29 October 2023
Meet the Philippines: Swiss-based squad dreaming of Milano Cortina
Just last month, the Curling Winter Sports Association of the Philippines was accepted as a Member Association of the World Curling Federation at the latest Congress in Seoul. There, they joined by Pakistan and Puerto Rico to take the sport’s membership up to 70 countries.
Now, they are hoping for an instant impact on the international stage with some familiar faces.
As well as a new women’s team debuting in the B-Division of the Pan Continental Curling Championships, the men’s team will be hoping for promotion in their first season, skipped by three-time world men’s championship participant, Marc Pfister.
Previously, Pfister and his brother Enrico competed for Switzerland, having a best world finish of seventh place. Christian Haller joins them, a two-time world junior curling championship medallist, as does Alan Frei, a newcomer to the sport.
The Pfisters and Haller have long been familiar with each other, but Frei—who has made it his life goal to become an Olympian—took up curling and joined the rink after realising cross-country skiing was not for him, saying he had “zero talent” for the sport.
All four were born in Switzerland, and are eligible to play for the Philippines through their Filipino mothers.
While the six-week turnover from non-member to competing nation may sound hectic, Curling Winter Sports Association of the Philippines President, Benjo Delarmente, said it was a long process to get there.
The journey to becoming a Member
The Pfister brothers were courted for the first time in 2018, eventually leading to their citizenship; while the origins of Team Philippines goes back more than a decade.
A group of United States-based curlers first formed a Filipino group in 2011 and only when Delarmente—who moved from his homeland ten years ago—took up the sport in 2019 did the momentum start to show.
“I offered to help, and would become the President of the association,” he said.
“I didn’t know what exactly I was getting into, but I still had a lot of contacts in the Philippines.
“It took some time to get our recognition from the Philippine Olympic Committee, but once we got that, we immediately sent our paperwork to the WCF.”
Approval from the Philippine Olympic Committee came one day before the final deadline for World Curling membership, which was then unanimously backed by Member Associations.
Invited to the Pan Continentals
The final stroke of luck came with the withdrawal of Kazakhstan, allowing the Filipin teams to be invited to the Pan Continental Curling Championships in Kelowna.
“At the beginning of the year, we had this goal of competing at the Pan Continentals,” said Delarmente.
“Once we got the word we were off the wait list, we were already ready with the uniform designs. So we were not entirely unprepared for that eventuality.”
Preparation has been promising – the team has just finished runners-up at the Prague Open, their first tournament.
It was the first time Haller had played with the Pfisters and Frei’s first-ever competition.
“It’s hard to check everything with the tactics and the play, the brushing, the sweeping,” said Marc Pfister.
“The first game we all were very nervous, but we kept getting better and better and we won game after game. Until the final we played very good and solid.”
The Pfisters fell out of favour with the Swiss national set-up, citing it as motivation for playing for the homeland of their mother.
“My mother would like that we play for Switzerland,” admitted Marc.
“But now we have the passport and I think she’s very proud that we have that and play for the Philippines.”
Pathway to the Olympics
Now the pathway is clearer in their bid to make it to Milano Cortina 2026.
To qualify for the Pre-Qualification Event—which allows a route to the Olympic Qualification Event—teams must now be in the A-Division of their respective regional competitions, giving the nation two opportunities to be promoted from the Pan Continental Championships B-Division and keep the dream alive.
This first year will be particularly challenging, as they face the well-established Chinese teams who enter the Pan Continentals in the B-Division after withdrawing from the 2022 edition.
Aside from representing the Philippines at the world championships in future, the older Pfister brother has realistic ambitions of playing at the Olympic Winter Games.
“I think it’s hard to qualify for the Olympics,” the skip added.
“There is still a small chance, but that will be a hard run. We take it step by step.”
Self-proclaimed “curling nut” Delarmente is more of a dreamer, with a pathway in mind to see the Filipino flag out on the ice in Italy.
“If we don’t win B this year, we have a very strong shot of winning the B for the men’s.”
Two Filipino-Americans are expected to be part of the women’s national team next season once they have received their citizenship, bolstering the rink that is to debut on the women’s side in Kelowna too.
Even if this lofty aspiration is not met, the President sees it as a chance to engage with the five million Filipinos in Canada and the United States, as well as those in curling-rich nations in Europe, leading to more interest back home.
“Hopefully, we could use our participation and our success to get more attention for our teams, both in the Philippines and outside the Philippines,” he said.
“We have to start with the diaspora first before and hopefully with all the attention, we could get some funders in the Philippines to give us money to build a dedicated facility.”
Written by: Michael Houston, Feature Writer
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