BETWEEN CLUB AND ELITE
It’s tough to break through
Jessie and Nicky Kaufman dream of greater things, like playing in the Canadian women’s championship or even the Olympics, but the sisters are currently stuck at competitive curling’s mid-level in Alberta.
At the top are elite teams, which are pretty much full-time curlers who play in the big-money Grand Slam events. At the bottom are recreational teams, which play in regular curling club leagues and the occasional bonspiel.
“Then there’s us in between,” said Jessie Kaufman, 27, who works at Olson Curling.
“We work and try to get on the ice as much as we can, but we can’t really get out as often, so we’re just not as good as the elite teams.
“It’s just getting harder and harder to get to that level,” she said, trying to explain why only six teams entered the Northern Alberta Curling Association’s women’s playdown in early January. “If you can’t get to that (elite) level, a lot of teams are thinking, ‘Why bother?’ It’s actually really sad to see the numbers dying like that.”
Jessie’s team plays in the Saville Centre’s Super League and has one team practice plus individual workouts each week, while Nicky’s rink increased its schedule in an attempt to get better. Both sisters entered the same seven bonspiels in Alberta this season.
“It’s a big commitment, but it’s one that I enjoy doing. I think I would be lost without it,” said Jessie, who knows that commitment would grow significantly on an elite team. “Once you get into that circuit, it’s easier to kind of stay in there and maintain that level and get great sponsorship because of the TV exposure so you can get more time off work ... But until you break through, you just keep struggling at this level.”
The Kaufmans were on the verge of breaking into elite circles when their team went undefeated in the 2012 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s championship before losing to Sherwood Park’s Heather Nedohin.
“That’s kind of our biggest accomplishment to date so it was good to get that far, but tough to lose that game,” said Nicky, 30, an accountant.
While Nedohin went on to win the Canadian championship, which automatically qualified her team for the 2013 nationals, and play in a world championship and the 2013 Olympic trials, Kaufman’s team eventually broke up.
Now the sisters are each skipping their own rinks — both out of Avonair Curling Club — in the Jiffy Lube provincial championship, which started Wednesday at Calgary’s North Hills Curling Club. They are on opposite sides of the draw, so won’t have to play each other too early.
“If my team is not doing well, then I hope Jessie’s team can be the one to go on (to the national championship),” said Nicky, a third-year skip at the competitive level. “There is that support and respect for each other. But when we go out there, we still want to win.”
Nicky showed just how competitive the sisters are when she slammed her broom on the ice after missing a shot in an extra end against Jessie in a bonspiel at Lloydminster.
Jessie, who had a 4-3 record and lost a C Event final to get into the playoffs at each of the last three provincials, is playing with Erin Carmody, Lynnelle Mahe and Kim Curtin. Nicky thinks her lineup of Holly Baird, Deena Benoit and Pamela Appelman is stronger than it was at last year’s provincials, when they won three of six games.