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Elite curlers balance the house

They juggle family, college and work while sleeping in hotels trying to earn money as elite curlers.
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Jolene Campbell releases her rock as Dayna Demers (left) and Kara Thevenot, of the Robyn Silvernagle rink from Saskatchewan, sweep in the 2017 Prestige Hotels Curling Classic Friday at the Vernon Curling Club. (Lisa VanderVelde/Morning Star)

They juggle family, college and work while sleeping in hotel rooms across the nation trying to earn money as elite curlers.

There are decent dollars to be won at cashspiels and sponsorships usually cover expenses, but life on the World Women’s Curling Tour is hardly a holiday. Entry fees are expensive. You often play back-to-back games. There are no equipment managers or trainers to carry your luggage. Air Miles are golden.

Nobody would change a thing, however, as the best on the planet play their hearts out pretty much every week from September until March with no guaranteed paydays.

“You can’t work full-time but you have to work because you gotta pay for your life,” said Chelsea Carey, 37, of Edmonton, in Vernon for the $41,500 Prestige Hotels &Resorts Curling Classic. “It’s tough for sure. It’s an on-going battle that one. I work part-time at The Brick Mattress Store. They’re great to me, but it’s commission. I’m not guaranteed anything. It’s all me for my rent and everything else.”

Carey says it’s a tough balancing but she somehow finds a way managing her hectic winter. She laughs at the notion that curlers seen weekly on TV are making a killing.

“People are like, ‘You’re a professional curler’ and I say if I was a professional curler, I’d be making a living and not working at another job. You’re as close as you can get to that, but you’re that because if you’re not getting paid, you’re not a professional by definition.”

Val Sweeting just moved from the small Alberta town of Vegreville to Edmonton, where her parents also now live. She has a son, Jaxen, five.

Sweeting took a leave from her job with the federal government in immigration and gets support from that department and her parents.

“It’s tough,” said Sweeting, who pocketed $20,000 in the Pinty’s Tour Challenge Tier 1 cashspiel in Regina a few weeks ago. “You have to have understanding employers for sure. So fortunately, I do have the time off to get adjusted in the city and stuff like that. My son started a new school so I got him settled there and he’s settling in well. He’s doing good.”

There are 20 women’s rinks chasing the first-place purse of $8,500. The runner-up collects $6,500.

After Saturday morning’s draw at press time, defending world champion Rachel Homan of Ottawa, Carey and Nina Roth of Blaine, Wa. were all 3-0. Two-time Prestige winner Shannon Kleibrink of Calgary, Un-Chi Gin of Korea and Diane Gushaluk of New Westminster were 3-1.

The Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, aka the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, go Dec. 2-10 in Ottawa so teams here are also trying to earn valuable Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) points. The Trials winners represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea.

Carey now has Cathy Overton-Clapham at third in place of Amy Nixon. Clapham helped Jennifer Jones win the 2008 Ford World Women’s Championships at Kal Tire Place in Vernon. Jocelyn Peterman and Laine Peters are Carey’s front enders. They are already in the Olympic Trials.

“Actually if anything, you want to take it a little easier to try to be really rested and ready for the Trials but unfortunately the way the points shook out with changing a player, we’re not necessarily into the Grand Slams and we’d like to play in those as much as possible because of arena ice before the Trials,” said Carey. ‘So, we’re playing more than we would have liked to just to try and get ourselves in that last Slam before the trials.”

Sweeting, who has also qualified for the Trials, has Lori Olson-Johns at third, Dana Ferguson at second and Rachelle Brown at lead.

“I don’t think you want to change a whole lot going into the Olympic year,” said Sweeting, who was 2-1 and leading Holly Donaldson of Victoria/Vancouver in a Saturday late morning tilt. “Just picking out what’s worked well for us in the past and focusing on that and then also what we can improve on heading into the Trials. It’s only our second time at the Trials so we’re still learning. Our first time there, we were very new to the scene.”

Sweeting said the team has come “a long way” since the first Trials in Winnipeg four years ago where they ‘didn’t know any better.” She says the rink will go in this time “feeling prepared and see how it works out.”

Corryn Brown of Kamloops has one of the youngest rinks in the classic. Third Erin Pincott played a year of women’s last year but this is Year 1 for the rest of the team which features second Dezaray Hawes and lead Samantha Fisher.

“This is definitely a year where we have to step it up and kind of play with the big girls,” said Brown, 22, a business student at Thompson Rivers University. “Usually, we try and be more aggressive than anything. In this day and age, you have to be aggressive. You’re not going to win games 1-0 or 2-0 so you definitely have to be more aggressive and take your opportunities when you get them.”

Brown, who won the 2013 national junior title, hopes to find a flexible job whereby she can take time off for curling. She believes her group has the moxy to beat anybody in the field. They were 2-2 after an early Saturday morning draw.

“I definitely think we can compete with these girls. There’s no doubt they have more experience than us, but we have a lot of experience ourselves. We performed well at the junior level and we’ve played some of these great teams, people like Kelsey Rocque, we’ve met up with multiple times and she’s definitely successful. We’ve battled it out the last couple of years. We just have to bring our A game and not let up.”

On the men’s side, there are eight rinks chasing $12,000 with the winner earning $5,000. Both finals go Sunday at 3 p.m.

EXTRA ENDS: Carey is the daughter of former Brier champion Dan Carey who won playing third for Vic Peters in 1992…Homan is married to former Chilliwack Chiefs d-man Shawn Germain, 34. The St. Paul, Alta. product spent two seasons with the Chiefs before playing six years in the minors, his final three with the ECHL Ontario Reign in California…Visit worldcurl.com for updates...Daily passes are $10 and are available at the door...Most teams head to Calgary for next week’s annual Autumn Gold Cashspiel.