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Pelham Curlers Rock Provincial Championship

Two Pelham teens earned a hard-fought third place finish at the Ontario Curling Association’s Bantam Provincial Championship tournament over the weekend. Matthew Stickles and Josh Wayda, who are students at E.
Mixed-TeamStickles (11 of 2)

Two Pelham teens earned a hard-fought third place finish at the Ontario Curling Association’s Bantam Provincial Championship tournament over the weekend.

Matthew Stickles and Josh Wayda, who are students at E.L Crossely, and their teammates Megan Ford and Cassie Barnard from Niagara Falls, comprised one of only eight Bantam teams out of nearly a hundred to earn a spot in the provincial finals.

“We’ve been a team for about two years now,” said Matthew, who is the team’s skip. “We put the team together at the last minute for the 2014 tournament. The girls needed boys for the mixed team, and it just sort of fell together.”

In that first year they made it to the Regional championship by being one of the top two teams in their Zone. They got back together this season and were able to build upon their prior success, moving on as the top team in their Zone and then as the B-side at the Regional level, earning a shot at the Provincial title in London.

While the boys are only 17, they are already old pros at this point. “I started in the fourth grade,” said Josh, “and sometime in the sixth or seventh grade I told Mathew that he should come on out.” The two have been hooked ever since. Their female counterparts also got started young. “My sister and my cousin got into it,” said Megan, who turned 14 over the weekend, “and after watching them I got interested and decided to give it a try.”

Though the boys are several years older than their female team mates, the four of them agree that curling gives them a special bond. “I would say that it’s not a team sport, it’s a family sport,” said Josh. “We really are like a family in a lot of ways.” Matthew echoed that sentiment: “It’s about the team dynamic and winning as a team,” he said, “it’s not about being a great individual player.”

Unfortunately, the differences in age will keep the team from competing together next year, but it will not keep them from the sport they love. “We’ll be sticking with it,” said Matthew, “we may need to find different pairings, but we’ll all keep playing.”

Regardless of what the future holds, all four can look back on this weekend with pride, knowing that they gave their best in a team effort and came out of it with an admirable and well-deserved third place finish.