BARRIE, Ontario — A newly formed Barrie curling team is looking to find its groove early into the 2021-22 season.

Team O’Keefe is a U18 women’s team and is made up of Ryenne O’Keefe, skip, Hazel Barta, vice, Sydney Hook, second, and Sierra Hardwick, lead. It’s the first full season for the team, who formed together last year but only got in one game and a couple of practices before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team has competed at three events so far this season. It placed second at its first event of the year, the Phoenix Slam.

Team O’Keefe finished first place in the B event at the Oakville Optimist and first place in the C event at its most recent event – the Crystal Slam.

“We are doing pretty well, especially at the Phoenix Slam, our first full event together,” O’Keefe said, prior to the Crystal Slam. “We haven’t had a lot of chances to practice a few things like communication and getting to know each other a bit more. Overall, it’s been going good.”

O’Keefe said the team is still getting to know each other which will help when it comes time to compete at some bigger events.

“It was kind of challenging last year because we couldn’t see each other. There were a lot of Zoom meetings, trying to get to know each other that way,” O’Keefe said. “We’ve had some good games and good interactions right off the bat. That will help us moving forward.”

As team skip, O’Keefe is still learning her teammates and what they need from her in terms of calling plays.

“It’s just getting to know how they throw. If they are throwing a turn and they are throwing a little outside, I need to give them more ice,” O’Keefe said. “Once I know how they throw, I can give them the proper shots.”

David Hardwick, the team’s head coach, said the team is still learning each other and believes it’s getting better everyday.

“We didn’t know how our team was going to gel personality wise, but we’re feeling good and we’re growing together,” Hardwick said. “After our first event we had really good success and felt we were heading in the right direction.”

Although the team said every event during the season is important, there are a few that standout – the Ontario Winter Games qualifiers that take place from Dec. 10-12 and the Provincial qualifiers from Dec. 17-19.

Placing well in those qualifiers could land them a spot at the Provincial championships from Jan. 19-21 and the Ontario Winter Games from Feb. 24-27.

But for now, it’s about taking one game at a time.

“We’re just trying to win as many games as we can and try to make it to the finals in our remaining events,” O’Keefe said.

Team O’Keefe turns its attention to the Athena Slam, another event in the Junior Slam Series that takes place from Oct. 22-24.

This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.