Kamloops curler Kolomaya looking ahead to Brier with help from curling wife

“It’s a little surreal,” he said. “It’s something that you dream about from when you’re a little kid growing up. I still haven’t fully felt it yet.”

Kolomaya has lived in Kamloops for nearly four years, meeting his now-wife Samantha Fisher, the lead on Corryn Brown’s Kamloops rink, at a 2016 invitational curling event in China.

This season, while still playing competitively, Kolomaya joined forces with Team Richard — skipped by Brent Pierce.

“[It was the] beginning of this year. Actually before the event, we had only actually played four games together as a team,” said Kolomaya. “We didn’t really know what to expect our first few games. We struggled a little bit in our first game and then we finally kind of figured it out, and once we did it felt pretty natural. We didn’t really miss a beat as a team and everyone made all the shots when it mattered.”

The rink is made up of players from across the province — with Kolomaya from Kamloops, Jeff Richard from Kelowna, Brent Pierce in New Westminster and Nick Meister from Langley. Team Richard took out the 10-time B.C. champion Jim Cotter — defeating him twice during the tournament — and then needed extra ends to take out Paul Cseke to win.

Kamloops Curling Club member Jared Kolomaya poising with the B.C. championship trophy his team won on Sunday (Image Credit: Contributed)

While Kolomaya was emersed in the game, Fisher was nervously watching on her computer at home.

“Watching is really hard. I’ve never felt so much emotion watching someone curl before,” she said. “That final shot. Brent had the out-turn hit, and he had struggled with the outturn a little bit all week, so it was a little bit nerve-racking, but I could tell by the yells that they had made it. It was pretty emotional.”

Kolomaya says he’ll lean on his wife Sam for some advice on playing for a national championship. Fisher played in the 2021 Scotties with Team Brown last year.

“It’s the big show, right. There’s going to be distractions everyone. They’ll have distractions than we even had, so they have hopefully autographs and the [Brier] Patch,” said Fisher. “So it’s just taking it all in and enjoying every moment and going out there and playing loose every game. You never know when you’re going to get back there, so just enjoying it.”

There are less than two months before the Brier, but with the team separated by hundreds of kilometres, they’ll need to plan ahead to get together.

“Yeah, it’ll be trying to find a few weekends that work as a team, but here [at the Kamloops Curling Club] it’ll just be throwing rocks, staying loose and don’t overthink it. Just keep doing what you’re doing,” said Kolomaya.

He will have some help at home. The Kamloops Curling Club will provide the ice and his wife will be on the ice as well. Fisher had plans to put the broom down for a bit, will help in any way she can.

“I didn’t anticipate getting on the ice so quickly after provincials. I was hoping to take some time and just enjoy a little bit of a break from the game, but I’m happy to hold the broom for him and help him out whenever I can. I’ll be out here whenever he needs me.”

by Chad Klassen

Kamloops curler Kolomaya looking ahead to Brier with help from curling wife

Our Community