Latinx curlers find a home on ice and push for their Olympic moments

José Sepúlveda believes dreams don’t have to end when you wake up. “The allure of being in a small program where there’s very few people, you’re thinking, ‘If I start playing and I want to play competitively, I’ve got a pretty good chance of getting good coaching and ending up as a part of the national squad,’ ” said Adriana Camarena, a Mexican-born writer and activist from San Francisco who joined Ramy Cohen to represent Mexico in the 2019 world mixed doubles championships, becoming the country’s first international curlers. It didn’t matter what you were, if you love the sport, you wanted to curl, you just came out.” — Kristina Lugo, a social media manager from Oakland Kristina Lugo, a volunteer, shouts out commands to students at the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club. “That’s the opportunity we want to provide.” On a recent warm summer evening, Camarena took the ice in Oakland wearing a tri-color Mexican national team jacket, a black COVID-19 facemask and a red-and-white adhesive nametag. “I don’t care if they go nowhere or they go the Olympics.” Former Mexican national curling team member Jesus Barajas, 46, of Oakland, delivers at San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club.