Curlers hoping for a clean sweep

Curling is like lawn bowls on ice - "with 20kg stones and a broom," laughs Baradene College curling champion Katherine Yip.
Katherine and her team-mate Lee- Ande Hill should know. The school's four-member team won the national secondary school championships last year. In October they will defend their title in Naseby, Central Otago.
Before that, the team has to perform well at the Auckland schools competition. The regular round-robin tournament finished last week with Baradene defeating Massey High School 9-4 in the final round.
The win puts them near the top of the table and through to the finals which start at Avondale's Paradice next month.
"We've been battling it out with Epsom Girls Grammar," Lee-Ande says.
"They have a pretty good team and are on top at the moment, but we've been playing them for a few years so we know their game pretty well."
Despite a few early season losses, Lee- Ande and Katherine are confident they can win the competition and even the North Island championships, also played at Avondale.
The girls don't know what their secret is but suggest it started when the team formed off the ice three years ago.
"We're friends anyway, so it's helped keep us together," says skip Lee-Ande.
"Other teams don't seem to have as much fun as us. We goof around, but when it comes time to competing we're focussed.
"It's not so much physical sport, but mentally it's a challenge." The biggest hurdle curlers have to overcome is booking time on the ice to train.
All Auckland teams have to share the ice with ice hockey and figure skating teams. Grooves left in the ice from these sports make it difficult to slide the stones towards the target circles smoothly.
The girls, along with the Auckland Curling Club, are fundraising for a purpose-built rink. It would be the second in the South Hemisphere after Naseby's state-of-the-ice rink.
National coach Sharon Delver visited recently and says once the rink is built, the number of players in Auckland will "absolutely explode".
Already this year the sport's popularity has started to grow. Two new school teams, Elim Christian School and Papakura High, have entered the North Island championships.
Liz Matthews, from Auckland Curling, says this brings the code closer to getting full support from College Sport. Back on the ice, Lee-Ande warmed up for the school finals by playing for Auckland in the national under-21 championships in Dunedin last weekend.
Her teammates included Brittany Taylor (Henderson High), Katie Bauer (Long Bay College) and Chelsea Farley (Epsom Girls).
The secondary schools semifinals will be played on September 4 and finals September 11 at Avondale Paradice.