Promoting Portugese curling
Tucked away high in the mountains of Portugal is a small tented sheet of ice that has a very strong Canadian connection. It is also the only place in the country where you can curl.
Led by a group of Canadians, the Portuguese Winter Sports Federation is working to change that. To that end the Penticton Curling Club hosted a training camp and give members a chance to scout out some Okanagan talent for that country’s national women’s team to promote the sport.
Federation member April Galeseixeiro of Nanaimo was among those who came to Penticton for the camp.
“Portugal has no ice at all, seriously, no ice so there’s nowhere to play,” said Galeseixeiro who married into a Portuguese family. “There’s really no popular winter sports so it’s an uphill battle. We’re hoping to get a dedicated arena, but that’s a few years down the road.
Along with finding members for the Portuguese team that will compete in April at the European championships in Scotland (C division), the camp was to encourage the sport among the Okanagan Portuguese community.
“These people should learn to play because curling is the best sport in the world,” said Galeseixeiro with a smile. “Some of these people might think it’s soccer, but we know it’s really curling.”
With two members of the program from Penticton the decision to hold the camp here was an easy one for organizers.
“Coming here was a beautiful, perfect choice, the ice is lovely, the curling club is great and just the way the community has embraced us is beautiful,” she added.
Irene Goodis and Isabel Smith are the two Penticton women who are part of the Portuguese national program.
“I was contacted by the federation and I had a Zoom meeting with the coaches in Portugal and they convinced me to try out,” said Goodis whose parents were born in Portugal and where she visits often. “I would love to represent them, it would be an honour.”