How a group of Brisbane dads stumbled onto an Olympic dream whilst seeking a new hobby

It began with a lunch, some red wine and a frosty fantasy and ended with a sacred vow — they would become Olympic curlers, or at the very least get matching jackets.

They're known as the Curlews, a group of curling dads from Brisbane, who only started the winter sport just over a year ago, but have made sweeping progress since first stepping on the ice.

"Stumbling across the sport is probably a perfect description … we were flat out Bambis on ice," Boyd Kildey said.

Kildey was the engineer of this icy ambition.

The Curlews describe themselves as being 'Bambis on ice' when they first had a crack at the sport. (ABC Sport: Mark Leonardi)

"A group of mates at lunch thinking about you know, what's the fun thing to do together, what's something interesting," he said.

"I brought up curling because it was an idea from years ago, and I tried it on with a few other groups of mates and unfortunately no-one had really jumped on board.

"But this group loved it and fast forward a week and half, and we were on the ice together trying out curling for the first time.

"They looked at us like we were an unusual bunch and said, well try this, try this and we just kept going and kept going."

The Curlews' first experience with the sport came during a 'come and try' session in Brisbane. (ABC Sport: Mark Leonardi)

The group of sports-mad dads had attended a come and try session at Boondall Ice Rink in Brisbane.

"I didn't know anything about curling, never watched it or anything like that," Cormac te Kloot said.

"I grew up in Western Queensland and so ice for me was non-existent, farming all my life ... so this is very different for me. All I knew, it required ice and brooms."

The four friends describe themselves as very different dads — a real estate agent, a sports commentator, a car dealership owner and a corporate farmer.

A unique sport that fights for infrastructure, participation and relevance in Australia has brought the four dads closer together. (ABC Sport: Mark Leonardi)

"There is absolutely no link in the background other than we're mates, we've got kids who are roughly the same age, who have school sport together," Kildey sid.

"Enthusiasm is our strength, we are very competitive, which is not always the best thing when the skills are not quite up there yet.

"It's a sport where you could play deep into your older age … curling is not the youngest sport in Australia.

"We actually sort of come in that sort of mid range and younger, so we're physically OK, we're doing alright ... we're gonna try and use that to our advantage."

France 2030?

The Curlews have not been just making up the numbers since taking up curling — a sport which fights for infrastructure, participation and relevance in a competitive sporting market in Australia.

The team has already won several competitions domestically and also travelled to New Zealand recently for the Australian National Curling Championships, which was held in Naseby.

It's why their belief of the ultimate dream has never wavered, it's only grown stronger.

"I don't think [going to the Olympics] is out of our realm," Andrew Swain said.

"We've learned really quickly in the past year if we can keep that steep learning curve improving then I reckon in four years time again … all it takes is winning that national championships and then you go to an Olympic qualifier.

"Then if you can finish in the top nations who haven't already qualified, you're in."

For what started as some fun between four dads over beers has become the kind of dream that clings to them like frost on the ice — unbelievable, uncomfortable but impossible to shake.

"I think that it's mateship, it's having a crack, it's having that attitude. If we can inspire other people in other different sports as well to have a crack at their dream," Swain said.

"We're in our 40s and I'm not gonna lie age isn't on our side, but curling is a sport that you can do until you're very old, provided our knees all hold up."

Doing it their way

For four self-described Australian larrikins who grew up chasing wickets on dry turf, they have now replaced bats with brooms and are navigating a sheet of ice.

But some things don't change.

"We have a lot of cricket terms, to know where we put the rock," te Kloot said.

"We'll do an offee.

"So off we go and we spin it, spin it the appropriate way and our skip (Boyd) calls where he wants it and we try and do what he says and hopefully we land the rock where it's meant to go to get the points.

Holding your balance and knowing when to slide is a key ingredient to success when it comes to curling. (ABC Sport: Mark Leonardi)

"Sliding is a really key part of curling … so if you can hold your balance and slide, then you let the rock go, and then let it do the rest of the work."

In Australia, there is no designated curling facility, with ice-rinks like the one the Curlews use at Boondall, a multi-use facility, shared with ice-skating and ice hockey.

Swain explained that the team had their first experience of specialist ice at the Nationals in Naseby.

"To use a cricket analogy, we've been playing backyard cricket on our driveways and now we've landed at Lords," he said.

"It's a completely different dynamic, the stones move the way that you want them to move, the sweeping actually has the desired effect that you want it to have."

What's in a name?

Kildey, who is the skipper of the team, explained that their name, 'the Curlews', came from a very important source.

"We have a very good group of supportive wives behind us and it actually came from my wife," he said.

"She said, 'it's a loud obnoxious bird', and it works perfectly for us.

"We are a bunch of crazy dads and we are dreaming big, we've gone let's do something together and work hard together and prove a lot of the naysayers wrong."

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