Scotland’s Schafer making history at Scotties

A Scot is playing in the Scotties for Saskatchewan.

Seven-time Scottish champion and three-time Olympian Kelly Schafer is currently the third on Robyn Silvernagle’s team, which is to begin play Friday at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kamloops.

The Saskatchewan champions are to open the Canadian women’s curling championship against Nova Scotia at 8 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

Schafer is the first curler ever to compete in both the Scottish and Canadian women’s curling championships.

While competing for her home country at the 2010 world championship in Swift Current, she met the city’s mayor, Jerrod Schafer. They fell in love and got married in 2013.

But after Kelly moved to Canada, she wasn’t allowed to curl for Saskatchewan.

“When I was younger and just moved over, that’s all I wanted to do before I had family. The rules were pretty strict and I had to be a citizen, so I played in another Olympics (for Great Britain in 2018) and filled in for Anna Sloan,” Schafer said.

Schafer finally got her Canadian citizenship, so she started curling competitively and won three Saskatchewan mixed titles. She got the call to be part of Silvernagle’s team in November after competing in a mixed event in Prince Albert.

Schafer said at first she wasn’t sure she wanted to join Silvernagle’s squad because she felt burned out.

“I didn’t really want to play if I thought I couldn’t play well. And then I thought, ‘Oh, why not? A couple of weekends, let’s just give it a go,’ and it turned out to be great. I love playing with all of the girls; it’s such a positive team,” Schafer said.

Schafer said she feels proud to have earned the green and white jacket as a member of Team Saskatchewan.

“(To) come to another country and win and represent the province is something else, and now that it’s in ladies, (I’m) pretty proud,” she said.

Schafer said her family in Scotland have continued to support her, as have other members of the curling community.

“The curling world is so small and then you get everyone cheering for you, so I heard from so many people (including) a lot of old-time curling friends back from Scotland who I haven’t heard from in a while,” she said. “It lifted my heart and gave me extra support knowing that they were all cheering for us as well.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray