Team Saskatchewan’s skip Sherry Anderson is back at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, a feeling that never gets old.
“It’s exciting, it’s fun, I’m very happy to be back there and the girls are excited about it,” Anderson said.
She’s making her ninth appearance at the national women’s curling championship and her first as a skip since 2004 — a time when her current teammates were in elementary school.
“They’re younger than I was when I went to my first Scotties, but they’re certainly not blank canvases. They have experience of their own, so I think they’ll be fine,” Anderson said.
Aside from the odd joke, Anderson said the age difference doesn’t come up much.
“Thankfully they don’t bug me about my age much, but no, it really doesn’t. We all enjoy the game, we’re all students of curling and that’s our main interest,” Anderson said.
“Obviously we draw on Sherry for experience, but anyone who knows Sherry knows that she’s really young at heart so we all get along really well,” Team Saskatchewan second Krista Fesser said.
Three years ago, her teammates couldn’t even imagine they’d one day be playing alongside one of the province’s most decorated curlers.
“We were all in Moose Jaw watching Sherry when she was in the (2015) Scotties and we were all cheering our guts out in the stands, and we didn’t even know her then,” Krista Fesser said.
“So to now reflect back on that and think that we’re playing with her now, it’s pretty cool.”
While Krista and Kourtney Fesser and Karlee Korchinski may be new to Scotties, they’ve all competed on the national stage before.
“We all had successful junior careers, so I definitely think that helps us going into the Scotties with a little bit of experience. We’ve played on arena ice before, we’ve played in front of crowds, so it’s not all going to be brand new to us,” Krista Fesser said.
The team unanimously shares the same hunger for their first Tournament of Hearts victory. Anderson has come close, finishing second and third previously.
“If you’re having fun you usually play well because I know from experience, you don’t know when you’re going to get back there again and if you’re going to get back there again, so enjoy the moment and usually, like I said, if you do that, good things happen,” Anderson said.
Saskatchewan last won the Scotties in 2011.
The next championship team will be crowned on Feb. 4 in B.C.
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