麻豆社区

Whitehorse resident Aline Goncalves is relishing making Brazilian curling history late last month.

The 33-year-old and her curling partner Marcelo Mello led Brazil to its first-ever victory at a curling world championship in Dumfries, Scotland.

Brazil beat Kazakstan 8-3 in a round-robin game at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship April 26, putting their names in the record books.

"It was a surreal experience,鈥� Goncalves told the Star from Brazil yesterday. "It was tough, but we actually didn't play too badly. It was a good learning experience and I'll never forget that win.鈥�

Brazil ultimately finished 1-7 at the tournament, losing games to Canada, Estonia, Finland,鈥圠atvia, Scotland, Slovenia and Sweden en route to finishing last at 34th overall.

Switzerland beat Sweden 8-6 last Wednesday to win the world title.

"We knew that we didn't have much of a chance,鈥� Goncalves said. "We didn't know each other. We had no coach, and just one week of training together. We were simply hoping to promote the sport, since there's lots of interest in Brazil for curling.鈥�

Goncalves's participation in the world championships came about quickly. She introduced herself to Mello through Facebook after she saw a post from the Brazilian curling commentator indicating he was seeking a female curler to play with at the 2015 championships.

While Goncalves had dreams of one day playing for a Brazilian women's team, she didn't expect to compete at the world stage so soon.

"Mixed doubles wasn't really on my mind,鈥� she admitted.

But Mello and Goncalves' chance came when Bulgaria dropped out of the competition.

In terms of strategy, Goncalves threw the first and last stones for Brazil, while Mello threw second and third. Having the pressure of throwing last stone wasn't something Goncalves thought hard about.

"In mixed doubles, every stone's a skip stone,鈥� she said.

Goncalves moved to Whitehorse with her husband Rick Steele three years ago. She works as a reference librarian at Yukon鈥圕ollege.

Looking for a sport, she balked at snowshoeing and skiing after her hands got too cold.

Instead, she took to curling 鈥� and its controlled environment 鈥� with a group of friends.

Goncalves played in the Monday night league this season at the Whitehorse Curling Club. However, serving as a spare player, she found herself on the ice up to three nights a week.

Following the championship, Goncalves flew to Brazil, where she is visiting her family near Sao Paulo. She will return to the Yukon later this month.