Mixed event has fresh feel for Kyle
The much-anticipated Scottish Curling Mixed Doubles Championships arrive in Perth later this week.
And Guildtown Olympian Kyle Smith admits he has been scrolling through the rule book to sharpen up his knowledge for the unique event.
Smith, a former Perth Academy student, has never competed in the competition before but will be teaming-up with partner Alice Spence.
A stellar line-up will take to the ice at the Dewars Centre and Smith is looking forward to having as much fun as possible, while hoping for a successful tournament run.
“I’ve never actually played it before,” Smith revealed to the Perthshire Advertiser. “This will be my first ever event so I’ve learnt the rules and done a couple practices with Alice but that’s it. We are playing it for some fun and to see how we do.
“The mixed doubles has its own world curling tour now and it’s very popular, with lots of events on throughout Europe and North America.
“I guess for a lot of couples the beauty of it is you can enter with your other half and enjoy a weekend together. But we don’t really have any expectations.
“I’ve only ever curled with Alice in the mixed of four players so this will be a new experience, just the two of us curling together.
“I plan to just go and try and enjoy the competition. The level of competition will be very strong.
“The British Curling funded teams have been practising in their various pairings every week since last July.
“So they have a depth of practise and tactical knowledge that we obviously can’t match. We will just have to try to make more shots than them and see what we can do.”
On the men’s front, Smith has again been playing alongside brother Cammy, Thomas Muirhead and skip Glen Muirhead this season.
They have produced a number of top performances on tour across the globe but there has been disappointment at losing out in two major events.
Final defeats in the European playoffs and Scottish Championships were tough to take for the team.
“It’s been a tricky season in many ways,” Smith said this week. “We had a reduced budget to start things.
“But, on top of that, we struggled to get away to compete in many tour events at all because of commitments on the farm.
“In saying that, we still had two fantastic chances this season in our two biggest events.
“We lost the final of the European playoff to Team Paterson and then we lost the final of the Scottish
Championships to Team Moaut.
“So in some ways we achieved a lot with the lack of events played and the time we actually put in to practise. We were still second both times and there are no prizes for second.
“It’s clear to see we have the ability to get to these positions and compete with the Moaut and Paterson teams that are full-time curlers.
“But we haven’t beaten them in a big final, which is obviously gutting.”
The Scottish Curling Mixed Doubles Championships gets underway on Thursday and runs through until Sunday, March 1.