National Champions Team Paterson have been selected to represent Scotland at the LGT World Men’s Curling Championships which will take place at The Orleans Arena, Las Vegas Nevada next month (2-10 April).
The line-up includes skip Kyle Waddell, vice-skip Ross Paterson who plays skip stones along with Duncan Menzies and Kyle Waddell.
The quartet claimed victory at the Scottish Curling Championships in Dumfries last month, beating Team Whyte in a hard fought final. 
The skip is the only member of the team to have been involved previously in a World Championships, as part of Team Brewster six years ago, then as fifth man for Team Murdoch the following year and, most recently, for Team Mouat when the event was last staged in Las Vegas when they won bronze, however he knows this will be a very different experience.
“First and foremost it is always a great honour to represent Scotland especially at World Championship level,” said Paterson, who celebrated his 38th birthday last weekend.
“I was at the World Champs in Basel with Tom Brewster back in 2016 and played second for him and to be heading back to another Worlds playing skip stones is a great feeling.
“This is my fourth World Championships, two of those having been fifth man, the second of those for Team Mouat in 2018 in Vegas.
“It’s nice to be going back there. I know the arena and the set-up with the hotel. It’s a fantastic set-up and the crowds are great, so it will be really exciting to be there, it’s just a really special place to go. So, to have that opportunity with my team is unbelievable.
While his teammates will all be making their debut in the event, he noted that they all have experience of major events, so is confident that they will not be fazed.
“We have a similar line-up to what we had at the Europeans in 2019,” Paterson pointed out.
“Obviously we had Michael (Goodfellow) with us then and Craig was our fifth man so to have this first major championship together is amazing. 
“We have faced some challenges and now we are just so focused and training hard to ensure that when we go away, we represent Scotland well, which I am sure we will.
“I’m delighted for all the guys going to their first Worlds. We’ve got experience as a team and Kyle’s been to an Olympics, but this is Craig’s first international championship as a player, so it’s extra special for him.
“I couldn’t be happier for him and it’s nice to have Tom (Brewster) with us as well. Tom’s been an unbelievable support to us this year as a team. We’ve had adversity, but we’ve peaked at the right time in terms of performances and we’re building up nicely, so we’re all feeling good going into the Worlds.”
They are under no illusions about what will confront them in Las Vegas, but with past campaigns together including becoming only the second Scottish team to win a Grand Slam title in Canada, they know they can mix it with the very best.
“It has been a while since we won the Scottish, so we’re aware of the field that we’ll be up against, including the Canadians after the Brier was completed at the weekend with Team Gushue winning,” said Paterson.
“It’s always a tough field and it’s a long week with a lot of games, but we’ve played a lot of those teams before, though, so we’ve got every reason to be confident.
“Brad Gushue’s got a fantastic team and is coming off the back of the Olympics, as is (Sweden’s Niklas) Edin, so we’re playing against Olympic gold and bronze medallists, but we’ve all played at international level before and we’ve won a Grand Slam a few years ago now.
“When Craig came into the team with Michael stepping out as an experienced player it was always going to take time to build, not just on performances, but on dynamics within the team as well and we’ve put in a huge amount of work behind the scenes, especially since we suffered a bit of disappointing form towards the end of last year. 
“We’ve really looked into areas we can improve and we’ve built on that and built momentum within the team. Our main goal this year was winning the Scottish Championships and we’ve done that now and ticked that box and thankfully that’s followed up with our selection for the Worlds.
“So, we’ve got every reason to be confident going into the World Championships and we’ve got a really good feeling within the team. We just need to use that as a positive and build on what we’ve already achieved at the Scottish.”
They are also aware that there will be added attention paid to these World Championships in an Olympic year that has brought major British success.
“Curling always gets a little bit more limelight after the Olympics and with both the British teams doing so well hopefully it continues into the World Championships,” said Paterson.
“We’re just excited to have this opportunity to represent Scotland. It’s a special feeling and not one that everybody gets to experience, so we’re very lucky to have that opportunity.
“We just want to make the most of it. Our target is to perform the best that we can and if we do that and continue the form we showed in the Scottish then I’m excited to see what can happen at a World Championships. 
“The first goal’s always to make the play-offs and from there we’ll be looking to be on the podium. That’s what we’re all training hard to achieve and we’ve got every confidence as a team that we can absolutely do that.”
Team Paterson
Ross Paterson
Kyle Waddell
Duncan Menzies
Craig Waddell
#curling #WMCC2022
Action images: PPA/Graeme Hart
