She may be new to town, but curling is old hat for this 13-year-old.
It’s why Cochrane’s Hannah Airey is playing two levels above her age group. The bantam-aged (13-year-old) curler is off to junior provincials (16- 18-year-olds) in Grande Prairie as lead for the McKenna Jones rink, which began the season at Cochrane Curling Club before moving the team to Strathmore. With curlers from Cochrane, Calgary and Medicine Hat, Strathmore provided the most central location for the curlers.
Jones rink third Krista Shortridge of Calgary coached Airey at a curling camp in Leduc and felt the youngster would be a good fit on the junior rink.
“She’s new to the team. She just moved to Cochrane from St. Albert this year,” Shortridge said. “When I was coaching her in Leduc, she was a lot more mature than the other kids that were her age. Everything I would tell her, she adsorbed like a sponge.”
So when the McKenna rink went looking for a lead, Shortridge suggested her curling-camp student would fit.
“She’s been an amazing lead for us,” Shortridge continued. “When it comes to being a teammate it’s so much more than being able to throw a curling rock. You have to be able to actually contribute to the team mentally and physically. And she’s been able to do both really well.”
Shortridge added Airey throws quality lead stones and sets her team up well at the beginning of each end. The McKenna rink is one of three junior girl’s rinks to qualify for provincials out of the South region, going 3-1 at the December regional qualifier in Calgary.
The provincial junior curling tournament goes Jan. 7-11 in Grande Prairie.
