Aberdeen’s Rebecca Morrison will skip her reigning Scottish Championship team at the Euro Super Series in Stirling this weekend.
The competition will see Team Morrison lead the challenge for British Curling, following the retirement of Olympic champion Eve Muirhead and the decision by Jen Dodds, who also won Olympic gold, to focus exclusively on mixed doubles.
Team Morrison will include the Aberdonian skip, Gina Aitken, Sophie Sinclair and
Sophie Jackson.
Morrison worked in the nine-player system which produced the Olympic title-winning team, but she and her Team Morrison teammates missed out on a place in Beijing earlier this year.
The skip believes her rink are ready to step up as the new Olympic cycle gets underway, while they’re also out to make up for unfinished business after their World Championship debut was cut short.
Morrison said: “It feels so good to be finally getting back into international competition as my team hasn’t actually played a game together since the Scottish Championships because of our Covid situation at the Worlds.
“We felt like we were capable of a lot more at the Worlds,, but didn’t get the chance as we couldn’t finish that competition.
“So it was good for us to have a bit of a summer break away from curling, it gave us time to draw a line under everything last season because it wasn’t ideal for us and we have come back with fresh minds and motivated.
“I think that is the biggest change for us. We have lots to look forward to and have big goals this season which we are really determined to make.
“So we want to make a sharp start to this weekend and show how much hard work we have been putting in over this last training block.”
Stirling’s National Curling Academy familiar for Team Morrison
Having added the ESS title to her CV with a different line-up of teammates last season, Morrison reckons that competing on home ice will give her team additional impetus to make their mark this weekend in what will be a good test among international and domestic rivals.
She added: “We have some great teams in our section – Jenstch from Germany and Kaiser from Switzerland – so I think it will be really good to see where we are at. It is a big competition for me as a defending champion so I really want to do well this week.
“We train here at the NCA (National Curling Academy) every day from Monday to Friday and the stones will get a rub before the competition and there is more time for them to prepare the ice during an event, so it will be different and it’s not going to be plain sailing in terms of reading the ice.
“We are still going to have challenges in that sense, but it’s great to see competition continuing at the NCA. I think a lot of international teams were really pleased with the way they were run last year and we loved the ESS as well.
“It is a nice way to start the season so close to home, so we are really excited to be hosting such a good quality competition here in Scotland.”
British Curling will also field three Performance Foundation Teams in Stirling, as Team Farmer – which includes Olympic gold-medalist Hailley Duff – Team Blair and Team Henderson will take to the ice.