Team King

World Juniors at Perth.

2011-03-05T11:09:00.000Z

Just a quick post to wish the Scottish teams, competing in the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth this week, good luck.

So to Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams, Rhiann Macleod, Alice spence, John Penny, Colin Dick, Colin Howden, Billy Morton and Jay McWilliam, Good luck!

Many of us will me heading to Perth to take in the action and support our teams.

Best of luck to both teams and here's hoping for some medals :)

Team King xox

Last word from the Skip.

2011-01-16T23:17:00.000Z

For Team King today was not only the last day of the Scottish but also the last day of Team King in Junior competition. Sadly, this is the end of Team King as we know it as I (Helen) am now too old for the juniors.

I have had a really great time this season and I couldn't have hoped to have shared it with a better team. So, Hazel, Eilidh and Sarah, thank you and I love you lots :) You have been an amazing team and even greater friends and I have the feeling this may not truly be the end of Team King. I am going to miss playing with you but I'm really proud to have been your Skip.

Fiona, thank you for agreeing to be our coach. The help you gave us both last year and this year in Aberdeen was greatly appreciated and we couldn't have done it without you :)

Thanks to our sponsor Robert Wiseman Dairies and to all our family and friends for their support.

I already feel a bit lost knowing that my junior curling time is over. Hopefully I will find a way onto the Ladies circuit next year and continue curling, time will tell.

So, perhaps for the last time, that's all from me,

The Skip, Team King xoxo

Sportsmanship Award

2011-01-16T23:16:00.001Z

It may indeed have reached that point where our skip is now too old to compete in the juniors next season. However, she left Aberdeen a deserved winner (although I may just be biased) of the womens Sportsmanship award.

Hazel, Sarah and myself would like to thank Helen for skipping our team to third spot again this year and wish her every success in the ladies in the years to come, maybe even the seniors if she gets there!

Team King's Lead!
xoxo

Final Day at the Scottish.

2011-01-16T22:58:00.000Z

On the final day of competition at Aberdeen we were still playing, goal one reached.

We had to play Hannah Fleming in the semi-final this morning. The winners would face Eve Muirhead's rink in the final. Two blank ends was a good start to the game. However the deciding end came early in the 3rd. Two loose shots allowed Hannah to take a three and we never recovered. It was a sore way to go out, we had been hoping to go one better than last season and make the final. However, it wasn't to be.

We had a good week overall and, although disappointed, we are proud of our achievements overall this season.

Congratulations to Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Rhiann Macleod, who won the final and will represent Scotland at the World Junior Championships in Perth.
In the Boy's competition John Penny and his rink of Colin Dick, Colin Howden and Billy Morton beat Ally Fraser's rink in the final. Congratulations to them and good luck to both teams.

Team King xoxo

Saturday in Aberdeen.

2011-01-15T15:51:00.000Z

We had our last round-robin game this morning in Aberdeen. We met Eve Muirhead's rink, who were two clear at the top of the standings. It was a close game for the first half, we had some good chances and played well. The second half didn't quite go our way, Eve managed to get ahead and we struggled to come back. It finished up 7-4.

Elsewhere, Hannah Fleming secured her place in the semi-final with a win over the Baird rink. That result also meant that we avoided a tie-break situation and are in the semi-final against Fleming at 10am tomorrow.

Fingers crossed,

Team King xoxo

Friday at the Scottish.

2011-01-14T23:51:00.000Z

On the third day of the round robin at Aberdeen we played defending champion Lauren Gray in the first game. It was another close one, we were one down with the hammer going into the last end. It came down to our last stone, we played a controlled hit round a guard to take the two we needed to win.

In the second game we met the Louise Mansion rink. Louise skips the rink while Katie Murray plays the last stones. It wasn't our best game to say the least. We gave away a big lead but fortunately we took a four in the 9th end to go 11-6 up. The Mansion rink ran out of stones in the last end and we took our win.

We have the Muirhead team to play at 9am tomorrow in our last round robin game.

Night,

Team King xoxo

Day two at Aberdeen.

2011-01-13T22:43:00.001Z

Our second day at Aberdeen didn't start off well for us. We faced the Baird rink in our first game and we never really got going. Things just didn't go our way and we were easily beaten in the end.

Next up, we met Gina Aitken's rink. It was all or nothing for us in this game. It's fair to say that this was a very close game. It was peels after 8 ends. We took a one in the 9th to go one up without in the last end. We drew the top of the four foot with our last to lie shot but a good last stone from Gina chipped our stone out and they took the one they needed to force an extra end.
So, once again we found ourselves playing an 11th end, but this time we had the hammer.
A good hit through a port with our second last shot left us lying three. Gina elected to draw but caught a guard and we managed to secure a hard-fought win.

After four games, the Muirhead rink are clear by two, followed by Hannah Fleming who has a game in hand. Then there are four teams on 2 wins from four, including us.

We play Lauren Gray and Louise Mansion tomorrow, every game counts now.

That's all,

Team King xoxo

Game two at Aberdeen.

2011-01-12T22:47:00.000Z

In our second round robin game we faced Hannah Fleming's rink. It was definitely one of our more interesting games! It started with 3 blank ends, then we stole a one in the fourth, followed by two more blanks ends. Hannah took a two in the seventh end and we got the hammer for the first time. We built up a good end and managed to take a four. 5-2 up things were looking good. Unfortunately, things went wrong in the ninth end, we struggled to keep things clear and Hannah capitalised to take back a four. In the tenth end it came down to the last stone, a tap-back round a guard gave us the one we needed to go to an extra end. So after ten ends it was back to square one.
We had to steal a one in the extra. A freeze with our last stone would have forced a four-foot draw from Hannah but we had an unfortunate pick-up which handed the Fleming rink the win.

One win, one loss for our first day. We play the Baird rink at 9am tomorrow.

Night,
Team King xoxo

And so it begins ...

2011-01-12T15:22:00.001Z

We were on ice at 10am today to face Jen Paul's rink in the first round robin game. We got off to a slow start but came onto our game in the second half and finished up winning 11-6. Good start :)

Elsewhere, Eve Muirhead had a comfortable 8-2 win over the Baird team. Lauren Gray and Gina Aitken had a close game with Gina coming through to win 8-6.
The Mansion vs Fleming game was a bit more complicated. Mansion had a 7-4 lead going into the final end and looked to be on course for a good win. Unfortunately, the Mansion rink were short of time. It was going to be hard for Hannah to win the game in the final end. Nevertheless, according to the rules if a team runs out of time they must forfeit the game. There was a lot of 'HooHaa' after the game concerning the correct outcome of the game and therefore, the game is void and the two teams will replay the game on Saturday.

An interesting start to the competition.

We play Fleming in our next game at 5pm.

Team King xoxo

Raring to go!

2011-01-10T14:30:00.002Z

Happy New Year!

Things have been quiet recently but we have been working away in preparation for the Scottish Junior finals in Aberdeen this week. We are excited for our trip to Aberdeen, for one team member it is their first experience of Junior finals and for another her last.
We put in a good performance in Aberdeen last year and have shown consistency throughout this season, so we are hopeful of providing another strong display this year.
All the training, planning and packing is just about over. We leave for Aberdeen tomorrow with our first game at 10am on Wednesday. As usual we will do our best to keep the blog up to date. Results and information should also be available from both the RCCC website and Skip Cottage Curling.

Fingers crossed!
Team King x

A few of Bob's snaps from Lockerbie.

2010-12-20T13:07:00.001Z

Helen and Eve in the head.

Skip and Third picking the shot.

Helen.

Thirds, Anna and Hazel.

Final day at Lockerbie.

2010-12-19T23:50:00.001Z

Our early start turned into a long day for us today.
We met Rebecca Steven in the first game. We played well and managed to get ahead, the Steven rink came back but we held on to win.
Three wins from three set up a game with the competition leaders, Team Muirhead.
Before we started it looked like whoever won would progress to the final.
It was a close game, we pushed ahead slightly and were two up going into the final end but without last stone. The end didn't quite go to plan and Eve took the two she needed to peel. Not the outcome anyone had expected and due to the Schenkel system we were to face Eve again in the final!

So, round two!
Another close affair for most of the game. Again we played well and had chances to go ahead. Unfortunately we didn't get enough of a lead and a three in the 6th for Eve changed the game. Skip's taking the blame for that one! :) We managed a one in the 7th to leave ourselves one down without in the last end.
We didn't set the end up quite right and good play from Team Muirhead gave them one and the win.
Congratulations to Eve, Anna, Vicki and Rhiann.

Hannah Fleming and Gina Aitken were the two teams due to play for third and fourth place but decided to share the prize and get home early.
In the boys competition, Duncan Menzies rink beat Stuart Marshall in the final.

It was another good competition for us, we have been consistent if nothing else this season.

Up next, the finals at Aberdeen. We're excited and hoping to put in another strong performance there.

That's all for now,

Team King xoxo

Lockerbie - Game 2

2010-12-18T22:50:00.000Z

We were up against Anna Fowler's rink in our second game today. The Fowler team have made the trip up from England for this weekends' competition.
It was another close encounter for us. We traded ones and twos throughout the game and found ourselves one down going into the last end. We built the end well and managed to take a three to win.
Two wins from two, so far so good.
We have an early start tomorrow with our first game at 8:30am against Rebecca Steven.

Team King xoxo

Game 1 at Lockerbie.

2010-12-18T16:04:00.001Z

We were glad that we decided to make the journey down to Lockerbie last night after waking up to snow this morning. Thankfully all the teams made it to the ice rink on time.
We faced Team Gray in the first game today and it was a close one. No one scored more than a two throughout and we were peels going into the last end. The end didn't quite go to plan for us but we were left with a hit and stick for the win. We made it and posted our first win.
We are sitting in the middle of the table but unsure of our opposition for the next game.

More later,

Team King xoxo

Lockerbie

2010-12-17T14:36:00.000Z

We are finally back on ice this weekend after what seems like a pretty long break. We are in action at Lockerbie in the Under 21's. There are ten teams in both the girls and boys section and the competition is being run on a Schenkel system this year.
Our first game is against Lauren Gray at 12:15pm tomorrow.
As usual we will do our best to keep the blog up to date with our results.

Team King x

What's catching our eye this weekend ...

2010-12-03T18:05:00.000Z

Team King are not in action ourselves this weekend but there is plenty of curling that we will be keeping our eyes on.
The junior qualifiers got underway at Ayr this afternoon. Along with us, Eve Muirhead, Lauren Gray and Hannah Flemming's rinks all have byes to the finals in January. That leaves 10 girls teams competing for the remaining four finals places. In the boys competition there are no byes which means that 17 rinks are fighting for just 8 finals places.
The standard of curling will undoubtedly be very high and we would like to wish all of the teams good luck for the weekend!
Elsewhere, the European Championships start in Champery this weekend. The Scottish rinks, skipped by Eve Muirhead and Hammy McMillian, have finally made it to Switzerland and begin their campaigns tomorrow morning.
Again, Good luck to both teams!
We will be back on ice in a couple of weeks at Lockerbie.

Team King x

Aberdeen - Final Day

2010-11-21T18:42:00.000Z

We only had one game today at Aberdeen as we had our bye in the last round robin game. We faced Gillian Howard and her rink of Louise Soutar, Judith Mcfarlane and Fiona Steele.
It was a close game and could have gone either way for most of it but we were edged out in the last end. The Howard team secured there place in the final with the win.

As we said yesterday, the Ladies Tour has been a great competition and we have really enjoyed playing in it over the two weekends. A huge thanks has to go to Judith and all of the organisers for putting together such a fantastic event and we hope that it will continue next season.

Congratulations to Gillian Howard's rink for winning the final and the Lockhart rink for the overall tour win.

We have a bit of a break now, our next competition is at Lockerbie in December.

Team King x

Aberdeen day two. . .

2010-11-20T22:22:00.000Z

So, we had three games today at Aberdeen, we needed to win them to keep our hopes of winning overall alive. So how did it go? ...

We played Rebecca Steven in the first game today. We played well and managed to maintain a lead that saw us finish up winning 13-4. Good start.
Things started to fall apart slightly in the second game. We faced Lorna Rettig's English team and were ahead after 4 ends. It was a game of two halves and Lorna's side came back well to take the win.
Our final game today was against Anna Sloan. We struggled to get started in this one and the Sloan team took the win after 7ends.

Not our best day, but we have enjoyed our first experience of Ladies competition and the Ladies Tour has been a great success :)

One game tomorrow, hopefully we can end the competition on a high.

Team King x

P.s. Our moment of the day ..... Watching X Factor with commentary from Tom Brewster!

Friday night at Aberdeen.

2010-11-19T23:23:00.000Z

We started off our weekend against Sarah Reid's rink. It was a close game, we were behind for most of the game but managed to bring it back to peels after seven ends. We didn't have last stone but we stole the one needed to win with a freeze on the four-foot.
In our second game we faced Judith Carr. This one didn't go our way, we weren't playing our best and our opposition played well to beat us 10-6.
Three games for us tomorrow, so its off to bed.

Team King x

Aberdeen

2010-11-19T15:34:00.000Z

We are in Aberdeen this weekend for the sencond half of the Ladies Tour.
We have two games tonight, at 5pm and 8.30pm, against Sarah Reid and Judith Carr.
The results should be on the RCCC website. http://www.royalcaledoniancurlingclub.org/
Team King are enjoying a wee bit of luxury this weekend with a free stay at the Hilton ... sometimes curling is just so tough :)
We will try to keep the blog as up to date as possible.

Time to head to the Ice Rink.

Team King x

Giggles at Inverness :)

2010-11-15T20:47:00.000Z

Bob was kind enough to send us this photo, at least we were still smiling after the final!

Photos from Inverness.

2010-11-15T14:53:00.000Z

Just a few photos from our weekend in Inverness. Photos are from Bob Cowan's Skip cottage curling blog.

Team chat during the final. The answer to Bob's caption on his blog is ...She is hiding behind the 'Tree'!!

Hazel.

Helen, looking a wee bit worried!

Sarah and Eilidh working hard on Hazel's stone.

Helen and Hannah skipping.

Team King x

Final day at Inverness

2010-11-15T00:09:00.000Z

Our final day at Inverness started with the quarter-finals, we played Naomi Whyte in this one. It was another close game but we managed to secure our place in the Semi-final with a 8-6 win.
The semi-final was a reply of our last round-robin game against Anna Sloan's rink. We played well this game and finished up winning 6-2.
So, we then faced Hannah Fleming in the final. As Hazel pointed out this was our third final of the season and we were keen to swap our runners-up medals for winners ones! However, it wasn't to be today. It was a low-scoring game and we took a 3 in the 8th to force an extra end. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way and Hannah took the one she needed to win. Congratulations to the Fleming rink.
It was a long drive home and we couldn't help but be a wee bit disappointed but, we played well and hopefully we can continue to perform the way we have been for the rest of the season :)

It's on to Aberdeen next week for the Ladies Tour.

Team King x

Day two at Inverness.

2010-11-13T23:42:00.000Z

We had three games to get through at Inverness today, the first one was against Rebecca Steven's rink. It was a close game but we fought back from behind to finish up 8-6 and make it two wins from two.
In our next game we faced Gina Aitken, lots of 1s posted in this game, but Gina pulled ahead a lead that we couldn't come back from. In the last round-robin game we faced Anna Sloan's rink, it was a pretty close game again, but we ended up losing 5-3. So after the round-robin we had won 2 and lost 2, thankfully our draw shot ranking was enough to see us progress to the quarter final tomorrow morning.

Early start again so it's off to bed for us,

Team King x

On the road to Inverness ...

2010-11-12T20:31:00.001Z

It was an early start for us this morning to make it to Inverness, we packed the whole team into Helen's wee Polo and set off only to hit traffic ten minutes in ...

Were weren't stuck long but the early start and the traffic proved too much for the younger half of the team and they were soon fast asleep ...

Sadly for the rest of us Sarah and Hazel didn't sleep for long and it was a Team King sing-a-long from then on in :)

We only had one game today which was against Lesley Young, (yes, our sub from Forfar) we started out well, taking a 5 in the first end and managed to hold on to our lead for the rest of the game to post our first win of the competition.
We have another early start tomorrow, on ice at 8.30am, with 3games to get through it will be a busy day.

That's all for now,
Team King x

Our season so far ...

2010-11-11T22:18:00.001Z

The season started at the Greenacres Masters in September, as usual it was the first time on the ice as a team and things were a wee bit shaky! We managed to get things together and came through the round-robin unbeaten, this set-up a semi-final against Gina Aitken which we won through. Our opposition in the final were Team Gray, the current Scottish Junior Champions, the Gray rink were the better team on the day, so we had to settle for the runners-up spot.

Next, it was on to the Kinross Classic. Hazel was unable to attend this one so we drafted in our old team-mate Carolyn Clark for a last competition before she headed for a year in Australia. We enjoyed this one with plenty of giggles along the way and the curling was alright as well. We finished up third in the High-road after bowing out to the Mansion team in the semi-finals.

Photos courtesy of Bob Cowan.

We were back in action the next week at Forfar this time in the Ladies Tour. Again we were a player down and thankfully local junior Lesley Young was happy to step in. Our aim for the weekend was to win a game and see how we fared against the more experienced Ladies teams. We seemed to find our form and found ourselves unbeaten with one round-robin game remaining. We met Jackie Lockhart in our final game and managed to edge the win. Unfortunately, we lost our form a bit in the final against Gail Munro and we were well beaten. We had a great weekend and would like to say thanks to all the organisers for putting it together, especially Judith McFarlane.

Next up is the Inverness Invitation weekend so we will keep you posted with how things go there.

Team King x

Team King are online!!!

2010-11-11T21:55:00.001Z

So we have finally decided to take on Bob's challenge and set up a Team King blog. Bob is a legend in the curling world and keeps us up to date with the goings on all over Scotland and beyond, you can find him at http://www.skipcottagecurling.blogspot.com/. We are finding the technical side of things a little tricky but hopefully our blog will improve the more that we use it :) We will try to keep it as up to date as possible with results and the general Team King news.

Team King x