Adrienne Kennedy

When did you start curling

I started curling at age 13 at the Trail Curling Club in my hometown of Trail, BC Canada. I had met a new friend at Junior High who curled and she took me along to try. I found it came quite naturally to me and I was hooked.

I played Junior Ladies until I was 18, represented at the BC Provincials every year with a best ever result of 2nd. Also played on the High School team and we also represented at provincials every year.

Once I finished High School and moved to Edmonton Alberta, I joined the NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) team. We represented at the Canadian College National Championships in Medicine Hat Alberta. After losing all games, we needed to win our last one to continue playing. We won that one, and every game after and eventually winning the Canadian Nationals. It was an exciting time.

 

What are some of your curling highlights

One of my best shot memories was at Junior Ladies Provincials, I was in Year 12 playing with a younger team. The skip was injured so I filled in as skip (having never skipped before but had the most experience of the team). It came down to my last shot, there was a whole bunch of rocks out front and one long narrow port to the button. That shot was magic, it went right through the port and sat on the button. There was dead silence when the rock stopped as no one could believe that I actually made the shot. Then the cheers started. I can’t even remember where we placed in the competition but after that, it felt like we won gold😉

I didn’t curl much after I finished my schooling. I travelled, lived overseas and then took it up again about 5 years ago in Perth.

Attended the 2022 Nationals in Naseby for Ladies and Mixed 4’s.

Our road to Seniors World Championships (now that I have National titles for both Canada and Australia!!!)

Kim Irvine and I were selected in September 2022 by Kim Forge to play on her team and represent Australia at the Worlds. It was a huge moment when we found out we were the team going. I was sitting in the lunch room at work when I read the email, had to read it twice to make sure I read it correctly. Then I said, more to myself than anyone else, I’m going to play in the world championships, can’t believe it. The guys around me were so excited for me. Yes I had to explain what curling was!

Keeping fit all year is key, general exercise, yoga, pilates, swimming, aqua classes plus our curling specific warm up and cool down exercises.

Kim and I will fly to Seoul 3 days prior to the others for some sightseeing. Team mates Lyn Gill and Kim Forge will arrive and we will have a few days of practice with the Aussie Senior Men’s team in Uijeonbu (tentative at this point). We will then all go to Gangneung for the Competition where we will play at the Olympic Venue from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. It is going to be the most surreal experience.