Mexico’s Gabriela Fernandez was watching Canadian satellite at her rental apartment just outside of Guadalajara. She came across a very unusual looking sport. It was curling.
Her Canadian landlord watched a few ends with her and tried to fill her in on a Canadian favourite.
READ MORE: How much do you know about curling?
What got her hooked?
“The strategy is incredible,” she said. “All the angles and everything they have to look for. The lines, I mean everything.”
She loves the Canadians, notably Alberta’s Kevin Koe rink and Ontario’s Rachel Homan. She’s wanted to see them for years, but it was too expensive to fly to Canada. The closest she could get was the Continental Cup in Las Vegas. It took her a year to save for the first of two trips to Nevada.
“Went to Las Vegas and then half of the next year I was still paying but I didn’t care,” Fernandez said.
“I got to see curling for the first time and it was just incredible, it was like going to Disneyland for me.”
READ MORE: Rachel Homan wins gold for Canada at World Women’s Curling Championship 2017
Edmonton’s Jude Baker heard about Fernandez when she was also at the Continental Cup in 2016. That was when it was announced that the world championship was coming to Edmonton. She knew right then she had to get Fernandez to Edmonton for this event.
“I’m not independently wealthy so that wasn’t a reality, but it kept nagging at me,” Baker said. “About two weeks after I was home I thought, ‘I wonder if we did a GoFundMe page if we could make it happen?’ But I’ve never done that before and I didn’t really have too much of a clue.”
She enlisted the help of someone she had never met, former curler and broadcaster Cheryl Bernard, who jumped on board immediately. After some work, the page was up. Curlers and fans donated over $3,200 to get Fernandez here for the entire event.
“I can’t thank them enough,” said Baker. “If it hadn’t been for all their support this wouldn’t have happened and that would’ve been tough.
“You know, if it didn’t happen and I had to say, ‘Sorry Gavi, you’re not coming.’ That would’ve killed me.”
“Awesome,” said Fernandez. “I wish I could have another word, but I can only say it’s been awesome.”
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