They experimented at a summer bonspiel and found success. So when the real curling season opened, Jay Wakefield’s Royal City rink was literally upside down.

Paul Cseke of Salmon Arm was throwing skip stones for Wakefield, who in turn grabbed a broom for the second spot. The switch got the youthful foursome to this week’s B.C. Men’s Canadian Direct Insurance Playdowns in Vernon.

They are the youngest of 10 teams trying to earn an all-expenses- paid trip to the Tim Hortons Brier, March 6 to 14 at the Metro Centre in Halifax.

“At the beginning of the year, we weren’t really expecting to make provincials, but now that we did, we want to come here and do well,” said Cseke, 21. “We have a ton of fun. We think we have the most fun of any team and we’re just really excited to get out there. We have a different system than most teams and we think it works well.”

Cseke, a fourth-year food sciences student at UBC, used to play second for older brother Adam in Salmon Arm. Cseke was second for Wakefield in the 2008 M&M Meat Shops Juniors in Sault Ste. Marie, where they went 5-7.

“Jay and I kind of focus on school a bit more than juniors this year, but then come playdowns time, we did our curling thing,” said Cseke.

The New Westminster rink joined defending champion Sean Geall of Royal City and veteran Kelowna skips Bob Ursel and Bert Gretzinger at 2-0 after Monday night’s draw.

Cseke knows the provincials are a marathon which requires an even-keeled mind-set.

“Our third Derek (Errington) has been to nationals twice and we’ve all been to nationals, and we all know how long it is and you have to be patient. I see a lot of people look at the standings and stuff. You can’t go there and think of ‘we play who, we play that.’ You have to prepare the same for each game, and as long as you do that, then it’s just a matter of having fun when you’re out there, and enjoying it, and not looking too far ahead.”

Cseke loves the Vernon Curling Club ice, and is stoked to have family and friends from the Shuswap cheering him on all week.

The Wakefield crew stopped Steve Waatainen of Nanaimo 8-5 Monday night after brushing back Tom Buchy of Kimberley 6-4.

Family tradition

While Paul Cseke has been busy in Vernon, his mom Wendy Cseke has been showing off her curling finesse in Nanaimo.

At the provincial senior event Friday, the Cseke foursome earned a spot in the women’s final by a 9-3 defeat of the Oliver rink.

In the final, Wendy, along with Kate Horne, Gerri Kiy and Hetty Burt, took on Christine Jorgensen of the Juan de Fuca Club, but were defeated 7-4.