Meet the Team – European Championship Women

The European Championships are but a week away, with Team Farnell set to fly the cross of St. George in Ostersund from the 19th to the 26th of November. So, continuing our series, we thought it was about time to Meet the Team.

The current team were brought together in spring of 2020, just in time for the first covid lockdowns! Despite the turbulent times they found themselves in at the start, Lisa and her team have been working and training tirelessly to get to this point. In the weeks and months running up to the Europeans, they’ve dialled their efforts right up to eleven.

The team describe themselves as a group of talented and driven women who all share a passion for curling at its highest level. They’ve certainly shown this with strong records in competitions at home and overseas, only recently returning from the Latvian International Challenger where they made the quarter finals.

Their skip, Lisa Farnell, has been curling for twenty-four years at this point and brings a wealth of experience to the team and to English Curling as a whole. Initially from Canada, where she made Ontario Scotties provincial finals and bagged herself a World Curling Tour Win, she moved to England a few years back, where she began playing with South of England Curling Club.

Lisa’s experience at Ontario and Canadian national level have put her in good stead for this championships, having represented England at European championships in 2017, ’18, and ’19, as well as being crowned the 2020 English Mixed Champion as well.

Along with Lisa, Kitty Conlin, the team’s second, is also a member of South of England C. C., and has been playing and competing with Lisa since 2017. Since the closure of Fenton’s Rink in Kent, the pair have been getting as much ice time in Preston as they can.

Despite Kitty’s young age, she has tallied up an impressive record of national appearances, starting in 2016 when she represented England in the World Junior B Curling Championships, appearing at the same event in 2017, ’18, and ’19. In 2019 she also won her first English national women’s title with skip Farnell. She would go on to win the mixed with Lisa the next year as well. Her passion and drive for the game are clear to see.

Lisa and Kitty were joined in 2020 by Katy Spain and Jess Skelton who both curl out of Kinross ice rink north of the border.

Katy comes from a curling family, with father Mike having played for England at senior level and sister Fiona having recently returned from her second World Mixed Curling Championships. She first stepped onto the ice aged just seven years. Playing out of an ice rink that has produced a number of top curlers in Scotland, it should be no surprise that Katy found her way onto Scottish Curling’s Talent Programme between 2011 and 2014. In at the third position, Katy will bring all of her experience to support the skip.

An impressive club record, with a Henderson Bishop semi-final finish in 2017, gives way to a run through the English circuit starting in 2017, with runner up positions in two Mixed Championships and a third place finish at the 2019 English Mixed Doubles. In 2019, she won the Mixed title with her sister, going to her first World Championships later that year. Katy’s upbeat personality and love of the game make her a real asset to the team dynamic on and off the ice, and we know just how much she’ll be looking forward to her first ECC appearance!

At lead position, Jess may have the fewest years’ experience in the game, but in her nine years playing, she’s thrown herself in wholeheartedly. Jess’ genuine love for the game and dedication to training have proven a real boost to the team. She plays regularly at Kinross ice rink with third player Katy, working hard to get good practice in on the top ice conditions that Kinross provides.

The team are joined finally by fifth player, Vikki Brannigan. Vikki has had a good run of success through Scottish Curling, having been on Scottish Curling’s Academy Programme between 2004 and 2007, as well as appearing in the Scottish Junior Championships between 2003 and 2007. She first took to the ice in Pitlochry at just six years old, but has taken the odd break for university and work.

Vikki made the move to English Curling relatively recently, now playing in Preston, but has thrown herself headlong into it, playing a pivotal role with the team through their busy competition and training schedule.

The team have been hard at work, but they’ve not been without set-backs. The COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to team training almost as soon as they’d formed up in early 2020, and the closing of Fenton’s rink in 2021 meant that Lisa and Kitty were without a local rink. With the team living far away from one another, they’ve all had to put in an incredible effort to connect and train together.

For skip Lisa, these challenges have provided an opportunity for the team to grow and strengthen. Their goals over the past two years; “to train has hard as we can and become as good as we can as a team in the months and years leading to the competition. We want to step on the ice without doubt that we’ve done as much as we can to prepare – and i think we’ve nailed that.”

When asked about their goals for the Championships, they are clearly motivated, and prepared to win. “Now comes the fun part to see our work pay off and let the chips fall as they may.”

They’ll face stiff competition this time around too. They’ll face off against Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia. Many of these teams have reached the play-offs before and have had a taste of the A-Division too, so competition will be fierce, and the team will have to give it their all.

Even with the strong opposition, the team are confident. The skipper remarks; “We want to enjoy the experience. We are prepared to win, and prepared for the playoffs… but one step at a time.”

The English women’s team will have their first game on Saturday 19th November at 13.30 CET, playing against Spain and newcomer skip, Lydia Valles Rodriguez. We wish Team Farnell every bit of luck at the upcoming tournament – we know they’ll give it absolutely everything!

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