Three decades have spanned since Tom Brewster took his first steps on the ice, but the Scotland curler knows his fire for the sport still burns brighter than ever.
And for a man whose life revolves around the curling rink, it’s little surprise that his love of the sport is still at its peak.
But despite having two European Mixed Curling gold and World Curling silver medals around his neck, there is still a sense of unfinished business for the 1995 World Junior champion.
Now running his own rink, curling remains the focal point of Brewster’s life, gearing up for his latest shot at the European Championships in the home comforts of Glasgow’s Braehead Arena from November 19.
At 42, the Aberdeen curler would be forgiven for wanting to wind down a career that seemed to start at nine years old, but Brewster sees this as merely the beginning, looking to add to his Olympic silver medal from Sochi two years ago.
While it was delight for Team GB, Brewster won his medal without an opportunity to set foot on the ice as the team’s alternate, and while he is now determined to take it to the next step, thoughts of the Pyeongchang 2020 Winter Olympic Games are, for now at least, sitting on the back-burner.
“In the last ten or 15 years, a lot of the players who have won titles are a lot older than I am right now, so you always have that in your mind – you don’t want to be calling time on your career when your best years are still potentially ahead of you,” he said.
“I know other people can do it and that gives me the motivation. There’s precedence there, so why not keep going?
“Ultimately the aim is Pyeongchang, so it’s all about doing the smaller things to be able to get there. The Europeans are a big competition, but in the grand scheme of everything it is a stepping stone.
“We want to be there in two years’ time, but we won’t be there if we don’t get these tournaments right, so we don’t worry about looking too far ahead.
“Pyeongchang will come along because we’ve been successful; it’s clearly our end goal, but it’s not something we think about every single day.”
It was, as Brewster himself admits, a bittersweet moment stepping on the podium in 2014, a self-confessed point of motivation to make sure it was not his last.
But before he can look too far ahead, there’s the matter of the European Championships to look forward to, a competition they slipped out of via tie-break last year.
It was a defeat to Sweden made even harsher by their victors eventually taking the title, though Brewster insists it’s their own game that will be the main focus, particularly with a rare home Championships to embrace.
“Last year was a very, very tight Championships to call, but teams have gotten better over the years, so we need to make sure we do the same,” he added.
“But it’s not about eyeing up revenge, we need to focus on our own game and put our performance in the best position it can.
“We put enough pressure on ourselves for a home Championships not to add to that, and there’s probably more expectation that comes within the group than others put on us.
“It’s more about managing that as opposed to anything else. I’ve played in enough Championships for that to not matter too much, though it’s exciting that this is the first at home.” Sportsbeat 2016