Kelly off to Scott Tournament of Hearts
With March Break coming up soon most students are planning to head somewhere warm to get away from the snow and cold of New Brunswick. Not Andrea Kelly though, she plans to spend the break on the ice at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario. Kelly and her rink from Fredericton’s Capital Winter Club will be New Brunswick’s representatives in the 2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts.
Already having success on a national stage (she is a national junior curling bronze medalist and the 2005 gold medalist), the importance of representing her province in the Canadian championships was not lost on Kelly.
“It’s pretty important to us because we’re going to the Scott Tournament of Hearts, which is, really huge. I always thought, ‘well someday I might get to go there.’ When I think of some people who said ‘well she went to the Scott Tournament of Hearts,’ it actually meant something to me. I think that’s huge. I never treated Juniors the same way I guess. Women’s is a whole different competition.”
The third year UNB Fredericton business student from Aroostook, New Brunswick, has had to find a balance between curling and school.
“I think it’s busy but, really, I’m not too stressed with school. I am taking six courses, and I took six courses last term, too, but last year when we won Nationals I dropped down to four. All my profs have been really understanding too, so I think that’s been a huge help. Other than that I just do work when I can and try not to conflict the two though, it’s not really good for either one. But, it works. I really don’t know how, but it does.”
Kelly says she hopes to major in human resources and has thought about getting her MBA.
As for the Scott, she and the team haven’t set any goals yet.
“We never really sat down and thought about this because we didn’t expect this to happen. We do want to do well. New Brunswick isn’t known to do very well at the Scott so we do want to represent them well and get quite a few wins,” she says.
“I do know we want to do well and I do want to go there playing well; and, really, anything can happen.”