Learning with a cup

I have realized that I only do things by my own will and with a greater effort if I find it interesting. I was in highschool when I first joined curling; I joined because it was interesting. It was unlike any sport I had ever participated in, with its own set of rules and techniques. I wanted to learn it but no sport is easy. Our high school team needed practice and had only one option; we had to practice at 7am, 3 days a week, before the start of school at the the only available lanes in the city. I knew that my interest was greater than my aversion to early wake up calls. So I found a solution. Everyday before practice, I would purchase a Tim Hortons medium hot chocolate to wake me up. However I could not find a solution to perfect my curling technique because I could not stretch my leg muscles, which does take time. Without a proper technique, I lose my balance, the stability of my hand holding the rock and also eventually the game. I walk in two days before the game for our second last practice, disappointed in my inability to curl, with a medium hot chocolate in my hand. I put on my shoes ready for another hour of practice, when surprisingly my coach takes the Tim Hortons cup off the seat and chugs down my hot chocolate. I was not angry, nor upset rather amused and speechless. I did not know what to say. My coach, the genius that she was, utters with confidence, as if it were an order, "Get on the ice. I'm going to coach you today." I take my curling stance ready with a rock in my right hand. She pulls out my left hand, palm flat and facing up and lands the empty Tim Hortons cup on top. "I want to see you curl with your right without dropping this cup on your left." The following words have stayed with me for as long as I can remember. "Hold this cup steady and it will steady you." In the next two days I learned enough to win a few games for my team. Granted that our team lost more games than we won, the learning experience was memorable nonetheless.
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