Japan's Calgarian Curling Coach JD Lind - Fighting The Emotions

Thursday March 24, 2016 will go down as an historic day for Japanese Curling. Japan earned their first-ever spot in the Page 1-2 playoff game after undoing both Canada and Scotland on the last day of round-robin play at the Ford World Women's Curling Championship.

Scotland's Eve Muirhead was pounded by Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa 10-4 in the morning and the Curling mauling continued, with Canada's Chelsea Carey being beaten 11-2 later in the afternoon, with Japan finishing the round-robin with a 9-2 record.

Canada last won the title in 2008 and they haven't missed the playoffs since 1999 when Colleen Jones failed to make the top four. Carey said of the loss that it doesn't really change things a whole lot, as the game was one where they couldn't even buy a shot, and these type of games happen sometimes. She felt that they weren't that far off but they got punished every time, although it's not like they played awful.

Coach of the Japanese team, Calgarian J.D. Lind said that the confidence played a big part in carrying them through after the sweep of Canada and Scotland, and said that at the mid-week point that it could really have gone either way. "The team responded and right now they are super loose and not overthinking anything," he added.

Team Now In Unchartered Waters - What Comes Next?

Now that his team are in unchartered waters, Lind says that he doesn't really know what to expect next, as they have never been in such a situation before. Saying that it will be interesting to see how they respond, he said that up to this point they hadn't talked about changing much up, so they will carry on with the same positive outlook with smiles on their faces, and keep trying to believe in the best.

Given his relationship with Calgary's Curling coach Charley Thomas whom he had coached at the 2007 World Juniors, Lind claimed there were mixed emotions. Before the game he thought it might actually be fun being in the midst of friends, however it was quite difficult. He further went on to say he wished them nothing but the best in the next game.