1 November 2023
“This is heaven for me!” — Philippines women debut on the world stage
“This is heaven for me!” These words are from Donna Umali, skip of the Philippines women’s team, who made their country’s debut on the World Curling stage — alongside their men’s team — at the Pan Continental Championships in Kelowna.
Donna leads a California-based team that is making its mark through their enthusiasm, friendliness and willingness to embrace the world of international curling competitions.
Donna goes on, saying, “I am having so much fun! Coming into the tournament we knew we had a lot of challenges and that calls to our culture, we definitely channel adversity. There’s something about us that is really nice — we don’t give up and we also have a really good spirit that we can tap into.”
And, as third player Micha Suarez says, that special Philippines spirit is being reflected in how their opponents react to them. She explains, “One thing I can say for our competitors is they have been very warm and friendly. Even if the scoreboard doesn’t show it, we are improving with every game and our competitors are very encouraging, and even cheering us on when we make good shots, which is very encouraging and in the true spirit of curling.”
Speaking about the team’s reaction to what is a new environment for them all, and the goals they had set for themselves coming into the event, second player Jennifer de la Fuente says, “We wanted just to come out and gel quickly. We haven’t played together as a team ever. We wanted to have a lot of fun out there and get to see what it’s like at an international competition. This is the first experience like this for most of us.”
Looking ahead, Donna explains what the next steps might be, “After this, our goal is to build the Association. We want to find all of the Filipino curlers out there in the diaspora. That‘s really important. They don’t know that the Philippines has a national team. We know there is talent out there and we want to find them.”
And, there is no better example of how that future might shape up than current lead player Anne Marie Bonache.
She says, “Anything really is possible and, as a new curler myself, I represent those new curlers who haven’t thrown so much. Representing Philippines is amazing. It really brings a whole new level to it all.”
It’s clear that while this is a first appearance at this level for Philippines, it is unlikely to be the last.
Engage with the World Curling Federation on in the lead up to the Pan Continental Curling Championships 2023 on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Weibo and by searching the hashtags #curling and #PCCC
