World University Games update

There are 165 days to go.

Just to remind you that the GB woman's curling squad for the World University Games, in Harbin, China, February 18-28, 2009, comprises Kay Adams, Vicki Adams, Laura Kirkpatrick, Sarah Macintyre and Sarah Reid.

To be eligible, athletes must be students and under the age of 28.

Today's announcement by British Curling (here) is to confirm that Keith Prentice (left) will be the coach to the women's squad. Keith skipped the team which won gold for Scotland at the World Senior Championship in Edmonton in 2007, and has been working with a number of junior teams in recent seasons.

The men's squad has undergone a change since it was first announced back in May. Andrew Craigie, Michael Goodfellow, John Hamilton, and Thomas Pendreigh are the four now.

Today sees the appointment of former Scottish and Scottish Junior Champion David Ramsay as coach to the men's squad. David was a member of Colin Hamilton's team at the Bruadar Scottish Championship last season, and won the sportsmanship award then (pic below).

Cate Brewster, in overall charge of the GB team, is the Assistant High Performance Curling Coach at the Scottish Institute of Sport, and was the first to be appointed in the run up to the 2009 Universiade. She said "I am delighted with the appointments and look forward to working with David and Keith."

Also of interest is that Scott Henderson is the WCF choice to be Chief Ice Technician at both the Pacific Junior Championships (which is to be the test event for the World University Games) and for the Universiade itself.

The Harbin website is here.

Pics by Bob.

Gladiators ready!

Here they are - the two GB Olympic curling squads for Vancouver 2010, as announced recently by British Curling. The twelve athletes, ten of whom will be selected next May for the two teams for the Games, assembled for a photocall with coaches Nancy Murdoch and David Hay at the Scottish Institute of Sport today.

The first commitment for the squads will be an intensive six days training camp in Cyprus, with British Curling's Performance Director, Derek Brown, and their support staff from the Institute, at the British Olympic Association's official warm weather training centre at the Coral Beach Hotel and Resort.

Back L-R: Jackie Lockhart, Lynn Cameron, Nancy Murdoch (team coach)
Front: Lorna Vevers, Kelly Wood, Eve Muirhead, Karen Addison

Back L-R: Peter Smith, Craig Wilson, Ewan MacDonald, David Hay (team coach)
Front: David Murdoch, Warwick Smith, Euan Byers

Pics by Bob

Olympic and Paralympic squads announced

The squads for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver in 2010 were announced by British Curling today. Six men, six women and six wheelchair athletes have been selected for each squad.

The men are Euan Byers, Ewan MacDonald, David Murdoch, Peter Smith, Warwick Smith and Craig Wilson.

The women are Karen Addison, Lynn Cameron, Jackie Lockhart, Eve Muirhead, Lorna Vevers and Kelly Wood.

Tom Killin, Rosemary Lenton, Angie Malone, Michael McCreadie, Aileen Neilsen and Jim Sellar are the wheelchair curlers.

The full press release can be found here.

British Curling announced its performance plan on July 27 last year. This called for the selection of small squads, with a maximum of eight athletes in each. In the event, only six athletes have been selected for each squad. The plan calls for each squad to be reduced to five in May 2009.

Here are photos of the curlers some of whom will be wearing British colours at the Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics:

David Murdoch photo by Bob from the 2007 Europeans in Fussen

Peter Smith photo by Bob from the 2007 Europeans in Fussen

Euan Byers photo by Bob from the 2007 Europeans in Fussen

Warwick Smith photo by Bob from the Scottish Championship

Ewan MacDonald photo by Bob from the 2006 Scottish Championship

Craig Wilson photo by Richard Gray from the 2007 European Qualifying Competition

Kelly Wood photo by Bob from the 2007 Europeans in Fussen

Jackie Lockhart photo by Bob from the 2007 Europeans in Fussen

Lorna Vevers photo by Bob from the 2007 Europeans in Fussen

Lynn Cameron photo by Hugh Stewart from the 2008 Worlds in Vernon

Karen Addison photo by Hugh Stewart from the 2008 Worlds in Vernon

Eve Muirhead photo by Bob from the World Junior Championships in Ostersund

Michael McCreadie photo by Bob after the 2007 World Wheelchair Curling Championship

Angie Malone photo by Bob from the 2008 Scottish Wheelchair Championship

Aileen Neilsen photo by Bob from a training day at the Galleon in 2007

Pic of Jim Sellar and Rosemary Lenton from the 2008 Scottish Wheelchair Championship by Bob

Tom Killin photo by Bob from a British team training day at Braehead in 2006

Olympic coach appointments

David Hay and Nancy Murdoch are to be the coaches for the British curling teams at the Vancouver Olympics. The announcement was made by British Curling today, following interviews last month. The posts were originally advertised in November. The full press release is printed here.

David Hay was the coach of David Murdoch's team at the 2007 European Championships, bringing home the gold medals.

Nancy Murdoch is currently the Royal Club's Performance Development coach, a job she will have to relinquish when the two coaches take up their posts in March.

In addition Gary Anderson has been appointed as High Performance Advisor for the Olympic Programme. Anderson is currently a Performance Director with Elite-Performance which offers performance coaching, testing and training camps for athletes of all abilities. He has an extensive background in world class sport including athletics and professional football. Gary was Performance Manager for judo at the 2004 Olympic Games and was Programme Advisor to the Great Britain Olympic Curling Teams in 2005-6. His photo is here.

All three will work alongside Derek Brown, British Curling’s Performance Director, in the run up to the Vancouver Games. Tom Pendreigh, Team Coach for Paralympics, and Hew Chalmers, British Curling Team Co-ordinator, complete the Performance Team for the next Olympics.

Now that the administrative and coaching positions have been filled, it remains for the curlers to be selected to the squads. There will be a maximum of eight athletes in each of the men's and women's squads. According to the information published previously by British Curling, the squads will be selected in May 2008, and each squad will then be reduced to five in May 2009, allowing time to compete as a team in the build up to the 2010 Games.

Pics of David Hay and Nancy Murdoch are by Bob.

British Olympic squad appointment for Hew Chalmers

British Curling has announced the appointment of Hew Chalmers as 'British Curling coordinator'. The role will involve the management and organisation of the curling squad and support staff in their preparation for both the Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver 2010.

Hew Chalmers is a Director of British Curling. He was GB Olympic Team Manager in 2002 and Team Coordinator in 2006. He takes up the post with immediate effect.

The full press release with quotes from BC Performance Director Derek Brown and BC Chairman Chris Hildrey is here.

Hew recently was in the news back in October when he was appointed one of the Royal Club's representatives to the World Curling Federation. That blog post is here.

Development Officer at Aberdeen

The good news today is that Laura Morris has been appointed as the new Aberdeen Curling Development Officer. Laura is a University of Aberdeen graduate with a BSc degree in Sport and Exercise Science. She curled with the Aberdeen university club in 2003 and 2004.

She begins work at Curl Aberdeen on Monday, December 3. I don't have a photo yet, but will post one as soon as I can.

Laura joins the band of area curling development officers across the country headed up by the RCCC's Development Manager Judith McFarlane. The ACDOs currently in post are Jim Buchanan (Borders), Marion Murdoch (Lockerbie), Graham Sloan (Dumfries), Jim Morrison (Hamilton and East Kilbride), David Horne (Greenacres and the Waterfront, Claire Milne (Perth, Dundee and Pitlochry), Lynne Fraser (Inverness and Elgin), and Logan Gray (Stirling).

There remains a vacancy at Braehead. And some rinks do not have the support of a development officer.

Talking of jobs within curling, did you see British Curling's advert for a Co-ordinator to assist in the management and organisation of the squad and support staff in their preparation for both the Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver 2010? The successful candidate will be responsible on a day-to-day basis to the British Curling Performance Director Derek Brown and will also be accountable to the Chairman and Board of British Curling.

In year one (from appointment to Aug 31, 2008) it is anticipated that the time requirement will be 30 days. This will be increased to 50 days in year two (Sept 1, 2008 – Aug 31, 2009). In year three (Sept 1, 2009 – Aug 31, 2010) the commitment will escalate in line with the escalation of the programme for the Olympic athletes. Closing date for applications is Monday, November 26. Full details of how to apply are here.