Reigning Scottish champs Team Morrison are set to lead the British Curling challenge at the opening event of the season on home ice when the Euro Super Series (ESS) event (18-21 August) takes place this weekend.
That follows a significant re-shuffle of the British Curling’s women’s squad following the decision of four time Olympian Eve Muirhead to retire from international competition and the subsequent decision of Olympic gold medal winning team mate Jen Dodds to focus exclusively on Mixed Doubles, of which she is a former World Champion. 
Having worked within the nine player squad system which produced the Olympic title winning team, skip Rebecca Morrison believes that she and her team mates are ready to step up as the new Olympic cycle gets underway.
Morrison, Gina Aitken and Sophie Sinclair ultimately missed out on going to Beijing, but since then they have recruited former Scottish champion skip Sophie Jackson and won the national title.
Reflecting on that last year of the Beijing Olympiad, Morrison felt the season then ended with a sense of unfinished business after their World Champs debut was curtailed after COVID struck, forcing them to withdraw from their first major together just as the event got underway.
“It feels so good to be finally getting back into international competition as my team hasn’t actually played a game together since the Scottish Championships because of our COVID situation at the World’s,” said Morrison.
“We felt like we were capable of a lot more at the Worlds but didn’t get the chance as we couldn’t finish that competition.
“So it was good for us to have a bit of a summer break away from curling, it gave us time to draw a line under everything last season because it wasn’t ideal for us and we have come back with fresh minds and motivated. 
“I think that is the biggest change for us. We have lots to look forward to and have big goals this season which we are really determined to make. So we want to make a sharp start to this weekend and show how much hard work we have been putting in over this last training block.”
Having added the ESS title to her CV with a different line-up of teammates last season, Morrison sees that competing on home ice will give her team additional impetus to make their mark this weekend in what will be a good test among international and domestic rivals for the 2022 title.
“We have some great teams in our section, Jenstch from Germany and Kaiser from Switzerland so I think it will be really good to see where we are at. It is a big competition for me as a defending champion so I really want to do well this week,” she said.
“We train here at the NCA every day from Monday to Friday and the stones will get a rub before the competition and there is more time for them to prepare the ice during an event, so it will be different and it’s not going to be plain sailing in terms of reading the ice.
“We are still going to have challenges in that sense, but it’s great to see competition continuing at the NCA. I think a lot of international teams were really pleased with the way they were run last year and we loved the ESS as well. it is a nice way to start the season so close to home, so we are really excited to be hosting such a good quality competition here in Scotland,” 
They open the season in high quality international company including Sweden’s Team Wrana, last season’s ESS runners-up, and the competition will also provide a first test for the newly formed team that will feature the remaining member of the Olympic gold medal winning team on the women’s programme.
Hailey Duff will bring the experience gained in winning the European Championships, as well as the Olympics, to a five player team that will be skipped by Beth Farmer and will also include Kirstin Bousie, Amy McDonald and Katie McMillan.
The re-shuffle has also brought about the formation of another team at performance foundation level skipped by Lucy Blair who will be accompanied by Lisa Davie, Holly Hamilton, Susie Smith and Alex MackIntosh.
“The start of a new Olympiad is inevitably a time of both change and opportunity for our leading curlers and everyone on the British Curling programme is looking forward to seeing how the players who have been selected respond to that,” said Olympic Head Coach David Murdoch. 
“Both the support staff and players go into this new season fuelled by the confidence we can take from the successes that have been achieved across the programme over the past two years from Olympic, World and European wins at senior level to gold medal success at the World Juniors.
“However we also know that the world of curling will not stand still and we must keep working hard in every facet of the game if we are to build on those successes and it will be great to start testing ourselves in this first competition of the new campaign at our own training base at the National Curling Academy in Stirling.”
British Curling Programme Athletes (women) for 2022/3:
Podium Team
Team Morrison
Rebecca Morrison
Gina Aitken
Sophie Sinclair
Sophie Jackson
Individual Athlete / Mixed Doubles
Jen Dodds
Performance Foundation Teams
Team Farmer (Playing order TBC)
Beth Farmer
Hailey Duff
Kirstin Bousie
Amy MacDonald
Katie McMillan
Team Blair (Playing order TBC)
Lucy Blair
Lisa Davie
Alex Mackintosh
Holly Hamilton
Susie Smith
Team Henderson
Fay Henderson
Holly Wilkie-Milne
Robyn Munro
Laura Watt
Additional notes:
Please click here for the draw.
The following rules will be implemented for the ESS women’s event, as part of WCF’s Maximising the Value Project:
- No tick on centre line (mirroring last season’s Worlds)
- TTPE – Thinking Time Per End. Similar to World Cup. Exact time to be determined but either 4:15 or 4:30 per end.
- No extra end – 3 points for a win, 2 points for an EE win, 1 point for an EE loss.
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Images: PPA/Graeme Hart, Team GB/David Pearce.
