‘Get rid of that rock’: Medicine Hat elementary students take to the ice for the 59th Jam Pail Bonspiel

For Koen Baunback, playing in the bonspiel was really about having fun with his friends, even if he had to learn on the go.

“I had fun,” he told CHAT News at the Kinplex where the event was taking place.

“This is my first year so I’m not really good at it,” he added with a smile.

The bonspiel has deep roots in Medicine Hat, the city’s recreation program coordinator Mark Risdon said.

“It’s something that spans the community, it’s been here for so long,” Risdon said.

“There are multi-generational aspects to it,” he added, saying that many parents of the schoolchildren participating also took part when they were that age.

The Kinplex rink is split into 13 segments— known as mini-houses — for the bonspiel.

Then the kids play 20-to-30-minute matches, Risdon said.

(CHAT News)

Brett — a Mother Teresa School student who has never tried curling before — said he was having so much fun he wanted to play more.

“It’s good, but I just wish we had more games,” he said. Each student gets the opportunity to play three times.

Brett said he and his team were really getting into the competition.

“We’re screaming at each other; get rid of that curler, get rid of that rock!”

by Eli J. Ridder, Jesse Gill

‘Get rid of that rock’: Medicine Hat elementary students take to the ice for the 59th Jam Pail Bonspiel

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