They went with inexperience and came back with a newfound knowledge and a fire within them to improve.
The five members of the 100 Mile House team who competed last weekend at the 2011 BC Juvenile Boy's & Girl's Curling Championships at Lake Cowichan, may have come in last among the eight zone teams that competed, but they are looking ahead eagerly to next season.
Skip Aidan Fentiman, third Jon McLellan, second Jacob Fisher, and Brady Miller and Mathew Nielsen who share the lead position, along with their coach, Maxine Todhunter, weren't able to tally a victory, but they weren't entirely surprised.
Half of the team was new to the sport and they had a lot of catching up to do.
They spent a lot of time getting used to the ice," explains Todhunter.
"It was very fast and the rocks ran very straight and did not curl much. That's not what they're used to and they don't have the experience to adapt quickly to new ice.
"We were the least experienced team there."
She adds there were some good and some not so good games, and one that was very close until the fifth end during which the local boys gave up a five-ender.
"That kind of put the damper on things. We were right in there until then."
Games improved as the tournament progressed, but Todhunter says they just did not have the experience that was necessary.
"We know what we have to work on. We'll try to get in on some more bonspiels with different teams and get into other clubs just to experience different ice. It's a feel they have to learn to adjust to."
The team made the trip to Lake Cowichan on the heels of a windstorm, which knocked out power to much of Vancouver Island. When they arrived, the power had not been restored at their place of accommodation, so new plans had to be made quickly.
They still ended up waiting for road access into Lake Cowichan to be cleared of trees, and on arrival, they learned that the town had just recently had its electrical power restored, Todhunter says.
"People were very accommodating and made it as good as possible. The tournament was lots of fun and the boys thoroughly enjoyed it.
"I was really impressed with the way they worked things out between them. They were just great."