McCormick Olympic Curling Shirts

So what do Olympic athletes and their families do in the month(s) before the games begin? They work on all the details necessary to get there and the athletes have to practice and compete too!  Our whole family has been immersed in the details!  Many are taken care of, but a few are still lingering.  It will all get done.  Debbie is currently off to Switzerland to compete, but just before she left, she designed these shirts and she is selling them to help get her family to Sochi.

My favorite part of the shirt is the back which has her name and the number 8.  For many not familiar with curling, this may not see odd.  But for curlers, it is very unusual to have a number on a jersey. However, this year, Debbie's team moved away from the norm and each woman had a number on their back.  And the number was significant. 

Let me take a step back and explain more about their jerseys for this year.  So they each had a number on the back and the numbers seemed a bit strange.  Debbie had 8, Erika 95, Jessica 79, and Ann had 80. Deb was the only single digit number, it was not the year they were born, it wasn't their ages; it seemed they were random numbers without significance.  Then there was more mystery.  They each also had a letter or two on their sleeve.  Debbie had O, Erika Am, Jessica Au and Ann had Hg.  When the team posted the first picture of their new uniforms for the year, there was a bit of buzz as fans tried to determine the significance of the letters, many not realizing the numbers were significant too.  Have you figured it out?

The women all chose elements from the periodic table of elements (as a science teacher, this makes my heart sing!) and the number on their back is the atomic number and the letter or letters were the atomic symbol.  I thought this was brilliant! So Debbie chose the element Oxygen.  Here team had this to say about her choice.  "Deb is Oxygen. The element forms with most elements and is necessary to sustain life. Deb is a vital part of our team and often reminds us to breathe. She is necessary for our survival."  How sweet!  And each woman had an equally well thought out reason for the element on their jersey.

If you would like to purchase one of these shirts, you can go to this site here.

https://sites.google.com/site/olympiccurlingshirtorder/



.