Team GB recently announced the Curlers to play in the Mixed Rink and Mixed Doubles Youth Olympics in Gangwon South Korea and Dumfries Young Curlers are well represented in the squad.
The Dumfries contingent all play in the Mixed rink, both boys, Logan Carson and Archie Hyslop play for current Scottish Junior Champions Team O Carson, and Tia Laurie along with her team mate Holly Burke (Hamilton) make up the team. The Mixed Doubles are Ethan Brewster from Aberdeen and Callie Soutar from Forfar.
All athletes attended a selection day earlier this year at the National Curling Academy, where they had to prepare a presentation before answering a series of questions from selection panel members, before taking to the ice for the opportunity to show their curling ability. The Mixed team along with the Mixed Doubles travelled down to London last week for the official announcement of the Team GB Squad, in what turned out to be an adventure in itself with cancelled trains, fallen trees and having to change trains, along with bus delays. The Mixed Team flies out to South Korea mid-January for a couple of days acclimatisation before play starts.
Dumfries Young Curlers, Archie Hyslop and Tia Laurie are both students at St Josephs College and Logan Carson is a student at Dalbeattie High School.
Logan Carson who has been placed at Skip started his curling journey attending a try curling session after the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Logan remembers watching Ross Whyte another former Dumfries Young Curler playing in the Youth Olympics in 2016 and had set his heart on representing Great Britain in 2024. Logan’s first U14 Team was a brotherly affair as he starred along with elder brothers Struan and Orrin, along with Archie who made up the team. Logan said, “Being selected to represent Team GB at the Youth Olympics is a dream come true. There is no greater opportunity for a young athlete hoping to make their mark in their sport than at a Youth Olympics. Playing Skip will be a relatively new experience for me, but I have a strong team in front of me with Holly, Archie, and Tia.
Our team dynamic is great, and I trust them to make my job easier.”
Archie Hyslop has been Curling for 8 years at Dumfries after taking up the sport after watching his Brother Scott Hyslop playing. Archie has a good record with numerous notable victories in various competitions at club level. His first notable success was at 9 years old when he turned up to watch his brother in the club singles, however as one competitor didn’t turn up he was asked to fill the space. Having to play the first game with a shoe slider and a club brush before dad arrived with his kit, he went on to win the competition.
When the boys teamed up in Team O Carson they have went from strength to strength, 2 Asham U14 titles, 2 Asham U17 titles and recently securing their second Scottish Junior title. Last year they represented Scotland at the World Junior Curling Championships winning a Bronze medal.
Tia Laurie started curling at age of 11 after a school trip to Dumfries Ice bowl and has never looked back since. Soon after starting Tia began competing in Scotland and this year has seen her competing abroad. Highlights of Tia’s curling have been: Getting 3rd at the Scottish Junior Championships 2023, Getting overall top under 17s women’s team 2022/23 and Getting runner up top under 21 women’s team 2022/23.
Holly Burke was inspired to try curling after watching the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and started curling later that year. Holly has represented Scotland at the NJCT Mixed Doubles in Sweden and has been placed 3 rd in the Scottish Junior Championships in 2022 and 2023. Holly is also a member of the Scottish National Curling Academy and has featured in the Scottish Curling Future Leaders programme.
Commenting on the selection, Graham Sloan who is Head of Curling Development at the IceBowl said, “It is great for Dumfries Young Curlers to have such a strong representation in the Curling team.
It has been great to see the 3 young curlers develop into the young athletes they have become.”
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