5 April 2023
“We’re not going out there to lose, we’re going out there to learn.”
This year, teams from New Zealand are both present at the world women’s and world men’s championships for the first time in history. Despite results not going their way, both teams certainly made their marks and gained plenty of admirers along the way.
Both teams qualified from the inaugural Pan Continental Curling Championships 2022 held early November in Calgary. For the women’s team in particular, the LGT World Championship in Sandviken, Sweden was a massive step-up.
Historic year for the women
As their skip Jess Smith explained, “It feels like the biggest thing we’ve been at. Everything here is impressive…the calibre of the teams…the number of volunteers and all the extra events that are on around the arena.”
She added, “It’s been a massive learning process. We’ve had some pretty amazing experiences and we’ve learned loads from it.”
In preparation for the competition, the New Zealand women, who are primarily self-funded alongside a handful of sponsors, spent time training in Scotland.
Ironically that didn’t help as skip Smith picked up an infection there that kept her off the ice for several round-robin games.
As she says, “I was sick for a chunk of the games, so it could have been better.”
The women’s third player Bridget Becker, gave insight into how important her team’s participation was.
“We have now just doubled the number of games we’ve played together as a team. Because of this tournament we’ve now benefitted from game time together.”
Reflecting that, Smith also put her finger on one major challenge during her championship campaign, “Lasting the week was one of the things that we spoke about. We’ve never been at such a long tournament.”
During the Sandviken championship, the New Zealanders made their mark in two further ways.
Bridget herself won the Frances Brodie Award, voted for by her fellow players as the person who best exemplified the spirit of curling and fair play. Meanwhile her father, Peter Becker, was inducted into the World Curling Federation Hall of Fame in recognition of his many years of work in all aspects of New Zealand curling.
When he came off the ice after the formal presentation, he exclaimed, “I’m glad that’s over! But it’s a great honour. I feel I’m just an ordinary bloke who’s been working in the sport that I love. To get this was the icing on the cake.”
New Zealand men building on experience
The men’s team competing at the BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship in Ottawa echo their female counterparts, “It’s an incredible experience,” says skip Anton Hood.
“The achievement of getting here itself was a huge accomplishment. With the work and dedication that we’ve put in so far, and as much as it would hurt to go through and not win a game, we’re learning heaps!”
April 1, 2023
© WCF / Steve Seixeiro
Second player Brett Sargon also added more insight to the mindset of his team, “We’re not getting ahead of ourselves; we’re not going to be playing Niklas in the final this week. It was all about being here and establishing a base.”
“The plan coming here was to soak it all in and learn as much as we can. We’re out there to win but results are null and void for us. The results aren’t taken to heart. We understand this is a process.”
Now, for the men, the learning journey will ramp up as they have decided to base themselves in Calgary in the coming season, to immerse themselves in Canada’s high-standard competitive curling environment.
Making the move
Anton explains “Kiwi curlers going to Canada has been a vision that our coach Peter de Boer has had, and for us as a team there is no other way to achieve [our goals] other than moving sticks over there. We’d always planned on doing it, but COVID got in the way.”
He added, “Ben [third player Ben Smith] and I have applied for our visas and we’re moving to Calgary. We spent time there at the Pan Continentals and made lots of contacts.”
Brett adds, “This is not just a one-season thing for us, we’re planning on coming back year after year. The ambition is worlds and Olympics.”
There is no lack of support for the men’s team either, as Brett explains, “I think the New Zealand curling community is super-excited for us. They can see the trajectory that we’re on and they understand the situations we’ve been through. But they’re pretty proud of us for getting to this point, and we want to do well for them and all their support. They’re pretty excited to see us here after 12 years.”
More than just the games
Despite focus on improving their competitiveness, the men’s team also appreciate the fun aspects of their world championship experience. As Anton says, “the fans have been incredible. We’ve just had a message online from one of the “Future Stars” kid’s parents, saying how much they enjoyed meeting us. Stuff like that makes the whole tournament. It just makes it great, and it blows you away.”
Brett recalls one of his lasting memories too. “Our first experience in the Patch after we’d played Canada. We were a little down because the game had not gone how we’d hoped, but the experience of people coming up to us and just wanting pictures and congratulating us on just being here was awesome.”
Like the women, the New Zealand men’s team is self-funded – including their time in Canada where they will have to find employment. They too are generously supported in many ways, but they took time out to say a special thanks to their coaches Nelson Ede and Peter de Boer.
Skip Anton says, “We want to say thanks to Nelson and Peter for being there for us,” adding, “If anyone out there wants to have the novelty of sponsoring us…well…”
Engage with the World Curling Federation during the BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship 2023 on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Weibo and be searching the hashtags #curling #WMCC2023
