Anyone watch curling in this year’s winter Olympics? Senior Lily Wadsworth, who has been curling since she was little, did, and her interest in the sport in paying off.

“My grandfather is one of the founders of the Wayland Curling Club, so my whole family curls,” Wadsworth said. “When I was little, my dad and my mom brought me out. I’m the only one in my family who has really stuck with it.”

Wadsworth started competing six years ago and goes to competitions in Connecticut, New Hampshire and even Switzerland. She also recently returned from Nationals in Seattle.

“It was our first time there, and we got fourth out of 20 teams, so they were pretty impressed with us,” Wadsworth said.

Wadsworth is also preparing for the 2022 Winter Olympics with USA Curling.

“They prepare us and mentally train us, and then we have to compete against other teams to go,” Wadsworth said.

Wadsworth hopes to do better than the 2014 US women’s curling team in 2022.

“I think that the girls did not represent us very well. We didn’t really win any games,” Wadsworth said. “I’m friends with one of the girls who is on the Olympics team and their coach is the USA Curling coach. We’ve been in contact with them a lot, and they’re very disappointed because they didn’t perform.”

Despite the fact that curling can appear simple to the average watcher, Wadsworth says curling is much harder than it looks.

“Most people always say ‘Oh, it’s probably so easy. Oh, you just slide and throw the rock,’” Wadsworth said. “But it’s very mentally and physically draining.”