Retired curler Bernard set to rock the ice one more time
CALGARY — Cheryl Bernard had three huge challenges for 2015 and she got through all of them with flying colours.
First, she decided to retire from competitive curling and though it hasn’t been easy, she remains retired.
Second, she accepted an invite from TSN to give announcing a shot in the face of scrutiny from a million armchair skips. They invited her back for a second year.
To finish things off, Bernard accepted an invitation to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and she got to the top and down in one piece.
The not curling anymore part has been hard, Bernard admitted.
“I really do miss the game,” she said. “I miss the competing, but I don’t miss all the time and commitment it takes to play at that level.”
Bernard misses her friends, too, and for that reason she’s taking a break from retirement to play in this week’s Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic in Vernon, B.C. For one weekend, she will reunite with her Olympic teammates Susan O’Connor, Carolyn McRorie and Cori Morris, with whom she won silver in 2010 in Vancouver, along with the Vernon cashspiel too.
“We miss each other and we spent so many years together that we thought it’d be fun,” Bernard said.
“That being said, we’re not just going there just to have fun. We’ve all been throwing rocks like crazy. That competitive nature comes back.”
After that, it’s back to the booth. Bernard took TSN up on their invitation to serve as a commentator for the Canada Cup of Curling in Camrose last December and fit in so nicely she remained with the crew for the season and was asked back for 201516.
“I’m really looking forward to tackling it this year when I’ve had the summer to think about different ways to put my own brand on it,” she said.
That approach won’t include being overly critical of the shot makers she used to compete against.
“I’m never going to be one of these announcers that’s hard on players. If they are making $7 million a year, then you can be brutally hard, but most of these players that I know from being a player they are part-time and they are doing their best out there.”
When the ice came out last spring, Bernard turned her attention to joining a group of Canadian celebrities on a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in June in support of World Vision. Bernard serves as a sponsor of an eight-year-old girl in that country, thus the connection.
“When I left curling, the one thing I knew I was going to always miss is the challenge; to achieve a goal or succeed at something. So when this was put in front of me, it was perfect timing because I want something to work toward,” she said.
“So I bought some hiking boots and I started training around Calgary and Banff and I went and climbed.”
Bernard said the next challenge may be another climb — possibly Machu Picchu, but certainly not Everest.
First comes curling season.
“For me this year, it’s going to be great to get back on the ice with the girls — I can’t wait — and I’m really working hard to prepare for TSN,” she said. “Once that’s done, I’ll look at some new challenges.”