Dec 4 (Reuters) - In 2023, the New Zealand men's curling team, comprised of Anton Hood, Ben Smith, Brett Sargon and Hunter Walker, decided they needed to move to Calgary.
The quartet had just competed at the World Championships and finished last, so they were looking to Canada to improve their competitive edge.
The only problem? They could not afford the rent.
In a bind, the team reached out to Kim Forge, then president of the Australian Curling Federation.
Forge posted on her Facebook account on their behalf, requesting affordable short-term accommodation for the "best bunch of young men."
The plea reached Cassandra Murray, a consultant for the Chartwell Colonel Belcher retirement home, who offered to put up the cash-strapped Kiwis.
"We got that correspondence and thought, 'wow, a retirement home, is this really what we want to do with our time in Canada?'," Hood told Reuters.
"But once we got there, it was completely different to what we thought. It was a really nice atmosphere. All the residents there were excited to see us, and that brought all our energy up.
"We were really surprised. The place felt homely and all the interactions we had were very positive and warm."
News of their unusual living arrangement spread, slowly at first, then suddenly after a New York Times article chronicling their story.
Overnight, they were sensations.
"It was a lot," Hood said. "We're not really a very out-there group of guys, so to have media interviews every week for what felt like months was something that we had to learn to manage."
"It certainly wasn't something we were used to, but it was great for our team's exposure. It gave us a few sponsor opportunities we didn't have before."
And two years later, they are just one tournament away from qualifying for the Milano Cortina Olympics and becoming the first team from New Zealand to compete at the Winter Olympics since 2006.
Hood says he and his teammates were richer for the experience of moving to Calgary - both in terms of their curling skills and the life lessons they received from their fellow residents at the home.
"There were lots of learning situations, advice that they gave us about life," the 25-year-old added.
"People in their 80s and 90s telling you stories and talking about their lives and the opportunities they've had, the ones that they wish they took."
"Having that home base in Calgary that we could do our curling out of and the overall life experience that opportunity gave us, it made us look within ourselves and grow as athletes and as people. We are forever grateful."
CURLING COMMUNITY
Hood, Walker and Smith are all from Otago, a curling stronghold on New Zealand's South Island.
The sport was brought to the region by Scottish miners during the gold rush of the 1860s and it has endured, centred around a tight-knit community.
"It would mean a lot to qualify, not only for us as players, but to our families and especially to our community," Naseby native Hood said.
"We're pretty much all from a very small community. They are a massive support network for us and look after us really well and help us with fundraising."
"We're self-funded athletes. Without our community, we wouldn't be here."
Hood and Courtney Smith will also compete in the mixed doubles at the December 5 to 18 Olympic qualifier in Kelowna, Canada, where they will come up against Australians Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt.
Gill and Hewitt, who sit atop the mixed doubles rankings, became the first Australians to compete in curling at the Olympics at the 2022 Beijing Games.
"They've created those conversations (about curling) in their country, which is a hell of a lot better than what it was before," Hood said.
"In New Zealand, Auckland's about to open their very first curling rink ... For us to make an Olympics in the same few weeks that they are opening would create a massive demand for the sport."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
