Photo: Team Hood via the Guardian.
New Zealand curling skip Anton Hood with fan and Chartwell Colonel Belcher resident Bill Dench. The New Zealand team found a good place to live while in training — a retirement community in Calgary, Canada.
This is a story about a retirement community, a team from the other side of the world, and the unexpected benefits of co-housing.
Scott Cacciola reported at the New York Times early this year, “Ben Smith never could have imagined spending the winter at a retirement home in Calgary, Alberta, sipping Caesar cocktails with three of his best friends — Anton Hood, Brett Sargon and Hunter Walker — while their octogenarian neighbors play bridge and tabletop shuffleboard.
“In fact, the four men, who are professional curlers from New Zealand working on their Olympic aspirations in one of the world’s most celebrated curling hotbeds, have made themselves at home since moving into the Chartwell Colonel Belcher Retirement Residence, a senior living community on Calgary’s west side. They are the building’s newest tenants — and its youngest. …
“The story of how a team of young men wound up occupying two suites at a Canadian retirement home … involves luck, economics and word-of-mouth generosity among Calgary-area curlers. In the process, the arrangement has showcased the virtues of intergenerational living.
“ ‘Oh, we really were just shocked,’ said Bertha Esplen, 97. ‘We really were. Because all of a sudden we get curlers from New Zealand in our building. Man, that was great. We couldn’t wait for them to come.’
“Since arriving in September [2022], the team has financed its curling dreams by landing day jobs — Mr. Smith, 24, for example, works as a plumber four days a week — while acclimating to life in a sprawling community of surrogate grandparents and well-intentioned back-seat curlers.
“At least one resident has asked for a practice schedule so that he can taxi over to the Calgary Curling Club, where the team trains and Mr. Hood, 23, moonlights as an assistant ice technician, and offer advice. …
“They nitpick because they care. That became clear to Mr. Sargon a few weeks ago when he joined Mr. Hood at a curling tournament in Okotoks, about 25 miles south of Calgary. As soon as their match began, Mr. Sargon and Mr. Hood realized that they had their own fan club. Fourteen residents, armed with bag lunches and homemade signs, had made the trip via charter bus to cheer them on in a loss to a team led by Mike McEwen, one of the top curlers in Canada.
“For those unfamiliar: Curling is a winter sport that involves pushing heavy granite rocks down a long sheet of ice toward a target. And while it is hugely popular in Canada, curling does have some historical ties to New Zealand. Miners from Scotland brought an outdoor version of the game with them to the country during the gold rush of the 19th century, and it has persisted as a popular activity whenever the ponds on New Zealand’s South Island are cold enough to form a thick slab of ice at the surface. …
“Finding the game was easy enough for Mr. Hood, Mr. Smith and Mr. Walker, 21, all of whom grew up in Naseby, New Zealand, a small resort town that, for many years, was home to the Southern Hemisphere’s only dedicated indoor curling rink. Mr. Sargon, who is from Auckland, learned the game on hockey ice. …
“Mr. Sargon soon met the others through curling circles and formed a team. But to truly grasp the sport’s many nuances and reach their long-term goal of qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy — a process largely based on results at the world championships — Mr. Sargon and his teammates knew that they would need to immerse themselves in the game. That meant training in Canada. …
“The team spent several weeks training in Calgary last year ahead of the inaugural Pan Continental Curling Championships, which the city hosted. … Over the summer, Mr. Hood was chatting with Kim Forge, who sits on the board of the World Curling Federation, when he mentioned the team’s plans. The challenge, he told her, was finding affordable short-term housing in Calgary. …
“She posted a message on Facebook soliciting help from the Calgary curling community in locating ‘very cheap rent’ for Team Hood. …
“The post soon found its way to Cassandra Murray, a retirement living consultant at Chartwell Colonel Belcher who is a former competitive curler. She was brainstorming with Christine Taylor, a colleague, when they came up with a potential solution.
“ ‘You probably won’t want to do this, but we do have a couple of spare rooms,’ Ms. Murray wrote the team via Facebook Messenger.
“It should be noted that while Team Hood has a couple of sponsorships … curling is not an especially lucrative profession. … So when Ms. Murray offered them a place to stay for free, aside from a few dollars a month for utilities, they were thrilled. They also were glad to find a situation where they could blend more easily with the fabric of the city than they had last winter. What better way to do that than to share a roof with some of Calgary’s most esteemed residents? …
“Karl Berg, a director of regional operations and sales for Chartwell, endorsed the idea, citing a renewed emphasis on ‘socialization’ among its residents in the wake of the pandemic. He also was aware of a successful intergenerational living experiment in the Netherlands, where the presence of a few college students in a nursing home gave their older neighbors a greater sense of connection to the outside world and increased their mental stimulation.
“ ‘It’s been awesome watching people’s faces light up when we talk to them,’ Mr. Sargon said, ‘and now we’re really starting to get know more of them. Everyone buys into what we’re trying to do as well, which is cool. Everyone wants to tell us their curling story.’ ”
More at the Times, here, the CBC, here, and the Guardian, here.
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