From Herding Sheep to Calling Shots on the Curling Sheet

When Jed Nevill is not sweeping curling rocks into a house, he is often herding several hundred sheep into their pens on his father's farm.

The 17-year-old, who is descended from a goldminer, hails from the self-styled “curling capital of New Zealand” and a family that is obsessed with the sport.

And if Nevill is not getting his hands dirty on the family farm in Central Otago, he is flying to Norway, Finland or the Republic of Korea to curl.

“It’s been amazing,” Nevill said.

“The ice quality has been great, the curling has been great fun and meeting all the other athletes in the (Youth Olympic) Village has been an amazing experience as well.

“When I’m at home I’m always helping out on the farm. Just moving around mobs of sheep, putting up and taking down fences, and drenching the stock. I probably enjoy curling more at the moment, but it’s a tough battle.”

For more recent generations of the Nevill family, curling has become almost as entrenched as farming in their daily lives.

“A sheep farmer gets into curling through grandparents and parents playing outdoor curling, either on a lake or a rink,” said Nevill, who also skipped New Zealand to 13th place in the mixed team event.

“My dad and his father were outdoor curlers. Most of the time now it’s played on an indoor rink, with the lakes not freezing over much anymore.”

The Nevill family farm in Moa Creek is about a 40 minute drive from Naseby, where their English ancestor James Nevill arrived from Australia in 1861 in search of gold.

These days, the community is better known as the "curling capital of New Zealand" and claims to have the only dedicated year-round indoor curling rink in the southern hemisphere. It also has a remarkably high number of curling clubs – five – for its 140 residents.

“The general area around Naseby is where all the New Zealand curlers come from,” Nevill said. “My older brother convinced me to join him in the indoor stuff when I was 13.

“He said it involved a lot of strategy and problem-solving – and he knows I like that sort of thing. To begin with I wasn’t the biggest fan, but I’ve fallen in love with it now.”

His father, Russell Nevill, is no less of a character than his son. Affectionately known within the local farming community as "Rusty", he never competed in curling internationally and is full of admiration for what he has seen at the Gangneung Curling Centre.

“I’m extremely proud of Jed,” he said. “When he started out in the sport we just encouraged him to play the game, to be competitive, and to do what he could.

“He’s going away to university in Dunedin now, but he’ll be doing innovative, agricultural-based learning so I’d like to think he’ll still be a part of the farm somehow.”