Ross Whyte will return to full-scale skipping duties for his team this season as they look to build on a successful 2022/23 campaign which saw them claim wins on either side of the Atlantic.
The re-shuffle of their line-up had been down to back problems that vice-skip Robin Brydone was dealing with and they collectively responded well, but they are now all back to full fitness and ready for action as they head to the Baden Masters as part of a strong Scottish contingent this weekend (17-20 August).
“It’s a team decision to go back to me being back in the head,” Whyte explained. 
“We had a change last year because of injury and won a couple of competitions so ran with that, but we hope to come back this year and have a lot more success.”
Victory at the Swiss Cup in Basel sparked a campaign which also brought wins at the Original 16 in Calgary and at the Aberdeen International as the quartet which has a front end of Euan Kyle (lead) and Duncan McFadzean confirmed its status among the top 10 in the world rankings.
They are consequently looking forward to their return to Switzerland and an event at which they reached the quarter-finals a year ago.
“Hopefully we can go far in the competition,” said Whyte.
“Everyone is in a good situation in the team so we want to push on for the whole of the season.
“We had a good weekend at the event last year and we obviously want to build on that.
“We have been working hard in the gym and during the pre-season so we want to use that base to build some success.”
The 24-year-old is meanwhile looking forward to being able to give curling his sole focus in the coming season.
“Graduating in the summer means it is a nice feeling now being able to fully concentrate on my curling,” he said.
“It will take quite a weight off my shoulders each week not having to worry about Uni work, so hopefully that will make a difference too.” 
With former junior world champion skip James Craik and 2018 Olympian Kyle Waddell also leading their teams at the season’s opener in Baden, Whyte is embracing the intensity of the domestic competition, as well as the international challenge as they all seek to match the achievements of British Curling colleagues Team Mouat, who won the men’s World Championships last season.
“We will be fighting hard this year to be close to other teams and close the gap with Team Mouat to get in the frame for selections,” he said.
“We have a lot of great teams here in Scotland. It’s been that way for a while and it creates a healthy pressure, though to be honest it is the pressure you put on yourselves to do well at competitions, rather than focusing on who is doing what around you, because if we are not doing well when we are competing then we don’t deserve to be in the top ranked teams at British Curling.
“So we hope to go out and climb the rankings as much as we can, try and earn some money and hopefully get selected for the World Championships.
“It is great to be all pushing each other on here at the National Curling Academy.
“It means there is a bigger pool from which players will get selected, so the aim is to always try and get ahead and stay ahead of them.
“For now, though, let’s see what this weekend brings.”
