really well."
The Canadian Junior Curling Championships runs Jan. 13-21.
Newfoundland and Labrador will also be represented by a men's team from the Corner Brook Curling club, featuring Daniel Bruce, Ryan McNeil Lamswood, Andrew Bruce and Nathan King.
