Curling for Kelly Schafer began under chandeliers in Angus. In a few weeks she may have cause to swing from them in PyeongChang with a gold medal round her neck.
This has been no ordinary sporting career for the lady who married a mayor and then came out of professional retirement to have one last shot at Olympic glory.
The 2018 Winter Games next month provide a chance to give that career an extraordinary ending.
Kelly Wood from Montrose was a multiple Scottish champion, world and European medallist and two-time Olympian.
But settling down to married and family life in Canada appeared to spell the end of her championship ambitions.
An old team-mate of Eve Muirhead’s at the Vancouver Olympics of 2010, she was asked to stand in for Anna Sloan when injury struck. A temporary gig has become something a bit more permanent and Kelly has been the fifth member of the rink for the whole Olympic season.
It might not have started out as a masterplan to complete her medal collection. But a couple of weeks away from an Olympic Games in which Team GB’s Team Muirhead will be strong contenders to be on the podium and possibly at the top of it, it’s starting to look like one.
“I’d been getting on with my life and it had just been Canadian curling for me,” Kelly explained.
“I was trying to pursue that but for citizenship reasons I couldn’t.
“To be asked to step in for injuries and illnesses was like the best opportunity ever – to get to come back and see old team-mates and be involved in curling again.
“It was an opportunity to share my experiences with the girls.
“Often an alternate can be like a travelling reserve but I don’t think there will have ever been a fifth player as involved as I’ve been.
“I’d been covering for Anna when she was injured and then when she was coming back they said they wanted me to stay on. I feel a huge part of it because I’ve been so involved for a while now.
“I’ve played a lot. Just last weekend that was the case in Berne when Anna was ill.
“You have to be ready to play at the drop of a hat. If I’m not then I’m letting the team down. I need to be as engaged as the others. That’s kept me focused.
“It’s been about me having another opportunity rather than being the fifth player.
“If I get a medal I’ll definitely feel I’ve earned it. I’ve lived and breathed this for two-and-a-bit years. It’s not like I’ve been pulled in at the last minute. I feel everything that they feel. They’ve made me feel a huge part of it. It’s been a real privilege.
“It’s the only medal I don’t have. There’s a spot waiting for it at home. Obviously I’d love for that to happen.”
Unchallenged domestically for several years, you won’t find a more dominant Scottish sporting team than this one.
The curling landscape was more muddled in the build up to the Vancouver Games though, with selectors deciding to go down a very different route. Kelly doesn’t think it was necessarily a flawed plan, just one that wasn’t given enough time.
“To be fair to British Curling they were looking for the best opportunity to medal,” she recalled.
“What they did was take three skips. It was kind of like a dream team.
“I’m not sure that there was enough time to weld all of our ideas together because skips all have different thoughts and strategies on the game.
“If we had more time it could have worked. We came together in 2009 so we only had a season. We’d been playing a squad system before that in which we were all alternating positions.
“We were all different ages too. Eve was 19 – eight years younger than me. Then Jackie (Lockhart) was eight or nine years older. We were different generations of curling.
“I think we need more time with regards how we saw the game. Essentially it was a dream team but in practice it didn’t quite work like that.
“Eve had beaten me in the Scottish Championships just before selection. She was the best shot-maker at that time. It shouldn’t matter how old you are. She could play the shots and we all supported and respected her.
“We didn’t have concerns about her age.
“We thought, ‘yes, we do have this little dream team’ and we had success in championships behind us. I don’t think it was ever about Eve being too young.
“I think we’d all look back and think ‘maybe we could have done this or that better’. Hindsight is a great thing. We all learned from it. I did and I’m sure Eve did.”
It wasn’t long after that Olympic disappointment – her second Games after missing out on a medal in 2006 as well – that Schafer made Canada her home.
“After that Olympic cycle in 2010 we went to the Worlds at Swift Current,” she said. “I can remember thinking this was the last place I wanted to be at that time.
“But that’s where I met my husband, Jerrod. I married the mayor and never came back! I’ve got a little boy with Jerrod, Darby, who is three now. And I’ve got two step kids.
“It’s a bit of a balancing act. The girls said ‘bring Darby with you anytime you’re coming with us.’ That’s what I’ve done. He’s had one big adventure since we started this thing. This is his seventh trip to Scotland and four of those have been through curling.
“We’re getting the chance to spend time with my mum, sisters, aunties and cousins. They all live in the Forfar, Brechin, Montrose area.
“Curling all started for me at Letham Grange. That was the fanciest curling rink in Scotland. I can remember all the wooden beams and chandeliers. It closed maybe 10 years ago.
“Darby has found this new little Scottish world over here. It’s a real adventure and it makes it easier for me. If I’d left him in Canada it would have been too hard.”
