After five years that have brought gold medal success at World Juniors, World University Games and, most recently, this year’s Youth Olympic Games, David Aitken has taken the decision to retire from his role as Performance Foundation (PF) Manager at British Curling.
A passionate lifelong curler and former World Junior champion in his own right, Aitken became a full time performance coach with the British Curling programme in 2019 and a year later in July 2020 was appointed to head up the PF programme, helping create a smooth transition phase for athletes moving from the Scottish Curling Academy to the Olympic world class programme. 
As a technical and team coach in his spare time he worked for over a decade with junior men and women, ladies, mixed doubles and seniors at national and international level and coached Scottish teams at nine world championships.
“I have always been incredibly passionate about curling but I just know that now is a good time for me to spend my time on other things and creating more time with my family including my first grandson who was born in November,” said Aitken.
British Curling will shortly embark on the search for Aitken’s replacement and he believes he can promise his successor the opportunity to take on a highly fulfilling role.
“What teams have achieved has been extremely rewarding and I value those moments at the World Juniors, World University Games and the Youth Olympics,” he said.
“However it is the other moments which I found even more rewarding, the less glamorous stuff, but the times you know you have helped someone overcome a challenging situation, helped them develop and progress, or just realise something about themselves.
“It’s not just tactical or technical coaching, but helping athletes learn life skills, be better teammates and build better relationships to enable them to perform better and I hope that my successor, from either this sport or another fully embraces that responsibility.” 
The vacancy represents an opportunity for ambitious coaches and managers to become involved in one of the country’s most successful sports programmes as the only one to deliver medal success at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
And Nigel Holl, British Curling’s Chief Executive, believes prospective candidates can draw inspiration from their predecessor’s achievements.
“Since taking on this role over the summer of 2020, David has helped us navigate extraordinarily testing times through Covid and lockdown, resulting in unprecedented situations such as the World Junior B’s being cancelled as he and the team were boarding the plane,” said Holl.
“Through all of that, athletes within the PF programme have produced two gold medals and a bronze at World Junior Championships, as well as further gold medal success at both the World University Games and the Youth Olympic Games. We have also seen many athletes progress from PF into the World Class program which is a measure of a successful pathway.
“That is some record in recent years and in many ways, whilst those highlights stand out and are amazing, it’s the day-to-day work at the NCA, supporting athletes, teams, coaches that has been the greater contribution and impact – a legacy he should be incredibly proud of.”
Images: Team GB / Sam Mellish - WUGS - Jack Hodgetts
