I’m sure at some point I’ll have something more profound or poetic or poignant to say.

Right now, it feels surreal to have won a bronze medal at the 2015 USA Curling Mixed National Championships.

It was a week of great sportsmanship and friendship.

I owe thanks to my teammates, Darrick Kizlyk (Colorado Springs), Cynthia Smith (Denver) and Justin Boshoven (Castle Rock), especially skip Darrick Kizlyk, who taught me to curl at the Broadmoor Curling Club, here in the Springs, eight years ago.

And to my son, Mack, who put up with my 5 a.m. practice sessions and countless weekends away at tournaments.

We fought hard for our wins and to make Colorado proud. Now we know what it’ll take to win gold. More early mornings await!

Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller, center, autographs a cap as he distributes new prescription glasses to more than 170 underprivileged children Wednesday, April 8, 2015, in Denver. The effort, which is called Von’s Vision, was founded by the Broncos linebacker in 2012 to provide needed eyewear and examinations to Denver-area young people. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

David Zalubowski

My team jacket and the bronze medal Team Colorado won at 2015 USA Curling Mixed National Championships. Darrick Kizlyk of Colorado Springs, Cynthia Smith of Denver, Justin Boshoven of Castle Rock and I played together for the first time in 2011. We represented the region at Mixed Nationals in Medford, Wis. This year we reunited to compete at Mixed Nationals in Blaine, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis. We hadn’t played as a team in the interim, but our curling skills have improved since 2011 and we understand what it takes to compete at a national level.

The 10 teams representing regions of the U.S. at USA Curling’s Mixed National Championships in Blaine, Minn. Team Colorado is wearing the tan jackets. Cynthia Smith, Darrick Kizlyk and I are in the lower left corner. Justin Boshoven, a tall guy, is standing in the middle of the back row. We represented the MACA (Mid-America Curling Association)/At-Large region, which includes Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, I believe.

Our record after the round robin was 6-3. We received the automatic third spot because we won against Minnesota and Alaska in the round robin. Our losses were to Washington, Wisconsin and North Dakota (my worst game of the week!).

This is the playoff meeting for teams and officials. At this meeting, teams that have advanced to the playoffs learn when games will be played and on which sheets of ice. Officials try to avoid teams from playing on the same sheets of ice as their last game in the round robin so as not to give any one team an advantage over an opponent. Also at the meeting, the teams choose their ideal sets of rocks. Washington was the top seed, so that team had first choice. They chose the red rocks from sheet D. Second seed Wisconsin then chose their ideal set of rocks. Since we were playing Washington in the first game, we had to choose a set of yellow rocks. Coincidentally, we also chose the rocks from sheet D.