English Juniors Head North of the Border for U17 Slam
Words by Rick Hills, ECA
As Team Waring prepare for the World Junior B Championships this December they headed over the border to Lockerbie to take part in their first Scottish Curling U17 Slam event. The Stevenson trophy was held over 2 days with 16 teams of curlers playing 6-end games. A late call off from one of the teams meant a reshuffle with the remaining 15 teams splitting into 3 groups of 5 with the top 2 in each group guaranteed to play in the latter stages on the Sunday.
As this was Team Waring’s first outing at one of the Slam events, there were a lot of unknowns. The nature of the draw also meant that some of the games were back to back. The teams first two games were back-to-back. The first game saw the team fall to a 3-9 loss to eventual winners of the tournament, Team Archibald. The team dusted themselves down, picked themselves up, and focused on the next game. The team played a great game and after 5 ends found themselves 13-0 up with the final score finishing 13-2 to secure their first win of the weekend and also their first win at a Slam event.
With 5 teams in each league Team Waring were not back on the ice until early evening, so it was back to the digs to chill out for the afternoon.
The team’s third and final match of the day was against Team Gorman. The rest had done the team well and, after losing a single in the first end, the team took control and came out on top with a 10-1 victory.
An early Sunday morning draw pitted Team Waring against Curl Aberdeen. Curl Aberdeen were sitting joint top of Group C, level on points with Team Archibald, and would also go on to contest the final with Team Archibald.
Curling can be a game of millimetres and this can definitely be said about this game. However it was not Team Waring’s day and Curl Aberdeen came out with Team Waring losing 9-1.
A third place in what now looked the toughest group to get out of was a great experience for the team as they continue their preparations for the World Junior B Championships in December.
Congratulations to Team Archibald on winning the High Road, and congratulations to Team Grant on winning the Low Road.
Team Waring will be back at another U17 Slam event in January 2023.