Four years after he last competed in one of Canada’s top tier events, Kyle Waddell will join fellow Olympians and Grand Slam champions Bruce Mouat and Ross Whyte in leading their teams into action at this week’s Coop Tour Challenge in Nisku, Alberta (14-19 October).
For the 31-year-old, who was part of the Team GB line-up at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea, the end of that long wait is a reward for resilience, seven years on from having been a member of Ross Paterson’s rink which won The National on The Grand Slam of Curling (GSOC) circuit.
His team’s involvement also indicates how rapidly his new line-up has gelled since a shake-up over the summer saw him join forces with Mark Watt, Angus Bryce and Blair Haswell, all of whom gained Grand Slam experience last season.
“It feels good to be back at the slams.” said Waddell.
“These are the events I enjoy the most, on arena ice, competing against the best teams in the world.”
In a classic quirk of the draw, having crossed the Atlantic to contest one of the biggest events on the curling calendar, Waddell opens up by facing a man he grew up with, since younger brother Craig has, this season, been working with Team Whyte, their opponents in an all-Scottish encounter on the opening day, but he does not expect that to affect the dynamics.
“Craig and I have played against each other a lot over the years,” he said.
“I think we find it pretty easy to treat each other like regular opponents, probably because we are both very competitive & neither of us want to lose to each other.”
The brothers had begun this season in the same team, as they had been for the previous two seasons, before Craig was invited to join Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone and Euan Kyle as a replacement for the injured Duncan McFadzean, but it is clear that there were no hard feelings as Team Whyte came close to defending The Masters title they won last season.
“They went on a good run in the last Slam and I was gutted for Craig when they didn’t win the final but I think he has added a lot of value to that team, so it will be a tough first game and one I’m looking forward to,” said Waddell.
It has been a curious season for the brothers since Kyle was also an absentee from Team Waddell when they made their first appearance of the season in Canada last month when he, too, was on substitute duty, filling in for World Champion skip Bruce Mouat, for whom he will be the fifth player at next year’s Winter Olympics. 
“Playing with Team Mouat while my own team plays in the same event was a first for me I think,” mused Waddell.
“It was important to get some prep in with them before the Olympics, but I was just glad to see that our boys managed to go on a good run with Brycie.”
With Cameron Bryce standing in as skip, Team Waddell reached the semi-final of that event, the Shorty Jenkins Classic, to spark a run which saw them reach the finals of both the GSOC Tier Two event the following week, then last week’s Stu Sells Toronto Tankard that has taken them to 13 in the world.
“The Tier 2 & Toronto Tankard were good events for us,” said their regular skip.
“We probably feel like we could have won both events to be honest, but we have learnt a lot from both.
“I feel like we have built on every event we’ve played so far, taking a lot of learnings and improving things as a result, so hopefully we can continue that and perform well this week as well.”
Their rise only strengthens an already powerful Scottish contingent with Teams Mouat and Whyte having between them won every GSOC event last season and while Whyte’s men once again reached the final of The Masters last month.
“We had a great run at the Masters, where we felt like we played really well all week,” said Whyte.
“Unfortunately we didn’t quite bring our best game in the final, which was disappointing considering how well it was all going. 
“However we are still taking a lot of positives from that run and hopefully we can go on and do something similar this week and go one better.
“We know it is hard to bring that top game all the time but we have been doing well in training and that is what we are going to try and do and put a bit of a marker down that we can go deep in every competition this year.
“Playing against Kyle and the boys will be a good test in our first game.
“We know they are very capable and playing really well and we know it is going to be really tough and it really does speak very highly to what is happening at home with the programme and how we are producing so many good Scottish men’s teams.
“It is great to see for the future and it will always be a tough encounter with these guys.
“We have played them a couple of times already this year and we know how good they are.
“We are looking forward to the test and Kyle and Craig playing against each other will be fun as always, those two are obviously very close but they are also very competitive the pair of them.
“As soon as they step on the ice it will be pretty much business from there and looking to try and win but they always like a bit of bragging rights between the pair of them so both will be going out to put on a bit of a show and hopefully come out on the right side.”
This week is meanwhile the first of four opportunities for World Champions Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan to defend a Grand Slam title this season and their skip felt they made a solid start to this season’s series at The Masters. 
“We had a very good performance at our first Slam of the season reaching the semis and we are looking to go a wee bit further this time,” said Mouat.
“Obviously this was one of the ones we won last year so we would love to defend the title and it has been really nice to see a lot of good performances from our Scottish teams.
“With Team Whyte reaching the final last time and us reaching the semi and between us holding all five titles last season, Scottish teams have done pretty well in the Slams over the last 14 months, so it is exciting for us all.”
That capacity for success to breed success is reinforced by the depth of the Scottish presence in Alberta, as Mouat noted.
“It’s really good to see Kyle and the boys also reaching the Slams and their first one in Tier one as a team,” he observed.
“They are obviously no strangers to playing in the Slams as they have all played in them before and it is also very exciting to see Teams Henderson and Craik in the under-25 event and Isla Kay’s team playing in the U15 tournament.
“I am very excited to see where the Slams are going with them increasing the range of athletes that can be involved, obviously with the wheelchair athletes competing at the last Slam as well, so it is an exciting time for the Grand Slam of Curling and The Curling Group.”
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