Olympic Stones

February 2010 may seem a long way away but preparations for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver are well underway. The venue for the curling at Hillcrest in Vancouver is almost there, it's expected the first ice will go down next month.

And in the meantime back here in Scotland the stones to be used at the Olympics are undergoing testing at Greenacres.

Hans Wuthrich, chief icemaker for the Olympics, is in town working with Kays of Scotland to ensure the stones are matched and in tip top order for 2010. The testing involves all the stones being thrown mechanically and their final resting place recorded, then all the data is analysed and the stones are matched.

The Olympians won't be the first to get their hands on the stones, they'll be used in 2009 for the World Wheelchair and World Junior Curling Championships in the Olympic venue.

(Added later by Bob. How is stone matching carried out? If you are interested, this link will provide an overview)

Mike Hay and sportscotland

Now here's something you may not know. Former National Curling Coach Mike Hay MBE is now a member of the Board of sportscotland. You will remember that Mike left the Scottish Institute of Sport in October 2006, after eight years, to join the British Olympic Association as Olympic Performance Manager for Winter Sports. He became a board member of the Scottish Institute of Sport in September 2007.

The Scottish Institute of Sport controversially 'merged' with sportscotland earlier this year. The original note about that is here.

Institute chairman Dougie Donnelly was 'stood down', and sportscotland chair Julia Bracewell also lost her job in the reorganisation. Louise Martin CBE, an existing sportscotland board member, was announced recently by the Scottish Executive as the new chair of sportscotland, a popular choice.

Louise is reported as saying, “I have enjoyed a long association with sportscotland both as a Board Member and in my capacity as Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland and believe the organisation has a significant role to play in driving Scottish sport forwards. I am delighted to have the opportunity to take up the position of Chair at this crucial time for the organisation, as it prepares to relocate to Glasgow and at the same time, ensuring it is well placed to lead the delivery of a sporting legacy from the 2014 Commonwealth Games.”

Mike Hay is on the Board of the new merged organisation. A couple of months ago Mike was asked along with Sir Bill Gammell and Louise Martin, former Scottish Institute directors, to take places on sportscotland's new Board of Directors. He has attended one meeting so far and is due up in Scotland at the end of the month for another.

He says, "It's obviously a challenging time with all the changes that the Scottish Government has made, but therein lies opportunities for all of us to make positive changes. Winning the bid for Glasgow Commonwealth 2014 will give huge focus for sport in Scotland in the interim period."

We wish Mike best wishes in this new challenge.

Talking of Mike brings the 2010 Olympics to mind. (What a link!)

Want to be in Vancouver? Tickets for the Men's and Women's curling competitions will be allocated to various National Olympic Committees who will contract a ticket agency in their own country to distribute these. Although tickets will not be available until October 8, 2008, registering an interest now is recommended. For information and tickets in Great Britain the contact is Sportsworld Travel, Windrush Court, Blacklands Way, Abingdon, OX14 1SY. Phone 01235 554844.

Paralympic Winter Games ticket package information should be obtained directly from the VANOC website (www.vancouver2010.com).

Top: Mike Hay in action in his days as National Coach. Photos by Bob.
Above: The Hillcrest stadium where the Olympic curling will be staged in 2010, under construction at the beginning of April this year. It is due to be completed by the autumn. When the games are over it will be turned into a community centre with a public library, skating rink and will be home to the Vancouver Curling Club. Photo by Hugh Stewart.

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.

Do you want to curl for Britain at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics?

British Curling, the organisation charged with selecting, supporting and preparing the British curling teams for the Vancouver Olympics, is seeking to register those curlers who wish to be considered for the Great Britain Olympic curling squads for the Winter Olympic Games in 2010.

An athlete information pack is now available, covering the selection process, timelines and eligibility for Vancouver 2010. The information packs can be obtained by contacting:

Marc Scott
British Curling Admin Support
Scottish Institute of Sport
Airthrey Road
Stirling FK9 5PH

01786 460105
marc.scott@sisport.com

Only athletes who are eligible for the Great Britain Team and who have a genuine aspiration and realistic ability to compete in the medal zone at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games 2010 should return a registration of interest.

The closing date for applications is September 30, 2007.

Squads of eight athletes are to be selected in the first instance, these to be cut down to teams of five players. An outline of British Curling's Performance Plan, announced in July, may be found here.

The photos below of the British teams in action at Pinerolo 2006 are by Hugh Stewart.

Performance Plan 2007-2011 highlights

The news released over the last couple of days about the Elite Scotland Squad and new National Academy, and about the curlers receiving support under these banners, is only part of the Royal Club's Performance Development Plan 2007-20011. The plan has received support from partners sportscotland, Scottish Institute of Sport, the Area Institutes, UKSport and British Curling Ltd.

I note three other areas where changes will influence the sport. First of these is in team coaching support. Currently what team coaches there are are unpaid volunteers who only receive travel expenses and per diems when at events. The new plan will see support for up to twelve coaches, four at the Elite level, and eight at National Academy level. This support will extend to travel to competitions, honoraria and expenses, and training and development.

Secondly, the fledgling Regional Academy structure is to get increased support. The curlers supported under this scheme have not yet been announced, the names expected next month.

Lastly, the Development Plan gives an inkling of what is in the minds of those planning for British representation at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, assuming we qualify, of course. The second year of the Plan 2008-2009 has provision for support of two GB Olympic Squads of 6-8 players, under the Elite banner, while continuing to support two Scottish men's and two women's teams. The following year 2009-2010 the support will be for two GB Teams (5 or 6 players in each), in addition to continuing support for the four Scottish teams.

Given that details of the Olympic campaign are yet to be announced by British Curling Ltd (expected later in the summer), these proposals in the RCCC Performance Plan go some way to addressing the deficiencies in what happened in the last Olympic Cycle. It looks as if the squad selection process is to continue, but that was expected. Last time, the selection of the actual teams for the Olympics was decided too late, and one consequence of this was that four women curlers who had never even played one game together before were sent out to represent Scotland at the European Championships.

Last time the resources of the Scottish Institute and National Coach were diverted entirely to the GB squads, and Scottish curlers and curling took second place and suffered as a consequence. That's been covered in the New Performance Plan which has continuing support for top Scottish teams during the Olympic cycle.

The above is short on detail, and I guess we will have to be patient until British Curling Ltd reveals their plans.