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Hannah Agnew

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As Kevin Martin slides across the ice, holding the last yellow rock, every person in the Coliseum rises.

We stand to see who will win the Ford World's Men's Championships. It all comes down to this last rock.

As I reach to see over the shoulder of the tall man in front of me, I see Martin's rock hit four others. Apparently it didn't hit the right ones in the right spots, because all of a sudden the Scottish team is jumping for joy.

The various members of the Canadian team scatter, hands over their faces, obviously devastated as every Canadian in the audience "oohs" and "aaws" before the whole audience erupts into cheers and claps.

Last weekend was the Gold Medal match of the world men's curling championships. Before my parents told me I was going to the match, I thought curling was a boring sport. I would never have thought I'd be in the Coliseum watching a game.

When my mother and I sat down to watch the game, I looked around and saw a lot of curling enthusiasts. The Canadian fans were plastered from head to toe in red and white while the Scottish fans were wearing blue and white.

At one point, a group of three older women walked down the stairs to their seats while people took pictures of their enthusiasm. They wore curling rock-shaped hats, head to toe red and white, vests covered in shiny curling pins and even earrings made out of little foam curling rocks.

You couldn't even see their faces they were so covered in stuff.

Not only were there many insane Canadians at the rink, but a group of Scottish fans stood at the very top of the seats. They sang Scottish songs during most of the game. In fact, they sang so much, it drove some people crazy. Fans of both teams were equally noisy and enthusiastic.

I noticed that curlers and curling fans have great sportsmanship. When young boys started running around the arena, running past every section, wearing all blue and sporting the Scottish flag, everyone cheered. No one ever found it offensive or tried to stop them; we all just laughed and clapped and cheered for them.

My family and I never really enjoyed curling. We prefer basketball or volleyball, but after going to that world championship game, my parents and my sister are all going to begin curling at one of our local curling clubs here in Moncton.

I've always looked at curling and said I would never play it because I thought it was a boring sport and it didn't look interesting. Now that I've been to a match and seen the heart and soul that each player puts into the game, it definitely looks more interesting.

And though I would never play a family game of curling, as my parents have suggested, I might consider it next time someone offers to take me.

* Hannah Agnew is a Grade 8 student at Edith Cavell. Her column appears weekly in Whatever.