Nanaimo curlers Steve and April Seixeiro will represent Portugal at the upcoming World Mixed Doubles Qualification in Scotland in Jan. 2022. (Seixeiro Photography)

By Dan Marshall

Portuguese Rocks

Nanaimo couple form first ever Portugese mixed doubles curling team

Nov 28, 2021 | 9:11 AM

NANAIMO — A local couple have found their way to the international curling scene, representing a country over 8,000 kilometres away from home.

April Gale-Seixeiro is the president of the Nanaimo Curling Club but she and her husband Steve are also the mixed doubles pairing for the Portugese national curling team.

In 2019, the Winter Sports Federation of Portugal put out a call for citizen curlers around the world, with a desire to start a national program in a country with no curling ice to be found. Steve, a Portugese citizen, responded through Facebook and things escalated quickly from there.

“Your wife curls? Yes. Is she a Portuguese citizen? No,” April said of the conversation between Steve and officials in Portugal. “Let’s get her citizenship and then you guys can be the mixed doubles team.”

Their first competition in Portuguese green and red didn’t come until two years later.

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April was granted citizenship and she and Steve went to the 2022 pre-olympic qualifying event in Turkey this past October.

They made the qualification finals before losing out 8-7 to host Turkey.

April said one of the lessons they learned was about the challenge of adjusting to a large time change for an international competition.

“It was a 10 hour time difference and on the third day we really struggled. We lost both our games and we feel like we had a chance of winning both of them if we were in our top shape.”

Their next international event is the World Mixed Doubles Qualification in Scotland from Jan. 4-9, 2022.

April and Steve will be leaving earlier to acclimatize to their surroundings with a new appreciation for what it takes to compete on the world stage.

“I didn’t realize just how much time the top level curlers put in,” April noted. “There’s not only practice and playing there’s all the arrangements with your travel, working with your federation, eating and sleeping properly and mental training.”

Steve is currently in Norway working as a photographer for the World Curling Federation. He will also be taking pictures for the next round of Olympic qualifying in the Netherlands.

Had they won their final draw in Turkey, Steve would be playing mixed doubles with April instead of snapping photos.

With Portugal’s national curling program currently made up of citizen curlers around the world, work continues inside the country on the necessary infrastructure to grow the sport domestically.

According to April, the Winter Sports Federation will soon be opening their first ice arena.

“It’s just a small arena but it’s a start. They do have some curling stones and they’re going to get some kids out to throw a couple of rocks. The goal is to have Portuguese people in their own country learning to curl and then growing and playing internationally.”

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