by Melissa Soligo former Scotties champion and an Olympic Bronze Medalist

So you want to know what it's like to play on a provincial champion in the Scotties?

Well, upon assurance of participation, each team will establish a set of routines, rules and guidelines that will be adhered to throughout the week.  And the purpose of this is to contribute to the successes of the team.

Schedules are created based on a number of factors. Depending on the times of your games, they determine wake-up times, meal times, nap times, down times (which could include walks, sightseeing or shopping) and family/friend times.  Specific snacks will fill the rooms.  And flags, good-luck cards and faxes among other things may even clutter the walls of the hotel rooms.

Upon arrival at the championship site, things may start to formulate a little differently than originally planned.  Once a team members view the hotel, meet their driver, tour the city and the arena, changes are made to their schedules and more customs are established.

This is an ongoing and time-consuming process, so the sooner it is ratified, the better.  And before you know it, these routines soon become "superstitions".

I remember my competing days, and believing so strongly in our habits.  If one practice was off, or one schedule wasn't followed, there could be consequences to those that messed it up. I find it quite amusing that after talking to a number of former competitors that are at this event, many of the "superstitions" are actually shared with teams.

A few that I can remember and some that I have heard:

• The hotel — the same two team members will share the same two-bedded room (again), they will sleep in the same bed (closer to the bathroom or not) and they will decide who showers first in the morning; some players will even go so far as to climb into the same side of the bed every night.
• Dressing — have you heard of putting the same sock on first every time? And if you do it wrong, you have to take them both off and start again.  It can happen. And if you are one of the winning teams, it is not unusual to wear the same shirt every game until you lose. If you stand close enough to a player, you can probably figure out who these people are.
• Driving to the arena — once a route is established, the same path must be followed to and from the hotel every game (this, of course, could change after a loss or a series of losses).
• The vehicle — it is imperative that every player sit in the same seat in the van on the way to the games unless, of course, there is a loss and then time will be spent deciding whether or not to stick with the current seating plan or change it up a little; the team drivers also are asked to park the vehicle in the same spot every time.
• Eating — some foods work and some don't  (especially if you have a life-threatening allergy to nuts); if you have a good meal, and you have a great performance, it the same meal can  be eaten again and again and again, ad infinitum.
• The music — picking the theme song for your team takes a lot of thought and inspiration;  it has to be perfect and it has to put you in the mood for game time.  Possible choice of songs — and you decide what past championship era they may have come from: Girls Just Want To Have Fun, When The Tough Get Going, The Going Get Tough, Spirit In The Sky, Hot 'N Cold, Hooked On A Feeling, Play That Funky Music, I Am Canadian, I Am Woman.
• New superstitions apply once teams reached the arena — team members enter the building in the same sequence; brooms are removed from the broom bag in the same order; practices are identical every time, with each player throwing in the same order.
• Game routines — cleaning the rock three times, every time; walking down the same side of the ice every time; high-fiving the same player in the same order.
• Game breaks — going to the bathroom in the same stall each time; practice times at night; matching rocks daily basis to ensure that no changes in rocks or ice have taken place.

In curling, there definitely are routines that are established.  A team may be less obsessive than another in sticking to those routines, but regardless it would be a challenge for me to find a team without their own customs.  If things are going good, the routines keep going and if the unthinkable happens, and too many games are lost, changes must be made!

Then again, some curlers don't believe in superstitions... they just do things repetitively.