Sochi 2014 Team GB hopeful
He’s won World Championship silver for the past two years running and is seemingly Britain’s skip in waiting for the Sochi 2014 Olympics – but Tom Brewster insists he cannot look past the next week.
The 38-year-old is the reigning Scottish curling champion, defending the title he first won in 2011 last year and heads into the 2013 edition at Perth’s Dewars Rinks as the firm favourite as a result.
Win and Brewster’s rink would be guaranteed a trip to Canada to represent Scotland at the World Championships, which begin on March 30, but lose and it could be an altogether different scenario.
Brewster must navigate past nine other teams all vying for the same reward, and with it a boost towards the Sochi 2014 Olympics, with Ross McCleary’s rink first up on Monday morning.
And, while last week the Russian host city of Sochi celebrated one year to go until the Olympics, Brewster admits he cannot afford to take his eyes off what’s directly in front of him.
“Our biggest focus is on the Scottish Championships, if we don’t win that we don’t go to the World Championships,” said Brewster.
“The Scottish Championships are a really tough event to win, there are a lot of good teams in Scotland and used to the ice with it being in Perth.
“Certain teams always do well there and are very, very tough to beat and we are going to have to be on top form. We are confident and ready to go.
“We can’t really do anymore than what we have done already. It is just a case of training up and hoping that what we have done is enough to do well on the day.
“It could come down to one draw or one shot or one stone. It is a key event and we really do have to perform before we build through to the World Championships.
“The main thing is to win the national title and that will help towards the ultimate goal and we need to take those little steps in order to get there.
“We are not really losing sight we just don’t want to focus too much. You can’t take your mind off the closer events.”
Health issues affected the start of Brewster and his rink’s season, especially at the European Championships where they missed out on the play-offs and finished seventh.
Included in his rink this season is two-time world champion David Murdoch, who was skip of the British team at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, and who curled with Brewster in the junior ranks.
They won the world junior title together, with Brewster as skipper in Perth back in 1995, and he admits his rink as a collective are find form at exactly the right time.
“It has not been bad and we have found a bit of form towards the second half of the season and that is the right time to peak,” he added.
“The European Championships before Christmas didn’t go too well. We had some health issues and things going on and sickness so you can’t read into that too much.
“We are playing well, which is obviously a confidence boost, and that fact that we didn’t have a great start to the season and had some injuries in the team made us adapt.
“I work well together with David and we played together for six seasons when we were juniors. We grew up together and everybody is getting on fine in training.”
© Sportsbeat 2013