Having achieved one of their career goals last season, World Champions Team Mouat are expecting to be severely tested as they start the 2023/24 campaign on home ice in the Euro Super Series at Stirling’s National Academy this weekend.
Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan claimed that world title in Canada last season as they built on the reputation developed by winning all three European Championships they have lined up in and becoming the first Scottish men to win The Pinty’s Cup as the top performers in the previous season’s Grand Slams in Canada. 
While carrying this new mantle adds to their status, then, skip Mouat is confident that they can handle any added pressure.
“It is a different feeling heading into this season as World Champions with quite an exciting event to start out,” he said.
“Obviously we have a bit of a target on our backs but that is nothing new to us and we are really looking forward to pushing on this season and seeing what we can do as World Champs.”
A change to their regular schedule, which had seen them regularly kick off the season with a trip to Switzerland for the Baden Masters, means they will be coming into the Euro Super Series fresh.
“We decided that we would take it a bit more easy in August and would play the home event as a great start to our season,” said Mouat.
“We have been training pretty hard and are looking forward to seeing what we can do against some of the high quality teams. 
“There are a lot of really good teams competing this weekend so it is always good to have that home competition before you leave the country and play other European and World teams it means you are always firing and we can’t really rest on our laurels.
“Having that competition in your own country keeps us all on our toes.”
The Baden event also demonstrated the quality they face in the domestic arena with all four Scottish representatives, skipped by Ross Whyte, Kyle Waddell, James Craik and Cammy Bryce, reaching the knockout stages.
Three of them – Teams Bryce, Whyte and Craik – reached the semis, with Bryce going on to the final and they are all back in action this week, along with four more that are ranked in the world’s top 25, the USA’s Team Dropkin, Norway’s Team Ramsfjell, the Netherlands’ Team Gosgens and Switzerland’s Team Hoesli, while there is Canadian representation this week in the shape of youngsters Team Humber, who won their national college championships earlier this year.
This event will consequently be an ideal introduction to the season for Mouat’s men who believe they have prepared well, having achieved what they did last season in spite of it being blighted by injury problems which impacted their competitiveness at a number of events.
“It looks like there was a good outing for the British Curling teams and other Scottish teams at the Baden Masters last weekend and all of them qualified so it would be really nice to see if we can do something similar this weekend,” said Mouat. 
“That just proves there is a lot of talent in Scotland with a lot of very good teams and it is good to have that level of competition in our own country.
“We have done a lot of good gym work over the past two to three months to have a season where we are hopefully injury free and there has been a lot of really good things that have happened over the summer and a lot of good gym blocks to help us move on in our strength goals we have set ourselves and a lot of us have met them over the summer.”
The skip has also changed his personal schedule with a view to maximising his energy levels throughout the campaign.
“It was a really busy season last year with a lot of mixed doubles and men’s competitions, so this year will be less hectic and it would be nice to have more consistent training blocks which hopefully will just help us reach the goals we have set ourselves for this season,” he said.
“All four of us are very excited to get going tomorrow and hopefully start this season with a really good team performance.”
The Euro Super Series gets underway on August 24, running through to finals day on August 27 with matches from every round streamed live on the British Curling Recast channel.
Curling Zone Line scores.
ESS Draw.
We are keen to hear from anyone who would like to volunteer at our British Curling international events that we will stage at the National Curling Academy in the 2023-24 season. Please get in touch: events@britishcurling.org.uk
British Curling Teams & Coaches 2023/24:
Team Mouat
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Team Whyte
Ross Whyte
Robin Brydone
Duncan McFadyen
Euan Kyle
Team Waddell
Kyle Waddell
Craig Waddell
Mark Taylor
Gavin Barr
Coach: Tom Brewster
Team Craik
James Craik
Mark Watt
Angus Bryce
Blair Haswell
Coach: Iain Watt
Team Ross Craik
Ross Craik
Scott Hyslop
Struan Carson
Jack Carrick
Coach: Colin Morrison
Team Carson
Orrin Carson
Logan Carson
Archie Hyslop
Charlie Gibb
Coach: Ryan Carson
Images: Anil Mungal - photovagrant, Urs Räber - Curling Club Baden Regio, Jack Hodgetts.
#curling #ESS2023
