21 October 2025
Switching TikToks for rocks: Rachael Pitts returns to the Pan Continentals one year on
In October 2024, New Zealand’s Rachael Pitts touched down in Canada for the Pan Continental Curling Championships 2024, jet-lagged and sleep-deprived after staying awake for 36 consecutive hours.
The Sports Media Trainee experience
It is a rite of passage for all who go through the World Curling Sports Media Trainee Programme, a relentless learning experience that changes the lives of the writers, photographers, and social media specialists who rise to the challenge.
It is democratic in its principles. It attracts university students and professionals from 18 to 35 years of age, from different socio-economic backgrounds and from all corners of the world.
In fact, trainees dating back to the programme’s inception in 2013 come from 15 countries and territories. All you have to do is impress the media team with your proficiency and passion, and in turn, you receive an unforgettable experience.
Its impact can be seen at every event. Most of the photographs you see on the World Curling website come with the byline of 2018 trainee Stephen Fisher. The brains behind many of the viral videos found on our social media channels come from 2016 trainee and Content Manager Emily Dwyer. And some of the eloquent and not-so-eloquent words found in World Curling features were written by the writer of this article, a 2015 trainee.
Switching sides
However, Pitts’ return to the Pan Continentals will see her on the other side of the camera, as she gets ready to make her senior international debut as part of the New Zealand women’s national team.
“When I was there as media, I absolutely loved it,” she said. “But I definitely had FOMO of the teams on the ice.”
That fear of missing out can be a visceral reaction when you are just inches from the stars – and particularly for the 22-year-old. They had represented her nation at three World Junior-B Curling Championships but never made it to the top division.
As a trainee content creator at the 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships and as a freelancer at the 2025 World Women’s Curling Championship, Pitts got to meet some of her curling heroes off the ice. To play them in major competitions required more stars to align.
Betting on herself
But you should not put this down to fortune alone. When making decisions, it is clear she bets on herself. With a two-week schedule at the 2024 tournament – and an ambition to then spend two weeks travelling for the first time in Canada afterwards – Pitts made the difficult decision of quitting her job, knowing the opportunities that could come from the trainee programme were too good to miss out on.
“There was just no way I was going to say no to an opportunity like that,” she said, adding that she read the email from the World Curling media team “two or three times” because she was convinced it would be a rejection letter. From there, she remembers the warmth of joining the team, saying there was “banter from the get-go.”
Moments she’ll never forget
The fortnight came with many surreal moments for her. She recalls the stark contrast in curling culture between her home country and Canada, running on adrenaline for the first few days of work, rubbing shoulders with Rachel Homan and shaking so much from nerves when filming American curler Matt Hamilton for her first video, describing the content as “unwatchable.”
Yet, arguably the highlight of the trip came at the end when she received a call in the airport from a team back home, hoping she would join. She had been asked to play second for Bridget Becker – “the champion of women’s curling in New Zealand,” in Pitts’ words – adding she felt “very lucky” to be asked.
A big name call-up
The Becker name is curling royalty in New Zealand, and Bridget is a five-time Pacific Curling Championships medallist. For those interested in the butterfly effect, you could trace this back to when Curling New Zealand introduced a new selection policy in 2024 which granted the winners of the national championship first refusal, rather than allowing selectors to choose the team members.
While that first senior season did not go to plan for Pitts, they remained committed to training and willing to travel if necessary. This willingness and passion clearly caught the eyes of Team Becker in a season of major transitions. No women’s teams from the 2024 national championship remained the same for the 2025 edition. Following a hard-fought tournament, Team Becker were confirmed as the national team for the Pan Continental Curling Championships.
From media bench to National team
“As soon as we were named as the New Zealand team, I was getting messages from the [World Curling] media team and was very much expecting them to get me to do the worst dances, or the worst ideas [for video] because I know I can’t say no to them,” she said, reminiscing about creating Instagram reels that even baffled the team as to where she was able to get her ideas from.
But having that experience at a major event as staff is incomparable to competing.
“It feels completely different,” said Pitts.
“It’s the same tournament, the same competition, but my dream was always to be an athlete.
“So, being able to go over and compete, I’m actually stoked.
“There’s definitely a lot more pressure because the worst thing I could have done in media is putting a typo in a caption or something, but I’m representing my country now.
“And there’s the outcome of the team and if we qualify for Worlds.
“The worst that could happen is we get knocked down to the B Division, which watching that last year, that is stiff competition as well. There’s a lot more high risk and higher reward.”
Investment and sacrifice
All the while, Pitts has had to invest a great deal of money and time into being with the team. Living on the North Island in Auckland, she goes down to meet with the rest of the team on the South Island to train in Naseby once a month for a long weekend, with this only being possible due to a hybrid job. While there, she saves money by staying with her family in Dunedin. With an Auckland facility still not built, her only opportunity for practice in the city is a Sunday league curling competition.
Facing the best in the world
And soon she will be shaking hands with one of the best rinks of the 21st century, Team Homan, who she describes as the “2016 All Blacks,” referring to the unstoppable rugby union team. While she is mainly feeling “excitement,” she acknowledges it will be a different kind of stress to her media work.
“Obviously, there’s nerves and anxiety along with that, but I always just try to channel that nervousness and anxious feelings and just go, right?” said Pitts.
“Well, it means I’m feeling this way about it. So just try and change that to a positive emotion.
“We’re a completely new team together, so we have nothing to lose. We’ve got goals and we’ll be disappointed if we don’t make them.
“We’ll just be gunning it because what else can we do? If we can trip them up, if we can show them something that surprises them, every small win’s a win.
“The best way to improve is by playing against the best in the world. That’s a great way to test where we’re at and, you know, they’ll obviously highlight where we can work on, which is exactly what we need to get better.”
Looking ahead
As a Southern Hemisphere team, it will be a long season for the quartet who will have to push through to the BKT World Women’s Curling Championship in March, should they finish in the top four here. If they do, Pitts may get the opportunity to play her idol, Switzerland’s Alina Paetz, who she was making TikTok videos about just seven months ago.
The Pan Continental Curling Championships has a special place in the heart of the New Zealander and she will hope to associate another positive memory with the tournament once she leaves Minnesota.
But what does feel inevitable is seeing the name Rachael Pitts in the future.
Whether that is on the ice, behind the media desk at events, or convincing the most stubborn athletes to dance in front of a camera.
How to watch the US Steel Pan Continental Curling Championships.
All A-Division games will be broadcast on the Curling Channel, however, there may be restrictions due to broadcast partner agreements.
Follow the live scores and results here.
All times are Central Daylight Time which is UTC-5.
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