Curlers preparing to represent Jamaica on the world stage
September 21, 2022
Shortly after moving to Thunder Bay in 2017 to become the Northwest Local Integration Health Network (LHIN) Director of Care & Community Services, Dionne Sinclair was introduced to curling.
“One of the managers that I worked with said I should come out and curl and my reaction was, ‘Come out and what’,” the Jamaican immigrant recalled. “When she explained that the sport was on ice, they were looking for a player and I should come out and try it, I thought about it.”
Coming from a big city and not finding much to do in northwestern Ontario during winter, Sinclair gave the sport a shot.
“I have the attitude that when in Rome, do as the Romans do,” she said. “I figured curling couldn’t be that bad because you are not on skates. Furthermore, it looked like fun.”
The first time on ice, Sinclair fell on her butt.
That did not deter the award-winning body builder and fitness guru.
“I learnt to sweep and I had so much fun,” said Sinclair who is the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH) Vice-President of Clinical Operations & Chief Nursing Executive. “I was 50 at the time and I thought my glory days of competitive sport were behind me. However, I found out that anyone at any age can curl. It is a very inclusive sport.”
Her first year curling was highly successful.
Sinclair’s Fort William Curling & Athletic Club won the four-member team 2017/18 Breakfast championship.
“I took that trophy almost every place I went for a few weeks as I proudly walked around telling anyone that would listen that I am an award-winning curler,” the Western University PhD Nursing student said.
In Thunder Bay, Sinclair met fellow Jamaican-born Cristiene Hall-Teravainen who has been curling since 1983 when she moved from Toronto.
“One of the first things I said to Cristiene is we should start a Jamaican curling team,” recalled Sinclair who proudly uses the new BlackCurlMagic broom unveiled to recognize Black curlers. “She told me to get out of here and that is not possible.”
Dionne Sinclair with the new BlackCurlMagic broom (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Almost four years later, the seemingly impossible became reality.
Last July, Curling Jamaica became the second Caribbean country – Guyana was the first in 2016 -- to be accepted by the World Curling Federation (WCF).
“This is an exciting milestone for the sport as we continue to increase our members in non-traditional curling nations,” said WCF President Kate Caithness of the conditional membership. “We look forward to working together to increase curling’s exposure in Jamaica and seeing their development over the years.”
During a ski trip in 1982 for her 24th birthday, Hall-Teravainen fell in love with northwest Ontario’s largest urban centre and an individual that became her husband the next year.
John Teravainen passed away in 2008.
“Thunder Bay is pristine and beautiful,” said Hall-Teravainen who left Jamaica in 1965 and was a member of her high school diving team. “During the summer months, I had to cross a golf course that was attached to a curling club and I never saw any women playing. That is how I got into curling and being a golf pro.”
Curling competitively for over three decades and seeing just one other Black curler (Nkeirouka Ezekh represented Russia) in competitions, she received an email a few years ago from an individual, asking if she wanted to form a Jamaican curling team.
“Who is this person?” Hall-Teravainen remembered asking herself. “I looked him up, but didn’t respond.”
Even when Ben Kong introduced himself, she didn’t follow up. It was only when her curling coach suggested she start a Jamaican team did she think it might be a good idea.
“When Ben reached out to me again, I said, ‘Sure, let’s go for this’,” related Hall-Teravainen who is a certified coach and instructor. “That’s how this journey got started. I went through many hoops to get us to this point.”
Coming to the Greater Toronto Area as an infant when his parents migrated from Jamaica 46 years ago, Kong grew up watching curling on television.
Though he played and watched other sports, he focused a lot on curling throughout high school.
“I found the sport to be very interesting and that is mostly because of the strategy involved,” said Kong who was a member of his high school track & field and cross-country teams. “If you get into the game and understand the rules, the sport becomes addictive. It seems simple where you have to get your colour stone closer than the opponents at the end of the day. But there is so much that goes into it. When I became an adult, I said I have to try this game.”
Once on the ice, he quickly found out that launching a 40-pound rock down a sheet of ice towards a specific target requires a high degree of athleticism, balance and precision.
As Kong became engrossed in the sport, the idea of putting a Jamaican team together crossed his mind.
Ben Kong proudly displays the Jamaican flag (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“I figured there has to be other Jamaicans that play this sport and it was time for us to get together,” the Curling Jamaica President said. “I have played with several teams and taken part in many bonspiels (curling tournaments) and I even went as far as calling other club managers, inquiring if any of their curlers were of Jamaican descent. I found three. One of them did not return my call and the other two communicated with me through email. I don’t think they took me seriously and I could sort of understand that.”
Using social media, he found a post by Hall-Teravainen who once competed in the Canadian senior championship.
“She responded after about a year and the rest is history,” said Kong. “For many years, I envisioned the day that a Jamaican curling team would step onto the ice and represent the country on the world stage. That day will now become reality. I can’t wait to begin our on-ice preparations, grow the sport and watch Jamaica make its debut at a World Curling championship.”
When recreational curler Andrew Walker saw that plans were underway to start a Jamaican program, he immediately jumped on board.
The realtor started curling about 10 years ago.
“It was purely by watching the sport a lot on television,” the Wolmer’s Boys’ School graduate said. “One day, my wife suggested I try it instead of just watching. It just so happened that one of my friends at the gym we attended has a brother who was involved in a beginner’s curling league and I joined. I play chess and I look at curling as playing chess on ice. There is a lot of strategy involved.”
Andrew Walker (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Walker, who left Jamaica 26 years ago, is a Board member of the Royal Canadian Curling Club on Broadview Ave.
“One of our members mentioned he met a guy by the name of Ben Kong who was trying to find curlers of Jamaican descent and we should get in touch,” said the Curling Jamaica Secretary General. “We did and, leveraging some of the contacts I have in Jamaica, we were able to get in contact with the Jamaican Olympic Association whose president (Christopher Samuda) is an old boy of my high school.”
While the immediate focus is on a core group of 14 players, the majority in Ontario, Curling Jamaica plans to reach out to youths in Jamaica interested in taking up the sport.
“They are the future and we are going to be developing from the grassroots,” said Hall-Teravainen who is Curling Jamaica Vice-President & Technical Director. “With some of my connections, I have the ability to bring up young people from Jamaica who have an interest in curling and want to go far in the sport. They will be accommodated, sent to school and given access to some of the best coaches who are right here in Thunder Bay so they can become curling athletes on the world stage.
“Because there is no ice facility in Jamaica, we will take floor curling there to try to introduce them to the sport. That is something that has taken off in Africa. If there are young people of Jamaican descent in the Diaspora who are interested, we will also assist them as we are taking athletes from anywhere who would like to curl for Jamaica.”
Jamaica expects to make its debut on the global stage at the World Mixed Curling championship in Aberdeen, Scotland from October 15 to 22.
“To be offered the opportunity to get on a world stage right away is huge and we are trying to get funding,” added Hall-Teravainen. “We are reaching out to sponsors.”
The Caribbean country is also eligible to participate in the inaugural Pan Continental Curling championship from October 31 to November 6 in Calgary. The event is a qualifier for the 2023 World championship in Ottawa next April.
Curling was included in the program of the first Winter Olympics in 1924.
Jamaica made its first appearance at the global Winter Games in Calgary in 1988 when the bobsled team finished 30th in the 42-team two-man event and completed the four-man race despite a spectacular crash when driver Dudley Stokes lost control of the sled while attempting to negotiate a challenging turn.
Retired Jamaica Army officer Devon Harris is an original team member.
“It is wonderful to see Jamaica being represented in a winter sport and I wish the curlers all the best,” said the three-time Olympian and motivational speaker. “Of course, everyone expects you to win when you put on the black, green and gold colours. I think they know what they have to do to succeed in the sport. My only advice to them is to ensure they enjoy the process.”
Curling Jamaica can be reached at info.jamaicacurling@gmail.com or by Facebook.
