One may say curling is in Nathan and William Jewell’s blood.
With their father Lee’s love of the sport sparking a lifelong passion for his sons, the teens have honed their skills to the point of excellence and were instrumental in leading Team MacDougall to a big win at the Canadian Junior Cup championship late last month.
The brothers are identical twins from Acton and are in the 10th grade at Georgetown District High School. They play on the high school curling team and practise at the Acton Curling Club every week.
"Our dad is the current president of the club, his dad curled, a lot of his family members curled. He got into it young and he introduced it to us at a young age." said Nathan.
At the Canadian Junior Cup, Team MacDougall was missing its skip for the whole tournament. After the team's vice showed minor struggles, Nathan was called on to lead the team as the skip for the rest of the tournament.
While that may sound like a lot of pressure, the change was nothing new for the local youth.
"Before this year, I skipped for about three or four years and for the school team, I skip. It wasn't much of an adjustment for me or the team."
Meanwhile, William was working to overcome an injury that plagued him throughout the tournament.
"My knuckles kept bleeding,” he said. “I kept scraping them against my belt. I had to keep putting on Band-Aids and tape on them.”
Despite every challenge that came their way, Nathan and William helped Team MacDougall defeat Team Madore 7-3. The game was neck-in-neck through the first couple of ends, but they capitalized on their victory by stealing four points in the sixth and seventh ends.
The win only furthers the Jewell twins’ focus on future goals of making it big in the curling world.
"It’s fun to win, and making the Brier and the Olympics are our main goals," said William.
The dynamic duo share a stronger bond than most siblings as they’re the same age, in the same grade, and almost being the same person - something that also helps them on the ice.
"Our hands are on similar spots on the broom - when we judge weight it's pretty similar,” said Nathan. “Sometimes when I skip, I will signal or point and he will know how to adjust.”
It may be hard to differentiate William and Nathan on the ice together, but both are dominant and promising young curlers. With their hearts set on competing at the professional level, the Jewells are certain to make Halton Hills proud again in the future.
