Meet the Team – World Mixed Championships
The World Mixed Championships gets underway this weekend in Aberdeen, Scotland, where England will be battling it out over the course of the week for the World Mixed title. In their group they’ll be coming up against Australia, Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg, Mexico, Scotland, Switzerland, and Slovakia. So with the competition so close at hand, we thought it a good idea to get to know our mixed team a little better!
The team line-up has a wealth of English Curling experience, with Jonathan Havercroft at vice-skip throwing fourth stones, Fiona Spain as skip and throwing third, second player Michael Opel, and their lead Samantha Leung. They are also joined by British Curling heavyweight David “Rambo” Ramsay as their coach for the competition.
Perhaps the two most experienced players on the team in terms of mixed curling, Jonathan and Fiona have both been curling since their school days, with Fiona growing up in Kinross and playing on the Scottish junior circuit, and Jonathan starting his curling journey in Montreal when he was in high-school. Both curled through their university days, and left their marks on the curling world. Fiona having revived a long-gone Heriot Watt curling club as a student, and Jonathan having founded a curling club in Oklahoma when he moved their work in 2007 – to his lasting credit, it’s still there and thriving!
Both have a love for the World Mixed, with it being Fiona’s first cap for England. In fact, Fiona’s favourite curling memory is carrying the flag for England at the 2019 WMxCC opening ceremony, it finally hitting her that she’d fulfilled a life-long dream of competing at a World Championships. For Jonathan, the World Mixed provides a chance to play against established nations like Scotland, as well as those emerging nations like Mexico. He also loves the chance to catch up with some old friends met through his podcast, Rocks Across the Pond as well as making new friends along the way.
The experience stacks up further still. Michael started curling in Hamburg all the way back in 1986, incentivised, he says, by the sweets, cake, and lemonade associated with Saturday afternoon practices. Things became a little more serious when he went for his first German Junior Championships. There were a few medals over the years, but the gold remained elusive. Michael moved to the UK and began playing in Fenton’s just after the turn of the millennium, making appearances at the European B-Division on four occasions between 2006 and 2019. The WQE in New Zealand in 2019 remains a favourite memory of his. As for the Mixed? Well, some of his old skip’s children are playing in this year’s WMxCC and he’s very much looking forward to catching up with them and sharing some old stories – better still if they get to play them!
Last, but by no means least, is the lead for the team: Samantha Leung. She started curling in Canada in 2006, playing with her high-school’s team and, having found enough girls to take up the sport, the girls’ team. She and her team played in two Ontario high-school provincial championships before she made the move to London in 2012, curling occasionally at Fenton’s. After a three year hiatus to focus on her other sporting passion of climbing, Samantha took back to the ice in 2021, joining team Spain. She notes her particular excitement for playing in her first World Mixed Championships as getting to meet fellow curlers from all over the world.
The team have been practicing over summer at the Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre in Preston, who have also sponsored the team this season. The team have been working with David Ramsay, a highly successful coach in Scottish Curling and British Curling on technical aspects of their game. Crucially, skip Fiona notes that they’ve also been working on team bonding and communication.
As well as training on the ice, they’ve also been hard at work with fitness training to help them through the week-long competition.
The team have also been competing at Preston as well as Kinross, playing teams from across the country and getting experience against a variety of playing styles.
Despite all the hard work, though, there have been some bumps along the way. Fiona and Jonathan have curled together before, winning the 2019 English Mixed and winning the right to represent England at the Worlds that year. It seemed only fitting then that they play together again. They got a team together with Samantha and Kerr Alexander at second. However, only forty-eight hours before the championship, Samantha and Kerr both tested positive for COVID.
Michael Opel was able to step in at the last minute, but another female player couldn’t be found. The team soldiered on with three players and, in their own words, “somehow came away with the win!”. ECA rules meant that Michael would now be on Team England and, with Samantha’s recovery, the team was set to head off to Aberdeen!
Now as prepared as they can be, Fiona says that the team are looking forward to “meeting curlers from all around the world who hold the same passion for the sport that we do”. She also notes that “putting on your national kit and stepping out on to the ice is always pretty special,” and we couldn’t agree more! They’re also looking forward to playing in a great section with teams from all over the world – from Mexico to Australia and, of course, the Old Rival… Scotland!
Asked about their aims for the week, Fiona was modest. “Our aim is to make it out of the round robin and into the playoffs but it will be one game at a time.” One game at a time is a sensible approach and, on the day, you never quite know what will happen. Closing out, Fiona also remarks; “most importantly we are there to enjoy ourselves and give our all in every game.”
We wish the team all the very best of luck in the coming championship. If you fancy going along to cheer in person, the event is being held at Curl Aberdeen from the 15th to the 22nd of October.