Scotties Notebook: Tran pushing to increase diversity in curling

There aren’t a lot of things more Canadian than curling and multiculturalism and Brittany Tran is aiming to bring the two closer together.

Tran is the super spare at lead this week for skip Beth Peterson’s Team Wild Card 3 in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at Calgary’s Markin MacPhail Centre inside WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park.

Although Tran, who is half-Vietnamese and half-Caucasian, said she’s never felt unwelcomed in the sport, she understands that might not be the case for other visible minorities. Tran said she’s reached out to Curling Alberta and Curling Canada to offer her insight into how the sport’s governing bodies can increase diversity and grow the game.

“Just with the Black Lives Matter movement, I was thinking this might be a good moment to take some momentum from that,” Tran told Sportsnet in a phone interview Wednesday. “A lot of people are starting to talk about this and I really think that’s something we need to be pushing in our sport just because I do think it’s lacking a little bit there.

“I’ve been working a little bit with Curling Canada and helping them where I can just with my feedback and input, how I feel about it and what I think from different perspectives. My dad wasn’t super into curling, so he was new and even how he felt coming into it.”

Tran, who grew up in Red Deer, Alta., and now lives in Calgary, started curling when she was about six years old as both her mother and her maternal grandfather played recreationally. Her younger sister also hit the ice and as the siblings were learning the game, so too was their father. Tran said when she would make a shot, her dad would get excited then pause and look around for reassurance from the crowd before finally cheering her on.

“He understands and is fully in the know now with curling and really enjoys watching it,” said Tran, who earned silver at the 2011 Canada Winter Games and gold at the 2012 Canadian junior curling championships throwing third for skip and childhood friend Jocelyn Peterman.

Tran currently plays second with skip Kayla Skrlik, third Selena Sturmay and lead Ashton Skrlik on the women’s tour. The Skrlik sisters are also Asian Canadian and Tran has had discussions with them about their similar experiences in curling.

“Their stepmom kind of went through the same things my dad did where she learned the sport,” Tran said. “At first she didn’t like it so it’s been really interesting to hear from their perspective as well.”

There’s no quick and simple solution and Tran understands it’s a long-term process that isn’t going to happen overnight. Changes are slowly being integrated, she said, and people are having the important discussions. A post on Reddit earlier this week highlighted her appearance in the Scotties and Tran said it’s amazing other Asian Canadians might look up to her as a role model.

“Seeing that Reddit post, that’s nice that people are actually noticing, to be honest, so people are talking about it more,” Tran said. “Just getting the conversation going and being able to start to drive it that way.”

Some of the suggestions Tran said she’s discussed with Curling Alberta and Curling Canada include helping curling clubs market themselves to various communities or even offer different types of options to play.

“Curling is a long season so it might be daunting for new people to come into when they’re not so sure about the sport,” Tran said. “There are a lot of grants and bonuses and stuff like that out there. … The cost of it definitely has some impact, so being able to mitigate that to an extent will be really helpful. I’m a big advocate for grassroots curling in general. I think getting the younger, up-and-coming curlers and some other communities and groups that will just help the sport grow and we’ll see that in the future, hopefully.”

Cathy O knows curling

Peterson’s lead Melissa Gordon wasn’t able to take time off work to compete in the event and coach/alternate Cathy Overton-Clapham gave Tran the call to join the team.

“I was super excited because any chance that you can get to play at this level is amazing,” Tran said. “You never know when you’re going to get opportunities like this, so I really jumped on the chance.”

Tran, who played for Northwest Territories in the 2019 Scotties, is the only one of the four players who has prior experience at the event with Peterson, third Jenna Loder and second Katherine Doerksen all making their national debut this week. The team has relied on Overton-Clapham, a five-time Scotties champion, for not only her experience but also her calm, reassuring demeanour.

“She’s been a great addition to our team to come to the Scotties with us,” said Loder, who previously played third for Overton-Clapham winning the Grand Slam of Curling’s season championship in 2012. “She’s such a veteran, to bring in that experience and just the pre-game prep has been really great to get our team focused and in the zone for each game that we play.”

Wild Card 3 faced off against Tran’s former skip Kerry Galusha and N.W.T. during their final preliminary group game Thursday with the winner heading to the championship pool and the loser heading home. No surprise, the frantic battle came down to an extra end with Galusha holding the all-important hammer. Peterson, who already had shot rock at the top of the button, called upon Overton-Clapham during a timeout prior to their last rock. They decided to guard and Peterson wondered out loud what would happen, “if I’m heavy,” but Overton-Clapham was quick to quash any doubt by saying, “You’re not going to be heavy.” She was right. Peterson executed a perfectly placed guard forcing Galusha to draw for the win. Galusha’s rock was tight and ran into the shot stone as Peterson stole the victory plus a spot in the next stage.

“Shockingly I wasn’t too nervous in the last end until I was done throwing and it was out of my hands but Cathy, obviously, that’s part of the reason why we brought her along is to help with the demeanour and the nerves,” Peterson said in a post-game Zoom call. “She’s able to bring us in and she was helping me earlier in the game when I was struggling. We knew where we had to put it and we were confident with that but Cathy definitely helped.”

Alberta’s Bench Mob

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is always a grind but add a year of practically no games and all the challenges surrounding playing in a bubble and it’s no surprise some teams are maximizing their resources when options are limited.

Laura Walker’s Alberta team looks a little bit different this year on the ice with super spare Rachel Brown filling in for lead Nadine Scotland, who is expecting a baby and remained at home. Walker also has some new/familiar faces behind the boards adding alternate Dana Ferguson, Brown’s teammate from Kelsey Rocque’s squad, and coach Shannon Pynn, who worked with the team last year behind the scenes, too. Ferguson is a curling development coach at the Saville Community Sports Centre and has been helping the team discuss strategy during timeouts allowing Pynn, a sports psychology PhD candidate at the University of Alberta, to focus on the team’s mental performance.

Alberta second Taylor McDonald explained how valuable it is having Pynn with them in the bubble and on the bench, especially in such a mentally taxing year.

“We’re always very thankful that Shannon is part of our team, but even more so that she was able to join us in the bubble this year,” McDonald said. “She’s been a huge part of our success and having her help guide us through a bit of uncharted territory not only with the bubble but with a new player has been amazing. We’re lucky to have her on board.”

Family first

Although Tracy Fleury isn’t playing in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, she’s still in the hearts of her Wild Card 1 teammates.

Two-time Canadian champion Chelsea Carey joined the Manitoba-based trio of third Selena Njegovan, second Liz Fyfe and lead Kristin MacCuish this week after Fleury opted to stay home in Sudbury, Ont., to take care of her eight-month-old daughter, Nina, who was diagnosed with infantile spasms, a seizure disorder, in November.

“We’re doing much better now,” Fleury told sportsnet.ca in a phone interview Friday. “November and December were very challenging for us but our daughter is much healthier now. … She’s responding well to treatment now, so things are looking up.”

The team decided to wear purple ribbons on their jerseys to raise awareness for infantile spasms and let Fleury know they’re thinking about her.

“She’s been watching the games and she’s been so supportive,” Njegovan said during a post-game Zoom call. “We miss her like crazy but family comes first and we’re hoping that Nina is starting to feel better.”

Fleury said it was so thoughtful of them and means a lot to her family.

“We didn’t know that they were going to do that, so it’s a pleasant surprise,” she said. “It’s just nice to know that they’re thinking of our little girl.”

The team has kept in touch with Fleury via group chats and she said they’ve done a great job making her still feel included.

“I’m just grateful that Chelsea was available so they have a really good leader for them in Calgary,” Fleury said. “I’m kind of just letting them do their own thing. They’re all so talented and Chelsea calls a great game. They’re doing well. I’m really proud of them this week.”

Entering the Homan stretch

Business has picked up with the preliminary round complete and the top four teams from both pools advancing to the championship pool.

Ontario’s Rachel Homan edged Canada’s Kerri Einarson for the top spot out of Pool A. Both teams finished with matching 7-1 records, however, Homan claimed A1 after handing Einarson her first loss, a 7-4 decision Thursday afternoon, in a rematch of last year’s final.

It was a pivotal performance that could prove critical as the defending champion Einarson now has to outpace Homan in order to secure the first place bye to the gold-medal game. Already in the driver’s seat, the three-time Scotties champion Homan believes her team is close to hitting their top gear.

“I think we’re right there if we can continue with the way we’re playing and the way we’re hanging in games and fighting tooth and nail to the end,” Homan said. “I don’t think there’s going to be any pretty wins out here. It’s going to be lots of grinding and just whoever can outlast this long marathon. … We have the ability right now.”

Peterson and Walker had identical records at 5-3. Head-to-head was also the deciding factor with Peterson’s 6-4 victory over Walker on Monday key to clinching third.

Three teams finished tied atop Pool B as Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson, Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones and Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges all qualified at 6-2. Head-to-head records in pool play again decided the order with Anderson first, Jones in second and St-Georges third. Wild Card One, the Carey/Fleury crew, locked down the fourth seed at 5-3.

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