Meet the Team – Junior Women

The World Junior B Curling Championships are now underway in Lohja, Finland, with the Women’s competition starting in a little under a week’s time. Over the course of a week, more than twenty nations will battle it out for the final places at the 2023 World Junior Curling Championships. Representing England are Team Andell – let’s Meet the Team!

Team Andell have been around the block a few times. Mia, Annabelle, and Anna have been playing together since 2018, with Phoenix the most recent addition to the line-up in 2021. The team have been working hard this year and are really looking forward to donning their England jerseys and flying the flag in Finland.

The team are skipped by Mia who has been curling since her school days. She first took up the sport around ten years ago at a taster session in Fenton’s Rink. Having curled with her school’s club, she moved to Glasgow for university, where she presently plays with the Glasgow University Curling Club, playing in local leagues and competitions.

Whilst the successes are always nice to remember, Mia cherishes the time she gets to spend with her teammates saying “it’s the laughs I’ve had with the team that I remember years on.” The sociable aspect of the sport is a huge plus for Mia, being able to pick it up at school and then at university in a new city.

Mia is backed up by her long-time third player Annabelle who has been curling since 2013. It was also down at Fenton’s where Annabelle took up the sport with Beacon C. C., having been encouraged to try something new. She went along to a taster with a friend, began playing in more games, local competitions, and junior training. The rest, as they say, is history. Four years ago she was asked to join the England junior women’s team – she’ll now be playing in her third World Junior Bs.

Annabelle also made the move northwards for university, studying at the University of Edinburgh. She plays with the University club in the student league as well as other local competitions.

Annabelle’s love of the game spans from the fact that there are people of all ages and experiences playing. “I regularly curl with people who have decades of experience, which allows me to be constantly learning from those around me”.

She’s looking forward to spending time with her team this year. This will be the last year this team plays in juniors with various members aging out, so it’s a week to make new memories and really get stuck in!

Anna Howey is the team’s second, with eight years on the ice. Like Mia, she got into the game through school’s curling in Kent. She went to the taster session with former teammate, Sydney Boyd and curled together through their whole school career. She’s now moved up to Dundee to study illustration at the Duncan Jordanstone College of Art and Design. Being close to Mia and Annabelle has allowed the three to train together more regularly too.

Rather strangely, Anna’s favourite aspect of the game is sweeping (something most front ends will grumble about to no end!). She says: “I love being able to carve a stone or hold it straight and especially finishing a stone in a house. It’s why I love playing front end. I am able to do so much with sweeping and help the team a lot through it.” Each to their own!

As well as fully applying herself to the physical sides of the sport, Anna loves the camaraderie of the sport. She gets on with her own team, but also loves making new friends at events and getting to know people after the games.

The team around rounded out by their newest addition at lead – Phoenix Davies. Phoenix has been curling since school, having seen the successes that young English curlers were having and deciding to get on on the action. They started at Fenton’s, playing every other week, but quickly caught the bug and soon it was every opportunity they could take! Having played in various school and adult leagues, Phoenix found their way onto the Junior Elites Training programme.

There doesn’t seem to be one single aspect of the game that Phoenix can pick out as their favourite because, well… how could you? “It’s such a well rounded sport. It has strategy, skill, precision, it’s a good bit of exercise and it also has great sportsmanship. It has a very supportive community and the spirit of curling shows strong in every game.” We couldn’t have put it better!

Perhaps one thing, though, is the team’s morale boosting sessions before a game with music blaring during the warm-up to keep the spirits roused before stepping on to the ice. Their favourite memory was at an U21 slam event. Things hadn’t been going well for the team so, during their warm-up, the team blasted Adele out. By the time the team hit the ice, they could barely stop giggling. The game might not have gone their way, but for Phoenix, starting that game on a high was just fantastic.

Phoenix, we cannot wait to hear what tunes you and the team are blasting out across the arena this week!

The team’s goals for the week are straightforward – play their best and try to improve on last year’s result. With the number of new teams entering the World Junior B’s, there are a whole host of new teams and faces, so the team are looking forward to playing some new countries and teams, as well as meeting up with old friends and familiar faces.

You can follow England’s results here, but you’ll have to check the Team’s social media for updates on their hype-songs!

All the very best of luck out there – you’ve got this!