Looking to build on the confidence gained in their strong performance on home ice last month, the women selected to represent Team GB at next year’s Winter Olympics are part of a strong British Curling contingent who are making their first appearance in Canada this season at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard.
Team Morrison’s Rebecca Morrison, Jen Dodds, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson will be joined in the 24-team women’s event in Oakville, Ontario by Fay Henderson, who has been selected as their fifth player for that Olympic campaign in Milan-Cortina but will be leading her regular line-up of Hailey Duff, Lisa Davie, Katie McMillan and Laura Watt. 
Team Whyte’s Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone and Euan Kyle are once again joined by Craig Waddell, who will work with them for the rest of the season as part of a five man team while Duncan McFadzean recovers from an injury. Meanwhile Waddell’s regular teammates Kyle Waddell, Mark Watt, Angus Bryce and Blair Haswell are also in the 17-team men’s event which runs simultaneously with a similar triple knockout format from September 5-8.
While trans-Atlantic travel is now routine for all British Curling squad members, the vastly experienced Dodds acknowledged that this week’s event will bring additional challenges after starting the 2025-26 campaign at the Euro Super Series in the National Curling Academy in Stirling where they reached the final.
“We are all looking forward to this first trip abroad of the season,” said the 2022 Olympic gold medallist.
“We had our first competition on our home ice rink, got on ice that we knew and performed well, so it is good that on the back of that we can now head away.
“We were happy that we reached the final and were playing well and obviously we would have loved to have won it, but things don’t always go your way. 
“However, we felt like it was a very strong start and we have noticed that a lot of our hard work in pre-season had transferred over into that first competition, so we just want to continue that going into Oakville.
“The standard in Canada is high and we want to get up on that level early and keep that going through the competition.
“That is what we will be working on this weekend, making sure we have that consistency and performances and again we are looking forward to getting into a new competition with new opposition.
“We are all in a good spot and we are raring to get going.
“There are no easy games in Canada, but there aren’t in Europe now either.
“The standard in both is so high and you need to be playing well, because if you even come out with a B level performance you could quite easily lose against a team that you want to beat.”
While far from home, the environment is not wholly unfamiliar.
“We have played Oakville many times, but it is just ice we don’t train on every day, so we need to figure that out and the stones which will be good for us to have that in our game as well,” Dodds noted.
On a personal level she can meanwhile draw additional confidence from last week’s performance against another strong field at the Stirling Mixed Doubles Invitational where she and Bruce Mouat went through the event unbeaten.
“Bruce and I had a really good week last week, again a good start against a fair few teams we will see or hopefully see at the Olympics, so that was good on the back of the women’s team result and we just want to continue that throughout this season,” she said.
“For me it is about having that consistency of playing those shots at the highest level.”
The two Scottish women’s teams could meet as early as the second round if they come through their respective meetings with Canadian opposition, Morrison’s women facing Team Robertson, while Henderson’s take on Team Armstrong.
In the men’s competition, the Scottish teams are at opposite ends of the first round draw, with Team Whyte in the same half as Sweden’s seven time World Champions Team Edin, while Team Waddell have the highest ranked Canadian quartet at the event, Team Epping, as well as the USA’s highest ranked line-up, Team Dropkin, in their half. 
Team Morrison
Sophie Jackson
Rebecca Morrison
Jennifer Dodds
Sophie Sinclair
Team Henderson
Fay Henderson
Hailey Duff
Lisa Davie
Katie McMillan
Laura Watt
Team Whyte
Ross Whyte
Robin Brydone
Craig Waddell
Euan Kyle
Team Waddell
Kyle Waddell
Mark Watt
Angus Bryce
Blair Haswell
Images: British Curling /PPA
