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Archive Record
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Metadata
Object ID |
2024.4.2 B |
Object Name |
Video Recording |
Title |
The Ferbey Four Interview |
Scope & Content |
The Ferbey Four: Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer, and Marcel Rocque, 18 October 2023, interview. Born digital MP4, viewing time 00:23:35. InterviewerCongratulations guys. Randy, when did you get the call and what is that moment like to know this team is going into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame? RandyIt's surreal actually. Cheryl [Bernard] called me about two months ago and she said, "Oh, someone wants to call you from the Hall in a couple days or something like that." And I kind of sensed what was going on. She just kind of gave me the heads up. They called me first and I think it took about a week for everybody else to get the call. But it was surreal. It's something you don't expect. Because I think we played this game because we love the game. It's got nothing to do with getting in the Hall or achievements. We all start out because as young kids loving the game and then it just transgressed to a higher level. There's nothing more important than us getting in the Hall together. Then individuals. It's very important because this team was very, very special. And I'm absolutely thrilled that we are going to this together. Interviewer Dave, why were you guys so good? I mean, we were talking about it. Not many curlers are in the Hall. So, you're - in this sport - in incredibly elite companies. So, what made you guys so great? DavidWell, I mean, for me, I think it was that we just, we epitomized the team concept. I mean, it wasn't for amazing curlers. It wasn't for individuals. It was genuinely a team that, you know, we were best friends. We spent obviously a lot of time together. I know every year we spend more nights in a hotel room - I did with Scott and Randy did with Marcel - than we did with our families at home. But we loved it. Like Randy said, it was all about just enjoying our time together. And if we weren't having a great time doing it, we wouldn't have done it for so long. And we couldn't have been successful. I think for us, it was just, you know, there was no I, there was no individuals, there was no egos. We just did everything for the team and that's what came first, and we just loved it. InterviewerScott, it seemed to come from my perspective, from a lot of curling, from Dan's perspective, easy and fast. You had success fast. In a lot of ways, you guys changed the game. When you were first coming together as The Four, did you feel that the potential was there for it to be as special as it was? ScottYeah, I think once Marcel really joined our team and became a big part of it to make up The Ferbey Four, it didn't come easy. But, you know, we knew we had something special pretty early on. And, you know, coming out of Alberta where there was some amazing teams with Kevin Martin, you know, they helped us raise our game as well because we knew to get to the Brier, we had to beat the best to get there. So, it wasn't easy, but we put our heart and soul into being competitive and achieving our dreams. Interviewer Marcel, just a second ago, we were talking about it isn't really until you have moments like this that you have that lens of reflection. You're sitting with three great friends and people you went into battle with so much. What comes up for you in a moment like this, a huge moment for you guys? MarcelWell, kind of like Randy said, it's, you know, when I got the call, I thought, oh, this - Randy's going in. So I thought maybe they're just, I honestly, and they left a message and my wife said, "I don't think so. I think they wouldn't do that. I don't think that's so I mean." It's, I think it's reflective of the fact that we always give credit to the others. Whenever someone was trying to point the finger at us, we say it was because of them. So it's yeah, it's kind of neat. Interviewer Story time. You might have a few one or two, Randy. When you think about all the winning, the traveling, the nights in the hotels, is there anything that comes to top of mind for you? RandyNo, none whatsoever. A lot of tape together. Ironically, from my perspective, I don't remember very many games. I remember a couple games that we won or a couple that we lost. But overall, I think Scott will sit here and talk about the fifth end in this game, or this game and I'll go, "What are you talking about? I don't know what you're talking about." But the stories that we had here, it's like we had a ton of fun. I mean, a ton of fun. I think someone interviewed us a couple of years ago and I brought it up to the fact that we had to apologize to Dave. We always thought that the skip or whoever threw last rock that to be in bed. Not so much us. Not so much us. So, you know, if no matter how good I played or bad I played, if Dave was playing good or bad, we win or we would lose. So we made sure that he was in bed many times. And so the three of us were out at all hours of the morning. He's getting his rest and he's getting ready for the game and, wake up in the morning, what a great sleep we had. We had tons of stories. And unfortunately, Dave missed them. He missed a lot of them, he missed a lot of the good times. So that's one of the strikes. And that was over the years. You know, it happened quite frequently. And I think he agreed with it. He said, "I got to get some sleep for you for you knuckleheads here." Interviewer So now we know Dave kept his thing together over all those years. RandyNo, we're the ones that kept it together because we knew what we had to do. We're the ones that- ScottIt's pretty simple as long as long as Dave was in bed before the other skip on the opposing team we were good to go. DavidThere was a - when we won our first provincial championship - the first thing Randy did is he sat us all down together. And I remember this like it was yesterday. He's like, "There's one rule I have. And the one rule is we go to the Patch every single night. I don't care what time we finish or what time we play the next day." And he goes, "I don't care if you drink water all night. You don't have to have a drink. You can have one, whatever you want. We go to the Patch every single night because the reason that we're playing in those venues is because those fans are there to see us." And we make an appearance and we sit down and we talk to people. And I mean, it was, that was kind of the way we were. I mean, we just we made sure that we appreciated the fans. We were very appreciative of the fact that they came to watch us. And we got to play in amazing venues. We played in, you know, the biggest Brier that ever happened in Edmonton, which was like amazing for us, of course. But we never missed a night of the Patch. Now, to Randy's point, a lot of times they would be like, "Okay you guys, like, let's go. It's time to go." And we'd all like be heading out the door. And next thing you know, our coach Brian Moore is kind of pretending to get in the cab with me. And then he quickly shut the door and the cab would take off and they'd all be waving. So they'd send me home. But we did go every night. I just usually go to send home first. Interviewer A balance of fierce competition and a lot of fun. Was that one of the keys to this team, Scott? ScottIt was. I mean, now you see a lot of teams and you think, oh, it's pretty transactional. Teams are moving around every four years. And for us, it was it was a 12 year journey. But for all of us that we absolutely enjoyed and there's no way we would have stayed together for 12 years if all it was about was competition. So we made sure we had fun. And to our families credits, we had so much support from our families and friends. So it wasn't just a four person team. We had so many other people around us that helped as well. InterviewerSo much was talked about over all those years about the front end, about you two. How much pride did you take in that, Marcel? MarcelWell, I think it became evident, you know, the credit goes to the three of them, right? The pride in the sweeping and the athleticism that we saw the difference in a young front end, including Dave's sweeping and how much it was impacting our competition. So, yeah, I think that each of us took so much pride in our roles professionally on the ice. And then, yeah, it was like working with Scott, like it's almost like your left hand and your right hand. It was a united kind of thing. And with Dave. So, yeah, lots of pride in in all the little details. Interviewer Randy, I don't have to tell you how serious we take curling in this country. But when we talk about pride and what you guys were able to do on the world stage wearing the Maple Leaf, what did that mean to you knowing that you had that responsibility and were as successful as you were? RandyYou know what? You don't realize it till it happens. And I know that sounds kind of strange a little bit, but winning the Brier and then you don't realize it till you get that jersey with the Maple Leaf on the back. You know, you're representing a whole country and there is absolutely nothing that can prepare you for that moment the first time anyway. There's nothing that can prepare you for that. And I mean, obviously, we took it very serious and we knew we were representing Canada. And at the time, you know, Canada was probably the favourite, I guess you could say, you know, back in 2001, 2000s. It's not like it is today. So we definitely had a target on our back. And we took it very serious. But the pride and the emotion, I mean, all you have to do is look at, you know, I don't know what they have for their collection of what they saved over the years. But I bet you they every one of these guys got their Canadian jerseys. They might not have the Brier ones or their provincial ones, but they got the Canadian ones, I guarantee it. And I know I do. And I take a lot of pride in it. Interviewer Very cool. Dave, on the topic of skipping and last rock throwers and what you guys all worked out with Randy calling the game and you throwing last rock. How revolutionary was that at the time? And how did that navigating go? DavidWell, we actually started with myself calling the game and throwing last rock. And we did we did pretty well for a couple of spiels and Randy, you know, kind of masterminded this conversation of like, "We're really good. But I think I know how we could be even a little better." And next thing you know, the very next spiel, we came out and we did something different. And there was a lot of talk about it at that time. You know, "How come Randy's skipping and not throwing the last rock? How come David was skipping and now he's not?" And, you know, "What's wrong with you guys?" But honestly, you know, all we did is look at it and how can we be the best version of ourselves? And that just kind of took everything into consideration; Randy's experience and when you know, being at the World and winning World Championships and being already one of the one of the great curlers of all time. And obviously, you know, I was young at the time and I loved to sweep and I probably needed to burn some energy off. And how could we you know, how could we just sort of make it the best we could? And we never we never looked back. I mean, we didn't care who was the skip and who was throwing last rock or who was throwing- You know, it was just four guys doing their best. And there was, like I said, there was lots of comments about it. But at the time, we just thought this was the way that we are going to be the most successful we can be. And it worked out. It really was about checking your ego, though. Like there was there was absolutely no room for that. And that's the only way that it could work. And that's why it's difficult, I think, for teams to do that successfully, because you really have to just, like, do it for the other person or do it for the team. And if you're doing it for yourself, then it's not going to work. Interviewer I think some Canadian teams could listen to that clip now. I'll leave it at that. One of the things I find fascinating is, in all my conversations with athletes, is you have the goal of getting to the top. And then you get there. And you actually a lot of times don't prepare for how hard it's going to be to stay there. So I wonder what that was like for you guys, year after year when you were when you were rolling. What were the things, Scott, that kept you motivated to want to stay at that level? And then maybe some, if you guys want to add into that. ScottYeah, I think the biggest turning point for us was probably when we went to our first Worlds in 2001 and we had a shot to win the semifinal and we missed it and then didn't win the Bronze Medal game. So we came home. We were one of the first teams to not come home with a medal. And Dave apologized in the dressing room afterwards. And we're like, "No, no, this is a team. We're going to get you back there again next year." And that's what we did. So it was the motivation to get Dave, you know, another opportunity to get that shot was motivating for us. And seeing Marcel crying on the podium in 2002 in Bismarck was like, wow, like we're doing this as a team, right? And then it just steam rolled. And, you know, you go into 2003 and 2005 being in a hometown Brier in Edmonton. There was always that one extra thing that we hadn't accomplished that we really wanted to do. It was obviously with all the tough teams out there, it was pretty difficult to keep that up over the entire period as a team. But I'm pretty proud of the accomplishments and what we did for each other back then. Interviewer Marcel, you're emotional. MarcelYeah. InterviewerTell me about that. ScottIt's like we're on the podium again, right, buddy? RandyOh, oh, geez. DavidI said I wasn't going to do this. RandyHe told Ferb he wasn't going to do this. MarcelNo, it's just, you know, it brings you back to, Scott even said like, when I put on the Alberta jersey, it was wild. And he said wait till we put on the Maple Leaf. And then for me, the emotion is as a kid, you grow up and all you want is that. And then it was there. So, it's a lifelong journey. Sorry, I'm emotional. Thanks, Scott. Yeah, the lifelong journey that athletes take in these dreams that we have as children, young, young children and that coming together doesn't come together for many. And just blessed to be, you know, I've always felt I had the best seat in the house, just watching these guys and supporting these guys. So yeah, it's emotional because it's that, I'm that little child with that dream. And then that moment comes. And also the regret of my teammates before these guys, every time you had a step closer, I'd always kind of say, wait, we're not done. So I never really appreciated the lessons that Randy would say, like Dave was talking about. "I'm going to make sure you have fun at that Brier because you don't know if you're going back and we don't know if we're winning. We're going to go out fun." And I was always so driven to try to accomplish a dream that every step I got closer, I kind of stifled it and then it hit and I'm like, wow, this is a long journey. And yeah, so kind of cool. Interviewer And here you are going into the Hall. Randy, did you guys ever take for granted how good you guys were and the bond you had? Because I hear Marcel talk about sort of that chemistry and that magic. RandyYeah. Never ever for one minute. I mean maybe the odd time the four of us would, you know, sit around a table or after we've, after a night of celebration or something. We'd maybe joke with each other. "Yeah, we're pretty good." Or, "Yeah, we're better than that guy. We're better than that guy." But we never ever said it to the press or to the fans, we let them judge us instead of us judging ourselves. But, you know, people have asked me what made us successful. And you know what? I don't know. It's one of those. I don't know. There's four individuals, but why these four guys? I don't think we can really answer that. Like why it worked and why it didn't. I mean, there's thousands and thousands of athletes out there and great athletes and they don't achieve their goals or get to their goals or their dreams or whatever. And for some weird reason, we did. And I can't quite put my finger on it, you know? DavidI do think that the, Scott mentioned the Edmonton Brier, and I think that maybe highlighted to me why things just, you know, to your point, we were able to just do so many amazing things and it was just, it was trust. Now that was it. It's simple. One word. I mean, we had completely crashed and burned in the Brier the year before in 2004. I know everyone loves to keep showing that highlight. But yeah, I missed my last shots. And just like Scott said, it's like it's just motivation for us to get back the next year and we get back the next year and we're at home and we're playing in the finals in the ninth end. And you know, we have a pretty easy do set up, you know, one on one side of the house and we draw the other side and we're going to have a two-point lead. And Randy decides that we should just take our own out instead. So, we have last rock and the last end and draw for our one. And we're like, "What? You want to do what?" "Well, what if he freezes to ours and then you have to blast it out and now we get one. So you want to take your own rock out." Then I got to make the blank still, which, and then the whole point is then you're going to get to draw the forefoot to win the Brier. And it was that trust. I mean, between all of us where it was like- MarcelIt came down- "Are you sure?" Davidit's one of the first calls in curling history. I trusted Randy. He trusted me to make the shot. I told the guys when we came down the last end and I go, "I'm just going to put it out there. You guys put it where it needs to go." That was it. I think it was just, I think it was trust. And that was, I think that moment just kind of like shone a light on that for us in terms of, you know, why these four guys can make it work. Interviewer Made sense. It really sort of crystallized in that moment. You wowed curling fans over so many years in games. Scott, what do you say to curling fans who are absolutely thrilled to see curlers going into the Hall and specifically this? ScottI mean, it's what made the sport special. Being in autographed lines or talking to fans after games and just seeing the smiles and the, you know, some of the stories that we had with a lot of our fans. There's just too many to count, but it's definitely a huge part of the game and some something that we would love to do playing in front of the fans. And we're just super happy that we were able to bring some joy to some people's lives while we were pursuing our competitive dreams. Interviewer Takes a village to get to this point, Marcel. Who comes to mind when you think about going into the Hall and this team and family and sacrifice and all the things that goes with being great? MarcelYeah, I think you just mentioned them all. Like, you know, it starts with your parents, all of us. We had amazing parents and amazing families and support. We used to laugh, I'm the youngest of eight, so here come the Clampetts because, you know, all my relatives, there's a big crew, right? So those people are all- and then our immediate family with our spouses who are so supportive because, man, oh man, like they've said, we were gone all the time. And, you know, right or wrong, our spouses knew they weren't number one. Our children took second seat and second fiddle. Those sacrifices were made for these guys and they made the same sacrifices for me. And a lot of people might say that they want to accomplish things, but when it really comes down to it, the sacrifices that are required are hard and not everyone's really willing to go that mile. Interviewer Brilliant. That's all I got. Congratulations. Ferbey FourThank you. Thanks. Thank you. |
Date |
2023/10/18 |
People |
Ferbey, Randy Nedohin, David Pfeifer, Scott Rocque, Marcel |
Search Terms |
Athlete Curling Teamwork Ferbey Four World Championship Brier Canadian Identity |