SCA ATHLETES TACKLE WORLD MIXED CHAMPIONSHIP ON HOME ICE
Scottish Curling Academy athletes Jack Strawhorn, Kaleb Johnston, and Kirsty Gallacher, alongside Amy Mitchell are set to represent Scotland at the 2023 World Mixed Curling Championship, taking place at Curl Aberdeen from 14 to 21 October.
For Jack, Kaleb, and Kirsty this will be their first major international championship competing for Scotland. ‘It will be mainly about gaining experience in playing in big tournaments, but of course we still hope to perform well. So, we are hoping to make it through to the knockout phase of the competition,’ said Jack.
‘It’s always special representing your own country at any major championship, but as we are performing in front of our own crowd that will only add to the anticipation of the competition with the hope that more people get the chance to come and support us and provide a bigger buzz around the competition from our point of view.’
Kaleb agreed that: ‘our ambitions are to take it one game at a time; we are hopeful to qualify out of the group stage as this is our goal for the week. We just want to enjoy our first time at a championship.
‘It will be a great feeling playing on home ice. Aberdeen is where our junior nationals are played, so we aren’t going anywhere we don’t know. It will also be great having a home crowd to cheer us on!’
Amy has sported the Saltire on international ice before, playing alternate at the World Junior-B Championships 2022 and the World Junior Championships 2023 where she was part of the team that clinched gold. ‘My ambitions for the championship are to qualify out of our section and make the knockout stages,’ she said.
‘It’s special to play an international championship in front of a home crowd as it’s good to see friendly faces in the audience. It’s also great to experience play against teams we have never played before and learning about how others adapt their game and how we respond.’
With Jack and Kaleb competing in the same team in regular competition, playing the World Mixed together will be a great experience and a boon for their season ahead. ‘It gives us a lot of confidence,’ Kaleb said.
‘It will also take a bit of weight off when it comes to the junior nationals at the same venue just a few weeks later having played in the Mixed already.’
‘It should help us massively, the Scottish Juniors are the main event of the season for our own team,’ Jack added. ‘The experience should benefit us by giving us extra ice time and put us into pressure situations which we will have to deal with in the Juniors and give us a chance to adapt to the ice which will hopefully give us a head start on the competition.’
SCA Manager Scott Andrews will travel with the team as their coach for the week. ‘All four athletes have had busy starts to the season,’ he said. ‘As a team they will not have taken to the ice together prior to the championship starting, but I know individually they will all be in a good place stepping on the ice in Aberdeen.
‘It is a huge honour to represent Scotland at a major event and for the team it will be a great experience playing as the home nation. There will be plenty of learnings from the week for both the athletes and for myself as a coach.’
The athletes earned the right to represent Scotland at the World Mixed by winning the Scottish Curling Mixed Championship earlier this year (then playing with Robyn Mitchell instead of Kirsty Gallacher), beating Team Bryce, who clinched silver at the 2022 World Mixed Championship, in the final.
Thirty-four teams from all continents will be coming together to compete in Aberdeen. Scotland will play in Group A alongside Belgium, England, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, and Wales.
SCOTTISH JUNIOR CURLING ON THE RISE
Four juniors taking on the World Mixed underlines the strong position junior curling finds itself in in Scotland. ‘We have teams playing across Europe in the EJCT gaining experience, our Asham Slam series are well supported, and there are a lot of promising young athletes coming up the pathway,’ Scott said.
Curling is a fantastic for young people to engage with, as confirmed by the World Mixed athletes: ‘During my time curling I have met a lot of different people from all walks of life, the likes of which I would never have got in contact with otherwise, especially with me being a country boy,’ Jack explained.
‘I have also had the opportunity to travel to Europe to compete on the European stage and that has allowed me to go places I never thought I would ever go.’
‘I love the friendships that I have made through curling both domestically and internationally,’ Amy agreed. ‘And also that curling is a very diverse sport and I have loved it since the age of eight.’
Kaleb added: ‘I love the complexity of the game; it can get so complicated and confusing in just ten minutes, but it can also be so simple. It’s just a really fun and elegant sport.’
