It's been over one year since Winnipegger Mackenzie Zacharias walked away from curling. Now, the former Olympic hopeful is reflecting on how her faith in Jesus has grown.
Growing up in Altona, Man. Zacharias says it was an easy decision to start curling. "It's kind of hockey or it's curling and I decided to go into curling. My grandpa played a lot as well as my dad. They kind of helped out in our junior program as well."
Zacharias had a special bond with one teammate in particular, her younger sister Emily. "We've been on the same team ever since, and I know I'm not playing anymore, but she is still. We're still super close. And I mean that's something that I'll never forget and I think we'll never forget."
Over the course of her career, Zacharias would play with some of the top curlers in the country. Seeing the success in the last junior year was a highlight. "We were pretty successful winning the Canadian Juniors and then going on to win the World Championship. All of the experiences in between, getting to travel with friends and also getting to travel with the other Manitoba team."
Through the demanding schedule, the goal Zacharias and her teammates had was to reach the top and compete in the Olympics. "2026 was a real goal and something that we all had our eyes set on. We were definitely training for it and trying to do everything we could to prepare for the different events leading up to it."
While giving up curling meant giving up her Olympic dreams, Zacharias wouldn't have done anything differently. "It was good experience and then my team decided to join forces with a legend in the game. It opened my eyes to things that I wanted to take a second look at. It opened the door for me to take a step back and to pursue some other things. It was difficult and it was hard, but it's something that I felt that God let me in and for that, I'm very thankful."
While Zacharias grew up in a Christian home, her faith has grown more in the last year since leaving the sport. "With curling it was extremely difficult that we didn't have a Christian community around us and it's very hard to grow in your faith when you don't have that. Now, being able to immerse myself more in the church and gain some new friends and have a whole community a year out of it, surrounding me, that's helping me grow in my faith. And it's just a testament to like how much Jesus has done for me in this last year and just how much He's given me and I'm just so thankful to have this community."
Despite making the choice to leave curling, Zacharias says that even though it was a challenging period, God got her through it. "God was guiding the way and things started to pick up after a few months too. He started to open doors that I didn't know could be opened. He really showed me that he never left me."
Looking back, she sees how beneficial that time really was. "It was incredible where I just got so much closer to Him and to the purpose that He has for my life."
If Zacharias could go back and tell her younger self one piece of advice, she says it's quite simple. "Never lose faith. It can be so easy when difficult things happen to think that it will stay that way and nothing good will come. When you keep God at the centre and have faith that He's going to come through in bigger and better ways than you could ever imagine, I've lived that experience and I hope that others can believe in that as well."