Jamaican curling team will train in Canada

‘‘ This is not a novelty. We’re actually very serious about getting a team into the world championships. BEN KONG FOUNDER

OF THE JAMAICA CURLING FEDERATION

Jamaica should form a team, HallTeravainen reached out: “I found his text. And I called him and I said, ‘Were you serious about this?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely.’ So I said, ‘OK, I’ll help you because obviously there are Jamaicans that curl. So let’s do this.’ And that’s how it started.”

Hall-Teravainen and Chen have practised in Thunder Bay with two female curlers who are new to the sport, a potential lead and second for the team. Coaches in both Thunder Bay and Kenora are also ready to get on board and become part of the official team, when and if that happens.

There are also curlers in New York City and Atlanta who are interested in playing, says Kong, and the hope is to field a mixed doubles team as well.

“This is not a novelty,” he says. “We’re actually very serious about getting a team into the world championships.”

Kong joined three different clubs in the GTA this year to help get the Jamaican federation off the ground: the Unionville Curling Club, Royal Canadian Curling Club and Leaside, where he met Chen’s father.

Kong has incorporated the federation in Jamaica, a requirement of that country’s Olympic association. He also incorporated in Canada, where the federation would hold training camps and look to expand, another prerequisite for a member of Jamaica’s Olympic association.

Initially, Kong says he was interested in the novelty of playing internationally for Jamaica. But his dream quickly became a lot bigger, something he hadn’t anticipated.

“And that’s the social impact, the potential benefits to Jamaicans in Jamaica who may not have thought of coming to Canada,” he says, “or may not have even known the sport. And being made aware of it and possibly playing for us.”

He also spoke to a couple of people who run sports programs for Toronto inner-city youth and believes a curling program could benefit those of Caribbean descent.

“There’s big interest in collaborating and getting them on the ice and trying curling,” says Kong.

His federation will need money — Kong estimates in the five figures — but sponsorship is on the back burner until he gets the Olympic association’s blessing. There’s also the potential for merchandise sales.

Hall-Teravainen, a certified coach and instructor, says she’s prepared to go to Jamaica with a curling floor kit and introduce kids to the sport. Fellow curlers in the Thunder Bay area have told her they are ready to help, including billeting juniors who come there to train.

“Thunder Bay is just so open to this,” says Hall-Teravainen. “There’s so many people that say, ‘Cristiene, hey, whatever it takes, I’ll help.’ ”

If it all works out, curling would join the growing list of Winter Olympics sports that Jamaica has participated in.

The country qualified for three bobsled events in February’s Beijing Olympics: four-man, two-man and monobob. Benjamin Alexander, who grew up in Britain and whose father was from Jamaica, also became the country’s first Olympic alpine skier, citing “Cool Runnings” jibes on the slopes as inspiration. And at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Errol Kerr finished ninth in ski cross.