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When Jennifer Baxter steps on to the ice to curl, it’s the outlet that allows her to put aside whatever else is going on in her life.
In recent years, there’s been a lot.
Baxter, 38, is part of the Christina Black team that will carry the hopes of Nova Scotia at the upcoming Canadian Olympic trials in Halifax, which begin Saturday.
No Nova Scotia’s men’s team qualified for the competition, so the goal of becoming the first team from Nova Scotia to represent Canada in Olympic curling rests solely with Team Black.
There are eight men’s teams and eight women’s teams vying to compete in the Olympics in Italy starting Feb. 6.
By day, Baxter is a learning centre teacher with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education.
While some elite curlers can do their work remotely as they travel for events, Baxter must take time off work because that’s not an option for her. It also means she goes without pay.
This is a reason the team brought on a fifth member, Marlee Powers, so that Baxter doesn’t have to travel as much.
Baxter is out the door on weekdays around 8 a.m. and home no earlier than 7 p.m., given she trains or practises with her team after her job has wrapped up for the day. It’s an exhausting routine.
On the personal side, Baxter got married three years ago and has two stepchildren with her husband. Baxter and her husband have struggled with infertility and have gone through two rounds of in-vitro fertilization. Baxter’s father died earlier this year while she was competing in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Chasing the dream
With so many sacrifices and struggles, is competitive curling worth it?
“I’ve spent my entire life [curling],” said Baxter. “And I don’t know what I would do with my time otherwise. Like, it’s really hard to think of when you’re done curling, what would you do?”
Baxter said she had a former coach who used to talk about the idea of curling as a portal. The ice was a place where everything going on in your life could be left at home.
“I have a nice team that is very supportive and so it’s easy to kind of leave that stuff for the time being and focus on … your task and being here for them, and for me, and leaving all of that alone for the time being,” said Baxter.
“It’s been a really nice way to kind of escape from the reality.”
The team enters the Olympic trials ranked fourth in the women’s field, with Ontario’s Rachel Homan and Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson considered the favourites.
Baxter’s at home with her team, who have the same grit.
“We just keep on fighting and we keep working hard,” said skip Christina Black. “And I think that’s just like what Nova Scotians are. We’re hard-working people. We’re going to go out there and leave everything we have on the ice or in any aspect of our life.
“We’re just hard workers and we fight for every inch and everything that we get.”
Team Black’s best finish at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with its current lineup — which also includes Jill Brothers and Karlee Everist — was a bronze medal earlier this year.
Black and Baxter are looking forward to the extra support from the hometown crowd, which they think will be an advantage.
But on the ice, Baxter will be focused on winning — and entering the portal.
“You do have to kind of go into it thinking that it’s going to just be like any other tournament,” she said. “You know how to play these teams, how to throw stones and sweep rocks, and you’ve just got to focus on the logistics of it and don’t look at the end game.”
Black and Baxter also played together in the 2024 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, winning gold with fellow Nova Scotians Owen Purcell and Adam McEachern.
While that would normally give them the opportunity to represent Canada at the world championship, no such tournament was held on account of the upcoming Olympics, which begin in February in Italy.
“I’m still looking to wear the Canada flag,” said Baxter.
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