Coach set to sweep into Canadian role
British Curling’s Olympic Head Coach, David Murdoch – based at the National Curling Academy (NCA) in Stirling – has left his position to take up a new role in Canada.
Having played a key role in bringing about the most successful period in the history of the sport in his native country, Murdoch is departing to join Curling Canada as its high performance director.
The 44-year-old made the transition to coaching on his retirement from playing the sport six years ago and was appointed to his current post at the start of the last Olympic cycle, a period that brought an unprecedented medal haul for teams prepared at the National Curling Academy.
Prior to that, he enjoyed a fine career on the ice as the only Scot to skip two World Championship winning teams, while also claiming three European titles and leading his team to an Olympic final in 2014.
Murdoch consequently admitted that it had been the hardest decision of his career to leave the organisation with which he has been so closely identified over the past two decades.
“It’s probably been the toughest decision I have made in my life and I say that because British Curling has been a huge part of my life as an athlete,” he said.
“They shaped me as an athlete, through the transition into coaching which is very difficult, stepping away from everything you have known as an athlete to try to develop yourself as a coach and also through the further transition to Olympic Head Coach in developing the leadership skills required to do that.
“The help I have been given here and also the support from sportscotland and UK Sport who put me on a leadership training course has been phenomenal.”
Following last year’s Olympic success, Murdoch picked up a string of honours including coach of the year at the sportscotland COV Awards and the prestigious Mussabini Medal from UK Coaching, before he visited Holyrood Palace just last month to receive an MBE for his services to his sport and he believes he is leaving British Curling in excellent health.
“We have had great success and obviously we have had some retirements since the Olympics, but there is a new generation inspired by that Olympic success and as a result have already had some good success,” he said.
“There are some incredible teams here which are pushing each other hard and there has been continued success at the recent Europeans, so I like to think that the plan that has been put in place for the next three years is starting to take shape and the bar has been set and now everyone is trying to get ahead. There is a great plan in place and now it is just about keeping the hunger for more success.
“I am very proud of the legacy and what we have achieved together. When you look back more than four years ago we had a vision of how can we be the best and what does it take to be the best and that was about cultural change and getting all to buy in to that change and that is never easy.
“However, in gradual increments we got that, we got buy in from staff and buy in from athletes and stakeholders.”
As he switches competitive loyalties, Murdoch can meanwhile be confident that he will continue to have strong family support since his wife Stephanie is Canadian and their children Grace, Madeleine and Matthew consequently have dual nationality.
Responding to Murdoch’s decision, British Curling’s Executive Performance Director Nigel Holl paid tribute to the work he has done with the programme, but observed that his recruitment by Curling Canada reflected the success of the organisation as a whole.