As well as the outstanding team performances on the ice, especially by unbeaten Switzerland, who retained their title, there was plenty of action off the ice at the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023 in Sandviken, Sweden.

The World Curling Federation Board held meetings over two days, that were followed by another couple of open meeting sessions, well-attended by Member Association representatives. Both sets of meetings went a long way to setting out the Federation’s priorities and future road of travel.

Involved in all of these meetings were the three newest members of the World Curling Federation Board – Kim Forge from Australia, Helena Lingham from Sweden and Brazil’s Sergio Mitsuo Vilela.

As Kim Forge says, “It’s been exciting and a really interesting time for me, from taking my role in Curling Australia to be now on a global level.

“In the past, I’ve done a lot of work on the WCF Athletes’ Commission and on the Nominations Commission, so I feel ready for this position.

“It’s a step with more responsibility at a different level, but it’s still providing a voice for our stakeholders while trying to make the best decisions possible for our members.”

Helena Lingham agrees, saying, “It’s been interesting and fun, but there has been a great amount of information to absorb. I was Sweden’s representative in the past, but many things have happened since then, so I need to learn a lot, but I can also question.”

Helena has already seen a difference for the better in how the Federation is now doing its business.

She explains, “Moving our meetings and Congress to not being at the worlds like it used to be, is a big improvement.

“And I’ve been encouraged by what I’ve seen here. It is a step-change and much more involving.”

Meanwhile Sergio Mitsuo Vilela concurs with his colleagues, saying simply, “It’s been a great experience.”

All three are also in agreement that, as the Federation starts to look seriously at some ‘big ideas’ for the future, there is a new energy on the Board and among the Member Associations.

Kim says, “Everyone seem to be re-charged and invigorated with the new Board. I see this as a time for innovation and that surprises me, as we’re a fairly traditional sport.

“We’re getting a lot of great information from people around us about what we need to be doing differently to make our sport sustainable.”

“We have a great game, with a lot of potential and while we want to appeal to a broader audience, we want to do that without disregarding our local and loyal followers,” she adds.

There are a number of big-ticket items discussed right now. In addressing them, each of the three ‘newbies’ is involved in areas of their strengths and skill sets.

For example, Helena explains, “I’m a technical person and that’s why I’m the Board Liaison on the technical side. I would like to explore possibilities for people to watch even more curling, by technical means, and the use of media.

“Right now, we have a great opportunity to involve people in the stands and globally.”

By contrast, Sergio, who is a lawyer to trade, explains his background and what he brings to the party.

“I work for a bank and one of my roles is helping family businesses to structure their boards, to structure their businesses. So the transition to the WCF was quite similar, especially coming from the Structural Review Group where we helped to set up some of the policies that I’m now following. So, the transition was not that difficult.”

Sergio’s business experience also suits him and the Federation well when it comes to looking for improvements in financial management and income generation.

He says, “One of the topics that is close to my heart is that the Brazilian Federation is similar to the WCF in that 90% of the funding comes from the IOC.”

Sergio recognises that this situation has potential future problems and says, “One of the reasons why we decided to build the Brazil arena was to generate different streams of revenue because this dependence on a single source, Olympic money for WCF or lottery money for the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation, is not healthy.

“Now we are looking at how we’re operating on the facilities’ side. Perhaps we can come up with a plan and try to see if it makes sense for the WCF to own or operate one or more arenas where we could run events, junior programmes, training programmes and the like,” he adds.

“A priority on the finance side is to make it even more transparent. Anyone needs to be able to see if we’re making money here or losing money there. We are managing a lot of people’s money, but at the same time, there’s fewer people watching TV and that means less revenues from our broadcasts, and eventually that means less revenue for the IOC, and that will cascade down. So, we have to be ready,” he concludes.

Meanwhile Kim is addressing some of her strengths, “I have been tasked with leading the Sustainability Working Group and also supporting the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group.

“This is exciting for me because that’s what I’ve been studying with the IOC MEMOS programme.”

She adds, “I will be helping the WCF to align ourselves with the goals of the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework to reduce our carbon footprint by 50% as required by signatories to the UN’s Sports for Climate Action and “Race to Zero campaign.”

Helena has been tasked to head the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group, among other duties. She is keen to see the work of the World Curling Federation as a catalyst for change. She believes that with the support the World Curling Federation provides to the Member Associations, they can continue their important work growing the sport across the world.

She says, “I’d like to encourage and assist our MAs to support young people to get involved and engage as volunteers. It can be on and also off the ice, for instance, as ice technicians, umpires, members of working groups and committees or by taking up any other role within curling.”

Clearly, each one of the three new Board members—like the rest of their Board colleagues—has plenty on their plates, especially when you consider that other big topics such as a complete re-brand for the World Curling Federation and amplifying the voice of the athlete are on the ‘to-do’ list.

And while all are keen to move forward boldly, all are equally aware that there are a lot of awfully good things about how the Federation is currently doing its business, and that should not be forgotten or endangered.

The last words are Sergio’s.

“We must recognise that the sport of years ago does not look like the sport we have now. We are working hard in engaging and helping people to interact with us. We need people to raise their hands and say they’re willing to do things.”

“You don’t have to be from a ‘power’ nation to be contributing, this is a Brazilian speaking, don’t forget,” he concludes.

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