Relaxed Robin is ready for Korea trip Past experience has him at ease
to change for that reason. We have individual technical sessions once a week and team training once a week in Stirling. We each practice in our own time and play games at our home ice rinks throughout the week too.
“Strength and conditioning gym sessions take place in Dundee twice a week, which I fit in at 6.30am before college classes. It’s busy times and the weeks pass so quickly but I enjoy it all and the process of being busy.
“Once World Juniors are finished, our season will be nearing an end. We have one more competition as a team at the end of March, the Perth Ladies International, and we look forward to playing some of the best ladies teams at it.
“When the competition season is over we will have a slight break but still be training and continuing gym work.
“It will be a bit strange not seeing so much of each other but makes it even better when the competition season begins and we get to do it all over again.
“Long term, I have goals such as being Scottish
Mili (second from right) is ready for the start of the world champs on February 16
women’s champion, competing at World Womens or going to a Winter Olympics. To do these things at the same time as my brothers would be awesome too.
“The travel side of curling is exciting, having the opportunities to travel across the world and see so many places and meet so many people is incredible.
“Competing in other ice rinks and arenas is one of the best parts of the sport. I am grateful to have received so many opportunities through sport so far in my life.” Robin Brydone has grown up curling on the ice at Perth’s Dewars Centre.
It’s an arena which has helped the 20-year-old rise up the ladder of the sport. But this weekend he will be going for glory over 5,000 miles away at the World Junior Curling Championships.
Scotland’s representatives at the event in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Team Bryce, have quickly adapted to life on the road and harbour strong ambitions of returning home with global gold.
Former Perth High School student Robin plays third for the squad and has experience of the world stage before. Last year, he was fifth man for Team Mouat in Copenhagen, who went on to take the title.
That experience served him well and Robin said: “Last year I was at the Worlds as fifth man which was a great opportunity and I gained a lot of experience and confidence from this. I learnt a lot from the guys I was out there with.
“The main thing I learnt was how much work it takes to win gold. It definitely helped me this season.
“Going forward and taking that experience into this World Championships is vital, as two of the guys in the team have never been to a major championship before.
“Having been before I do feel a lot more relaxed and comfortable, because when you do first pull on that Scotland top there is no doubt you do feel a wee bit of pressure.
“The feeling within the team is of great excitement and confidence. When we sat down as a team at the start of the season, our goal was to go out and win the World Junior Championships.
“We feel we have put ourselves in the best possible position to go out and achieve that. We have played some of the teams that will be out there before and have good records against them.
“If we play as well as we have all season, there is no reason why we can’t bring Robin can’t wait to go for glory in South Korea
back a medal. We just hope it will be the colour we all want.
“Going to South Korea is going to be a great experience and one that I will definitely remember for the rest of my life.”
Robin hopes the squad of himself, Cameron Bryce, Euan Kyle and Frazer Shaw — who recently clinched the Scottish Junior Championship — can continue to progress and eventually make their mark at senior level.
“The season so far has been excellent for us, especially because this is our first season together as a team,” said Robin. “The results have been above what we expected.
“We had won four junior competitions before the Scottish Junior Championships, two of them were European Junior competitions, one held at Braehead, Glasgow and the other was in Sweden.
“Our build-up to the Scottish Junior Championships left us feeling very confident. Out of all the junior competitions leading up to it, we had only lost one game and that was to a Swiss team.
“I believe the secret has been having confidence in each other, that everyone will go out and perform well. We have met up regularly as a
team throughout the season to practise.
“This isn’t easy as we are all very spread out, with Cameron from Kelso, myself from Perth, Euan from Stranraer, Frazer from Kilmarnock and our coach Colin from Paisley.
“Another factor to our success is the fact we get on so well on and off the ice and can have a laugh as well as be honest with each other.
“One thing that has helped us a lot is our coach Colin Morrison, he has brought a lot of knowledge and experience to the team.
“Going forward as a team we do want to get to the top of world curling, with the ultimate goal being able to go to the Olympics.
“We feel this is definitely achievable, we have already been performing well in men’s competitions which is giving us great confidence .”
Robin, who got involved with curling because of his parents, heaped praise on the facility in the Fair City which serves him so well.
“I definitely contribute most of my success to the facility at Dewars,” he said. “I am able to go and practise almost whenever I want and whenever I do the ice is always outstanding.
“This wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the work of Paul Martin and his ice crew.”