OF THE FAMILY

Smith dreams of following gold trail left by her dad and brothers

Mili Smith was always destined to make an impression on the world of curling.

Father Dave is a world champion and brothers Kyle and Cammy are world junior champions. There comes a level of pressure and expectation with that.

But this former Perth Academy pupil is taking everything in her stride as she prepares to compete at an event which was always a dream growing up.

Mili is set for a flight to Pyeongchang, South Korea this weekend ahead of playing a key role as part of Team Jackson at the World Junior Championships.

And there is a burning desire to replicate her siblings’ triumph in 2013 and return with another gold medal to the family home in Guildtown.

“The boys are supportive and always help me with advice from their experiences,” Mili explained. “Growing up with them, I have learned so much and watched so much, which has improved my view of the game as well.

“They play a massive role in my development in the sport, so does dad with his experience and stories from world champs, European champs and Olympics.

“I always hoped that I would compete at this level but never knew if it was within my capability. It’s really nice to be in this situation just now and I am looking forward to competing in Korea.

“The Smith’s are known to be competitive and that’s where the enjoyment comes from, sport is a massive part of our family.

“Competing in a World Junior Championships is something I watched my brothers do from a young age and something that I’ve always aspired to do.

“I am exactly where I want to be in my comfort zone playing with my team, we all know how each other work and all get on really well.

“It’s good fun spending time together and that’s why we all put so much into the sport — because we enjoy it and get so much out of it.

“From the beginning of the season, we all gelled really well but now we have a stronger bond than ever.”

The team will certainly head into the World Junior Championships with a high level of confidence having swept to success at the recent World B Junior Championships and the Scottish Junior Championships.

“This season we started off as a fresh team as we had never played together before, we all share similar attitude and drive which plays a massive role in our team success,” Mili, 19, said.

“We were lucky enough to compete in Switzerland, Austria, and Czech Republic, which provided us with experience and opportunity to play some of the same teams which were at World Bs in Sweden.

“We competed in various under-21 competitions throughout the season and it allowed us to feel comfortable and prepared when we qualified to go to World Bs.

“World Bs was described by everyone to us as being one of the toughest goals for our team, simply because we had this expectation to re qualify Scotland to World As.

“When we were there, we knew what we wanted and we tried out best to get it. When we did, it was a great feeling to achieve that goal together as such a strong unit.

“The World Bs was a taste of what it will be like but I cannot wait to compete at this level in Korea — it’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing really.

“We have had a really positive season so far and are really happy with our results, which we hope to continue and carry with us in Pyeongchang.”

The training schedule has been busy this season but Mili has no problems with putting in the hard work in order to achieve positive results.

She told Advertiser Sport: “Currently I’ve been on the ice every few days, we continue our normal training schedule at this point because it has worked well this season and does not need