Meet the coach behind some of N.L.'s curling stars

Newfoundland and Labrador curlers Brad Gushue and Nathan Young both have Olympic gold medals, but they also have something else in common coach Jeff Thomas.

A skilled curler in his own right, representing the province at the Brier championship four times, Thomas began coaching in the mid-1980s and started working with Gushue and his team in 1998.

He says the hard working young team inspired him to learn to coach at the highest level.

"When you sit down and chat about what their goals were, I said 'I've got to pick up my game as a coach,'" he said.

"I found, probably as much as I was teaching them, I was learning from them as well."

Thomas said Gushue was already playing at a high level when they began working together, with Gushue going on to become a Brier champion, a world champion and an Olympic gold medallist.

But beyond working with top teams, the St. John's coach said he also enjoys helping to develop a team into high level curlers, something he's done recently with Nathan Young and his rink.

Young, 17, skipped Team Canada at the Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland earlier in January and won a gold medal in the mixed doubles event.

Thomas has done the same work with his son Colin, leading to a national university championship and a second place finish at the Karuizawa International Curling Championships in Japan in 2012.

He said while all the technical coaching is the same, the emotions are a bit different when coaching his son.

"It's a father and son relationship, it's much more heart wrenching in behind the ice when you're watching him," said Thomas.

"As much as you want the best for Brad and you want the best for Nathan, there is that little step up when it's your son out there throwing the last rocks."

Gushue poised for Tankard win

This weekend, all three teams Gushue, Young and Thomas are in competition at the ReMax Centre in St. John's for the 2020 Tankard, the provincial men's championship.

But with Gushue's experience and downright dominance at the Tankard over the past 15-plus years, Thomas said it's going be difficult for anyone to beat him.

"What I'm seeing here in this provincials is Brad is very content to take his two points when he can and force the other team to one," he said.

"Every time one team gets two and the other team gets one, they're never going to beat Brad. until these teams start finding ways to leave the province and get three or four bonspiels under their belt outside the province in some of these bigger competitions ... it's going to be tough for them."

Thomas said there is good potential for junior curlers in Newfoundland and Labrador to play at a high level in the future, but they will need guidance to get there.

"What I would like to see, actually ... to see a few more coaches get involved, to see some of the more experienced curlers convert over into [coaching] and provide some of the expertise that they have to help some of the younger teams make that breakthrough," he said.

"If we had six or eight or 10 really good, strong teams that are coached well, it would only be a benefit to all those teams."

I want to be able to pass on my experience as much as possible.- Jeff Thomas

Now, after more than five decades in the sport as a player and coach, Thomas said he wants to keep sharing what he's learned with the next generation of star curlers from the province.

"I just love being down here with the younger curlers, I want to be able to pass on my experience as much as possible," he said.

"I don't have any secrets to hold, I want to be able to pass it on to the younger curlers and I love Newfoundland ... and I will do whatever I can to help Newfoundland teams perform at a national event."

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