Curler Kelly Schafer to return to Scotland with Team Canada

Kelly Schafer has made Saskatchewan her home, but she will head back to Scotland with a maple leaf on her jacket.

Schafer, who is from Montrose, Scotland, moved to Canada in 2011 after playing in the 2010 world women’s curling championship in Swift Current. That’s where she met her now-husband Jerrod Schafer, who was then the town’s mayor.

She will represent Canada at the world mixed curling championship in Aberdeen, Scotland, after Team Saskatchewan won the national championship in Swift Current on Nov. 11.

“It will be a lot different with a Canada jacket so hopefully that doesn’t deter too many fans in Scotland. But I have received so many well wishes from lots of my friends, fellow curlers (and) old coaches from Scotland saying how excited they are for me and they will be there to support and cheer us on, so that will be exciting,” Schafer said.

“I think it will be very weird being in Scotland wearing the maple leaf. I remember a long time ago when I said I was moving here, Eve (Muirhead) and I had a discussion — her dad was our coach at the time — and he said, ‘Hey, you never know, Kelly could be back wearing a Canadian jacket competing against you.’

“I won’t be competing against her this time but it’s funny how things go full circle. It’s not something I thought of doing, but if you stay in the competitive world long enough, it’s always possible. I’ll be excited to represent Canada as well and I’ll be excited to see everyone there.”

Before moving to Canada, Schafer was an accomplished curler in Scotland. She has represented the country at three women’s world championships (2007 in Aomori, Japan, 2010 in Swift Current and 2017 in Beijing) and joined Muirhead’s rink for the 2018 Olympic cycle.

In total, she is a seven-time Scottish champion and three-time Olympian.

“One of their players was injured so I did go back and kind of touch base for a year or so and then played with them,” Schafer said.

She and her Saskatchewan team — comprising Shaun Meachem at skip, Schafer at third, Chris Haichert at second and Teejay Haichert at lead — rattled off 11 straight wins at the national tournament after losing their opening match.

“The fact that (we won) this time on home ice in our home club with all our fans and family and all sorts watching us, it was really exciting,” Schafer said. “It was fun.

“We were all part of the organizing committee as well to run the event, so I think we had the idea in our head of what we wanted it to look like from a player’s perspective and I think we achieved that.”

The tournament ended with Saskatchewan’s 6-4 win over Team Manitoba’s Melissa Kurz.

“We just played and enjoyed it and we were familiar with the ice so that certainly helps. We knew any shot was possible out there so it makes for an aggressive game as well, which is how we like to play,” Schafer said.

“As the week went on, we seemed to get better and better. We have played together for a long time as well; we’re all friends off the ice and we play regularly in Super League together, so the territory seemed familiar to us this week.”

Schafer has played mixed since arriving in Canada due to the fact she didn’t have dual citizenship, which meant she couldn’t compete competitively in the women’s division. She was able to compete in mixed because, at the time, there wasn’t a world championship.

She has since become a Canadian citizen and curls with Robyn Silvernagle’s rink, which represented Saskatchewan at the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Now that Schafer has reached the top of the Canadian mixed curling mountain, the team will begin preparing to head to the world event in Scotland, which Schafer called home for so long.

“The world championships are about 40 minutes from my hometown and a couple of my old teammates are part of the host committee there, so I am friends with lots of people who run that event,” Schafer said.

“I know this is the last time that they are hosting world championships there and I knew it would always be cool to get back there.”