#ECC2023 Sports Media Trainee Blog
Jaiden Tripi (22) and Valerii Sazonov (34) are the latest winners of the Sports Media Trainee Programme. In March, both were selected to join the World Curling Federation Media Team at the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2023 in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Jaiden will be working as a photographer while Valerii will provide written and social media content.
Follow their time in Aberdeen via their personal blogs.
Jaiden Tripi
21–26 November
The last few days in Aberdeen were pretty chill. Since we had three photographers, we could split the work and hang out in the nice media room – there were lots of laughs and memories I won’t forget.
After the Closing Ceremony was over, we all packed up and headed to the hotel to get ready for a wonderful team dinner. I tried mulled wine for the first time, which was not bad actually, just different. I then ordered a beer with a side of milk, or maybe it was milk with a side of beer. Who knows? But I do know that everyone laughed because I suppose that’s not normal.
After dinner, I said goodbye to Mariann and Stephen, Amy, James and I went to a few pubs where I learned to play pool for the first time. I did better than I thought I would, but I certainly performed at the level of someone who’s never played a game of pool before.
I didn’t end up going to sleep till half past one in the morning and had to be up to catch a taxi to the airport at 4 in the morning, so I had a pretty sleepy flight back to the US.
I’m very grateful for this opportunity and surprisingly got very interested in the sport of curling – much more than I thought I would have at the start. There’s a lot more strategy that goes into the sport than I thought.
Overall, this trip was unforgettable for several reasons. This was my first time traveling overseas, so it was extra special, but the friends and places and laughs I had will always stick with me.
19–21 November
A lot has happened in the past two days and I felt the need to write a short blog post. The night I wrote my first blog post, I went to catch a bus to the venue to shoot the evening session and somehow found myself in a Christmas parade in the middle of November.
I was not sure what to do as it was clear no buses were going to be running. I went with my instinct and pulled out my camera as I was strapped with all my gear ready to shoot curling. I took some fun pictures of the parade and ended up watching it to the end. I was so fascinated with the event for obvious reasons.
The following day was a typical day of round-robin curling. After the sessions, I went out to get pizza with one of our photographers, James, and we found ourselves at a pub for a pint with the team. This was very good fun and found it to be great team bonding and certainly a night I will remember.
The following day, today, was very eventful – we took the winner’s trophies to Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven and got to see my first castle, which I was amazed at and couldn’t stop but stare.
Our photo manager, Stephen and I kept taking photos with an app we found ourselves using all day called “Kuji cam” which puts random film filters on our photos. We had a load of fun with that.
Valerii Sazonov
Last Sunday, on the evening of November 19, the bars of Aberdeen were bustling with people. Scotland faced Norway on a football pitch. Beer glasses were in constant motion, and three goals from each side excited the crowd.
Speaking of scoring threes… at that very time, at Curl Aberdeen, Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel, Swiss vice-skip, scored three with an accurate take-out in the first end against Italy. In the following end, team Retornaz paid back in kind with three points after a definitive draw from skip Retornaz. The seventh end saw another three for Switzerland, but it was not enough. Italy’s more assured play gave them an 11-8 victory. Diverse and emotional curling indeed!
Certainly, some glasses would have been raised to toast the Italian skip and to cheer Switzerland’s efforts, but by people watching from home, not in bars.
There is very little or no curling in the bars of Aberdeen, or elsewhere in Scotland for that matter, even though the BBC is currently focusing on the tournament in Aberdeen.
So, I feel it it’s too bad that I can’t have a desirable glass of renowned Scotch ale and watch curling at the same time.
Maybe football vibes are too intense for the curling mood. But what is the curling mood? — a wish for a secure and inclusive environment that not every sport can provide. The World Curling Federation continues to invest resources to maintaining and building awareness. Perhaps the day will come — and it will need a lot of effort — when no curling fan will be left without a glass of ale in a warm welcoming bar.
Jaiden Tripi
15–19 November
Before making the trek to Scotland, I had never traveled internationally, which is the most exciting part of this experience. Shooting curling is more of a bonus.
My trip here was quite rough as a few days prior I had just come back from a three-day festival, which meant I was exhausted before stepping foot on my first flight to Aberdeen.
Once I had arrived, I had been on seven flights in five days, and on top of that, I was very much jet-lagged. I’ve been in Aberdeen for three nights now and I’m finally feeling fresh. The first few days were rough as I slept ten hours three days in a row — I would go to bed at 7 pm and wake up around 5 am. I had even missed the team dinner on the first night of the trip as I went to sleep the second I stepped in my hotel room.
Now that I’m settled in and have been able to take photographs the first few days, I’m quite used to the workflow and it has been great meeting everyone and learning much about curling.
I have never shot nor watched curling prior to this trip, but I think there is an advantage to that in my photography as I can bring a fresh, creative eye that I have developed shooting almost purely US sports.
I was sort of surprised by the venue as it was much smaller than I expected, but again, there is also a charm to this as I can get closer to the athletes and take fun pictures. I would say I’m doing quite well and excited about the work I’m doing and will do in the following days.
Today was the first day I had downtime and I used it to walk around Aberdeen, in the rain of course, and see the city. I found a powerlifting gym where I had a session as I’m trying to keep up with my training as much as possible. It was very similar to the powerlifting gyms in Boston where I currently live — very much a small, garage-like environment, but that’s the charm.
Valerii Sazonov
Ice, Stone, Fire
“As we have developed the game of Quidditch, so it has developed us; Quidditch unites witches and wizards from all walks of life, bringing us together to share moments of exhilaration, triumph”
Albus Dumbledore, “Quidditch Through the Ages”
***
The debate on the origin of curling was amicably settled back in the 19th century when John Kerr from The Royal Caledonian Curling Club, in his “The History of Curling”, acknowledged that similar games existed in various territories but emphasised the obvious — nowhere it had developed as significantly as in Scotland.
Watching curling in its birth country is an exciting privilege, thanks to the World Curling Federation and the Sports Media Trainee Programme. It offers not only a first-class sporting event backstage experience, but a chance to witness a particle of identity that unites people, welcomes them on a common field and under the same rules. In the world again divided with contradictions and newly drawn boundaries, such events should not go unnoticed.
However, on the opponent side, experienced players engage in the game, and this is not just the tragic agenda of recent months. The sport industry is still recovering from the aftermath of the pandemic, and the fear of event cancellations, coupled with fan anxieties, forces “learned helplessness”.
Aberdeen, hosting the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships, welcomes several dozens of top European teams more out of business practicality than festive hospitality. Yet, the ice and stone would never become curling without the fiery passion within the Scots, so let’s give the tournament time — today is just the first day. The weather seems to be playing along: what could be better on a gloomy, rainy November day than to sit in Curl Aberdeen or in front of the TV enthusiastically shouting “Sweep!”?
