Curling: Steven Mitchell going to World Junior Championships

Feb 12 2010 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH curler Steven Mitchell is bound for the World Junior Curling Championships in Flims, Switzerland, next month.

The Fair City star bounced back from injury to help Team Fraser capture the Scottish Junior title in Aberdeen.

And he’s determined to wipe away lingering disappointment from last year’s world title bid.

Team Fraser, made up of RBS Aberfeldy staff member Steven, skip Ally Fraser (Inverness), Scott Andrews (Ayr) and Kerr Drummond (Forfar), completed an undefeated week with a 9-4 win over pre-event favourites, Perthshire’s Glen Muirhead.

“It was a brilliant week, we all played at a high standard, made no mistakes and managed to control every game,” said 20-year-old former Perth Academy pupil Steven, Soutar Crescent.

“I won this event last year but this time Scott and I are in our last season as juniors so we want to finish on a high.”

The Tayside and Fife Institute of Sport, part of the sportscotland institute of sport’s regional network, provides integrated support in the form of high performance expertise.

Its expert teams work together to support Scottish governing body-identified athletes, delivering essential support services locally in sports medicine, sports science, strength and conditioning, and career and lifestyle guidance.

“The Institute organise my strength and conditioning training so we get trained properly and we are all really fit as a result.

“We could tell that other teams last week were getting tired and making mistakes and we were able to pounce on them.

“We felt we had that edge, more physical edge than the other teams. We all feel it really helps and we have a very high level of fitness.”

Team Fraser now has three weeks of training to look forward to before heading to Switzerland for the World Championships.

Having three members of the team who already have Worlds experience from a year ago will be a huge advantage.

“Last year was our first experience of a Worlds,” said Steven. “We had a few games which we should have won and we didn’t get a medal.

“This year Ally, Scott and I will have all been there before. Kerr has played in the European Youth Olympics, so we all know what to expect.

“We feel confident, we played well last week and we know a lot of teams that are going to the Worlds. If we can keep it at a high standard we will be fine.”