Six teams took part in this year’s Junior Bonspiel at the Stettler Curling Club, with the Delaina Devnich team taking top honours.
Devnich was the skip for the winning team, which also included lead Taylor Fornwald, second Zak Lachowsky and third Meghan Matchett.
Connie Devnich, one of two coaches for Stettler’s junior curlers, said the turnout for the bonspiel, held Saturday, Jan. 31, was modest compared to past years.
While the registration numbers were not as low as they have been — lack of interest forced organizers to cancel the bonspiel last year — they are still on the decline overall.
“We’ve definitely gone down in numbers,” said Devnich, adding that previous junior bonspiels had attracted teams from Halkirk and Delburne. “We didn’t have anybody from out of town.”
Prizes were offered to the winners, while raffle prizes and gift certificates were also distributed.
The club currently offers junior curling on Monday nights, running from October to February.
Curlers from grades 4 to 6 are on the ice from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., while those in Grade 7 and up are on the ice from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Also this year, for the first time, the club has offered a Little Rocks introductory program, available to curlers in Grade 3 and younger. The six-week program ends in mid-February and is held from 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. on Monday afternoons.
Devnich, who began coaching the juniors five years ago and currently shares duties with Barry Jones, said the number of children registered has declined sharply in that time.
She recalled that she started with 47 juniors, went down to 24 last year and now has just 18 enrolled in the program.
The club has two more bonspiels scheduled for this month: the seniors spiel on Feb. 12, and the men’s open bonspiel from Feb. 13 to 15.
The ladies’ bonspiel is coming up from March 6 to 8, while the season will end with the closing mixed bonspiel from March 27 to 29.
For more information, call Jamie Devnich at 403-742-3111.