It has long been an aspiration in the sporting world to generate family values within organisations, but for the British Curling athletes and support staff representing Team GB in Cortina at the 2026 Winter Olympics, that has taken on an extra dimension.
Two days ahead of the official Opening Ceremony, the competitive programme gets underway with lifelong friends Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat leading the British challenge in mixed doubles curling.
However their campaign has been boosted by the presence of another of British Curling’s world class athletes in Robin Brydone, who is vice skip of the men’s team curling ranked third on the planet, yet has no prospect of taking to the ice over the next fortnight but is instead in Italy on dad duty. 
That is because the 28-year-old from Perth has effectively been given leave of absence by his colleagues in Team Whyte, the Scottish Champions of the past two years, to be with his baby daughter Brooke, while her mum, Clancy Grandy, sits on the Team GB bench in her role as coach to Dodds and Mouat.
It is, as Grandy is the first to acknowledge, a remarkable development in a career that saw her contend at the top of the sport in her native Canada, before crossing the Atlantic to be with Brydone and join British Curling’s coaching staff.
“I did obviously have Olympic aspirations with my own curling and also to coach when I finished playing, but probably never thought I would go to my first with a baby. I guess I never looked that far down the line at what that looked like for me,” said the 35-year-old.
“There are more female athletes juggling both their career and motherhood extremely well and I guess I had never thought about that from a coaching standpoint and where that might take me, but I couldn’t be happier with how it has all worked out.”
Having undertaken such a massive change in her life when she emigrated to Scotland, Grandy admits to having had more than a few anxious moments as she considered the implications of becoming pregnant so early in her coaching career, but she now knows she need not have done so.
“I was nervous during my pregnancy, because I didn’t want to compromise my job as I take what I do very seriously, so that was an unknown fear,” she said.
“However, that was an unnecessary amount of time I spent worrying about how it would work out, because we have made it work as a group right from the get go. I couldn’t have asked for more.
“It is a lot more visible now seeing women managing both a baby and pressured careers and I probably had too many fears that it would compromise my ability to do the job, or it might be a hindrance or a distraction to others but actually all I can say is the perspective since having Brooke has given me has made me a better coach and shown me that I can be 100% dedicated to what I do in my coaching, but also be her mum.”
In saying so, she acknowledges that the workplace environment she found herself in has contributed massively to allowing her to perform both roles.
“British Curling and the people surrounding me in the organisation were some of the first people that knew we were expecting,” she said.
“We knew that with Robin playing and myself coaching, trying to manage that dynamic was going to be quite a task, because when I am coaching I have a responsibility and that means that there are certain points in time when Brooke can’t physically be with me in order for me to fulfil an important job.
“However I would say that what British Curling has done for us has created an environment where we can be completely open, so whatever I need, or Robin needs and whatever we need to put Brooke’s interests at the forefront, all of those things have been managed.
“What that does is free me up mentally to be able to manage my role as a coach.
“The staff at British Curling have been extremely accommodating of my needs and sometimes I need to bring the baby to work with me and every athlete on the programme has welcomed Brooke with open arms and I couldn’t have asked for anything more, genuinely.
“I don’t have family here in the UK and Robin has a small family who are extremely helpful and supportive, but British Curling has been that extended family and without that it wouldn’t work.
“I take being her mum very seriously as well and I want to bring her up to be brave and strong and to go after what she wants to do and if I do bring her into the National Curling Academy during the day she is met by everyone with a smile and it is not a distraction for those people around me, the team or my co-workers.
“What I learned very quickly was that it was actually the opposite of that, in many ways it provides that perspective and a brief moment when she would smile and know that everything is ok and an example that life is bigger, we all have our goals and everyone is working extremely hard to achieve those, but there is space for both and that balance.
“She was around this environment and the people from the very beginning which has helped make her a very content baby and she will either love this or be sick of this by the time she is old enough to throw a stone, but as of right now she loves being in this environment and you can tell that she is a very happy baby being around the athletes.”
The feeling is clearly mutual, to the extent that having Brooke around the athletes she is working with appears to be having beneficial effects for them too. 
“She is at that stage where recognises faces and smiles when she sees Bruce and Jen and I think it is really special and cool for her to have this environment to grow up in,” said Grandy.
“I know it is a cliché when they say it takes a village to raise a child, but that is genuinely what she has and I guess we have got lucky with how content she is with that.
“Brooke loves Bruce and is always reaching for him and Jen said that, in the best possible way, it is a bit like having a therapy dog, because it makes you feel good being with her.”
As Dodds – lone survivor of the women’s team that won gold last time around - and Mouat – who won silver with his men’s team in Beijing, so will look to upgrade that with his reigning World Champion men next week – head into competition, then, they do so buoyed by that extra feel-good element.
Furthermore, as they look to improve on the heartbreak of finishing in the worst possible way in 2022 when they missed out on the mixed doubles podium after losing the bronze medal match, they have no reason to doubt that they are supported by a coach who has all the backing she needs to be able to give this campaign her full attention and her excitement at the prospect is evident.
“I love the mixed doubles discipline, the fast pace which is exciting with a lot going on and score-lines can be volatile,” said Grandy.
“It is great that our sport gets showcased so early in the Games and through the entire Olympics which is such a superb platform and Jen and Bruce are an amazing team.
“I love the way they work together and it is a privilege to be part of this and I love being part of this team.”
Team GB meet Norway in their opening game (Wednesday 6.05pm GMT), the first of nine round-robin matches as they bid for a top four spot that will take them into the semi-finals and the medal matches in the middle of next week. 
Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics on BBC and iPlayer or on Discovery+
Follow the live scores here
Schedule (times in GMT):
Wednesday 4 February
18.05 – GB v NOR
Thursday 5 February
09.05 – GB v EST
18.05 – GB v CZE
Friday 6 February
09.05 – GB v SWE
13.35 – GB v KOR
Saturday 7 February
09.05 – GB v CAN
13.35 – GB v USA
Sunday 8 February
13.35 – GB v SUI
18.05 – GB v ITALY
Monday 9 February
17.05 – Semi Finals
Tuesday 10 February
13.05 – Bronze Medal Match
17.05 – Gold Medal Match
Images: British Curling
