NZ Curling

Ever since I was a child I dreamed of competing in the Olympics. Curling became a full medal sport at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. I was first selected to represent New Zealand in 1997, but at that point New Zealand had never qualified for a World Curling Championships, never mind Olympics. So reaching a World Championships was the initial goal, not the Olympics, and that was my dream.

When we qualified for our first World Championships in 1999, Olympics came onto the radar screen as a serious possibility. We just missed qualifying for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics (11th ranked for a 10 nation field) which was really disappointing for all of us. But that experience was both a motivator and valuable in our successful run at qualifying for the 2006 Turin Olympics.

We missed out on attending the 2002 Olympics by one spot. Although it was my first year on the team, and my first World Championship, it was apparent that, as a team, we were not far off from reaching our goal.

At the 2005 World Championships when we beat Denmark, the next closest team, in our last game. Both teams knew that the winner of this match would go to the Turin Olympics and the other would miss out. It was surreal. I remember thinking – "Why me?".

I will always remember it. We had to win our final round robin game against Denmark at the 2005 World Championships in Victoria, Canada to lock in our Olympic spot. The crowd in the arena was fantastic that day – over 6,000 fans.

We took a big lead early in the game. Sean Becker made a fantastic shot to score a 5 on the fourth end – Lorne and Dan swept the shot great, and I got the line read right – a real team shot and the crowd went wild – it was spectacular. From there out we played conservatively to protect our lead, and Denmark edged back into the game a bit, although we were always in control of the game.

In the 10th and final end, we were up 8-7 and we had last rock. Playing third, I had charge of the house for us as the Danish skip threw his last shot, an attempted draw. The shot was slightly heavy, and when it reached the tee line I jumped on it to sweep it back. As I swept the Danish rock slide further away from the button than our shot rock clinching the win for us, I thought to myself ‘We are going to the Olympics!’.

There were probably a few factors. Very important was the fact that we over time had played a lot as a team at top competitive level. The challenge in doing that from New Zealand is that you always have to travel to get that kind of competition. We also built some self-belief as we started to rack up some wins at World Championship level, and began to think of ourselves as one of the teams to beat at Pacific Championships.

Another factor that made a big difference was we opened ourselves to input from expert coaches. We got great input from a number of them, but I think Bill Tschirhart from Canada made the greatest impact on our performance. We developed better consistency, and a mental approach to the game we could rely on. Also, because the Olympic qualification cycle for our sport is so long (basically three years) the fact that as a team we were all committed to the goal for a long period of time was hugely important.

The experience of years of playing together as a team was critical. We all knew what each of our strengths and weaknesses were, and were all willing to accept the role / position that we were playing as we knew this would make our team as strong as we possibly could.

For me, what was most special wasn’t the actual curling but the atmosphere and the people you meet. Many of my best experiences came from meeting the volunteers and the fans. Everyone was very supportive and helped add to the Olympic experience.

It’s highly recommended!!

Seriously, it was an amazing experience. We had been to four world championships in our sport, so we were used to playing in arenas and on television, and wearing the silver fern proudly. Being a team sport we were used to being part of a team. But nothing can really prepare a sportsperson for being part of such an incredible festival of the best of the best in sport. Being part of a New Zealand team, you have new teammates (from other sports) that you’ve never had before and may never have again. Even though we're not competing in Vancouver, Ben, Julianne, Mitch and Kendall were teammates in Torino, and I’ll be cheering extra hard for them in Vancouver.

Because there were so many sportspeople from so many different sports, every day in the Village there would be another athlete with another medal and a happy story, It was awesome to share the experience with so many people that you admire for their skill and commitment. The media interest was huge, and the warmth of the Italian people was fantastic. The hockey players were huge. The figure skaters were tiny.

The moment when we walked into the stadium during the Opening Ceremonies was awe-inspriring. It was the only time during the Games that I felt self-conscious. I remember thinking to myself ‘there are over a billion people watching this right now – this would be a bad time to trip on a shoelace!’. Also during the Opening Ceremonies, American TV zeroed in on me and told a story about my time with the Toronto Blue Jays and that I have a World Series ring. The next day I got a flood of e-mail from old friends in the States who saw it – that was cool.

Competing was great too, even though we would have liked the results to be better. We knew all of our competitors pretty well from other competitions.  It was great to know that you were one of only 40 people in the world playing in this event that every curler in the world wanted to play in and was following closely. It was also great to know that even if we didn’t medal, that whoever did would be someone we’d know well and respect.

Our New Zealand team spirit was strong – the only bad part was because of our own competition schedule, we didn’t have a lot of time to support our other teammates at their events. We got up to Sestriere to support our skiers – that was a good day.

Another thing I’d say – I know that New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games teams get a lot of stick about overdoing the haka. The haka is something incredibly powerful and is part of our national identity now. I saw this first hand in Turin. As part of welcoming the various teams into the Olympic Village, there are a series of ceremonies where the various nations gather, have their anthem played, flag raised, and get welcomed. There are a lot of countries, and although there was a lot of media and spectators around these ceremonies, there wasn’t a lot of energy. That changed in an electric moment when after our anthem, we threw down a haka. Instantly – the crowd leaped to attention, the cameras appeared, and there was a pulse in the air. Torino knew that New Zealand was there, and we were all fiercely proud of that.

Another memory from that same day – talking to Barbara Kendall during that ceremony, and while talking to her see the Olympic Torch relay go past the Village. Barbara said ‘that’s Sergei Bubka carrying the torch’.  I was in awe, thinking ‘oh my goodness, I’m really part of this now!’.

I’d say make sure that what is motivating you is a desire to be the best you can possibly be, and make sure that you are having fun pursuing that. Making the Olympics is the pinnacle in achievement in most sports, but for us, when we focussed on what it took to get better, applied ourselves to it, and had fun doing it, we achieved our best results. When we were at our best, making the Olympics was just the happy cream on the cake.

Also, in a team sport like curling, you have to be mindful of not only being they best you can as an individual, but also what you can do to bring the best our of your teammates.

Practice and play far more games than you do now!

Go overseas if you can. We’re disadvantaged by our distance to the major curling markets. You need to get there and play there on a regular basis to get a feel for what you need to improve upon to be a winner. It’s the big fish in a small pond scenario.