Newly formed Team Morrison has been completed with the recruitment of former Scottish champion skip Sophie Jackson who comes into the line-up at lead.
The skip of the 2019 Scottish Championship winning rink re-joins former teammate Sophie Sinclair in an otherwise established combination that has been playing together since the beginning of the 2020/21 season.
In welcoming the 25-year-old from Dumfries to the team, skip Rebecca Morrison said it had been a huge boost to bring a player who has skipped a team at a World Championship into their ranks.
“It’s excellent to have a player like Sophie come into our team and we’re so glad that we’ve managed to get her,” she said. 
“She’s got so much experience under her belt and that’s already shone through and had a really positive impact in our team, so we’re really excited to have her join us at lead.”
Team Morrison was only officially formed last month and has so far been able to play in just one tournament, but Morrison played regularly with then skip Gina Aitken and Sophie Sinclair last season in a team that beat the long-established Team Muirhead in two of the four domestic tournaments they contested, so there is a settled feel that is added to by Sinclair having previously played with their new recruit.
“Despite the fact we haven’t had a lot of competitive opportunities yet, the three of us have worked together for more than a year now and we’re really well bonded and both of the Sophies have worked together for four seasons, I believe, so they’re already super tight-knit and we’re coming together really well,” said Morrison.
Morrison, Aitken and Sinclair were all part of the nine-player system that was set-up at the beginning of this season to re-assess British Curling’s elite women’s squad, which has produced extraordinary results with all of those involved performing at a very high standard and there have been knock on benefits from that process.
“Whilst the nine-player squad was quite a tough situation to be in, we’ve learned a lot from it through mixing players and it’s actually been a really good thing for us, because now that we’ve had to bring in Sophie as our fourth player we’ve had so much experience in changing roles and positions that it’s something we can do quite quickly now, which is a huge positive,” said Morrison.
While the current, COVID restricted climate is reducing competitive opportunities for the new team, they have their sights set high for the New Year.
“This season we’d like to qualify for the World Championships,” said their skip.
“We only have one competitive event running up to that in Berne at the end of January and after that we’ll play the Scottish Championships, which we also hope to win. So, the main goal is the World Championship and from there we’ll set new goals.”
After taking a year off from the British Curling programme, Jackson returned last season with Team Farmer and did so with a renewed appetite for playing at the highest level.
“Having some time away from curling really helped me put things into perspective,” she said. “It helped me consider my goals within elite curling and also within my career outside of that. I’m now back with a renewed and refreshed motivation and really keen to see where things can go for me and British Curling in the next couple of years.”
She is particularly excited about the switch to a new role.
“I’m really motivated to master the lead position,” said Jackson.
“Over the years skipping I’ve seen how important that lead position is, getting the set up right just makes the rest of the team’s job a lot easier throughout the end, so you’re not chasing all of the time.
“It’s a position where you’ve got a set number of key shots and I just think it’s really exciting to be able to practise them and be able to become an absolute perfectionist.”
She meanwhile expressed gratitude to both the teammates who have helped reinvigorate her love for the sport and to her employers at Scottish Curling, where she is their academy manager, for the way they are facilitating her dual career.
“Team Farmer are a great team and they have a lot of positive things going for them. I’m really sad to be leaving them, but I’m sure they’ve got a really exciting future ahead and hopefully at some we can maybe link back up again,” said Jackson.
“I’m also extremely grateful to Scottish Curling for supporting me through this stage of my career and enabling me to manage that, alongside my sporting dreams.”
Team Morrison
Rebecca Morrison
Gina Aitken
Sophie Sinclair
Sophie Jackson
