I have always believed that 4 Curlers who are friends and Curl well make a good competitive team.  Qualification for advancement to higher competition levels should be on a simple knock out basis.  imo but not being humble this time.

Having said all that, it will not stop me from being proud-of, and supporting, those that Curl in our name.

Well unfortunately, the same sort of elitist criteria is being applied in other sports, including my other love, athletics coaching.

Is this "cause & effect" or just simply coz the funding criteria for support of most sports in the UK are being forced into the same mould by beaurocrats intent in ensuring their salaries remain intact next year?

And I'm also concerned that despite all the noises about "Sport for All", it's down to how much your background & parents etc can support the considerable financial commitment needed to expose athletes, including young curlers, to the competitive surroundings needed to not only hone their skills, but also get their names noticed....or am I being too picky??

There's loads of talent out there...but I sometimes feel unless it sells newspapers by involving a round ball (sometimes oval) it's a lost cause :-(

This is not nearly as onerous as it sounds, and it is the same as last year as I recall. The RCCC (British Curling) have learnt that putting dream teams together does not success make.

I think the purpose, and this was seen most obviously in the Under 17 Slams this season, is that in previous years, if 2 promising young players from Inverness say, couldn't find two more players that wanted to play competitively locally, then the 2 promising young players would be lost. By having the players apply, and being encouraged to apply, as individuals, the RCCC were able to put together teams, with players from different rinks to at least begin their competitive curling as can be seen by the record entries in the Under 17 slams this past year where this tactic was employed by the RCCC.

At the higher level it is highly likely that the 4 players from the same team will apply. I have not heard of the RCCC accepting some players from the same team and not others. Please correct me if I am wrong. There are a number of reasons why the RCCC may want input and discussion in making up a team for a specific target, take the Youth Olympics for example, how could a competitive mixed GB team just happen within such a strict age criteria (2 years). Obviously in this situation the RCCC needs to pull a group of people together and try and work out what will work in terms of ability and team cohesiveness.

It used to be, when I was young, that 4 players would be from the same rink, but that's not how it is anymore, and nor should it. If we want to compete against other nations we need to have the 4 best players in their respective positions from anywhere in Scotland, that form a team and most importantly WANT to play for each other. By having more players playing competitively and seeing many other s of a like mind that are  getting the feeling of RCCC support in the form of Talent and Academy I believe we have the best chance of staying ahead of the pack.

Sandy has point there in splitting the elite away from the Club curlers. The only problem is what used to happen in clubs.  Is how do you as a team or an individual break out of the club and into the elite world? Often in a club one is cacooned or kept in the club and often dont know what is going on outside.

What worries me is that four people can curl together as friends and succeed but then one or two might not want to go further into a higher curling world due to work and family commitments. Do the others leave to try there hand by entering the elite performance. End of team and possible end of friendships.

No world will be perfect!

Life is way too short to have this debate AGAIN.   In simplistic terms some of us (i.e me) think that the job of the RCCC should be to encourage and help facilitate mass participation in our sport (which would involve working with the external agencies to increase the accessibility of curling). My simplistic view is that more participants would naturally lead to strong teams representing the national team. The opposite view (I will call it Copey's view just to annoy him) is that funding selected elite athletes improves the nations performance and therefore the profile of the sport. The mantra on the rccc council when i was there was that "medals breed new curlers". I see absolutely no evidence of this. A country does not need more than a handful of particpants to achieve success at international level.

Of course these are polar opposites and I accept that the RCCC are wedged uncomfortably between a rock and a hard place. IF they were to tell the BOA and SIS etc to butt out they would have little credibility in the sporting world. However once the tail starts wagging the dog then the writing is on the wall and that is, I fear, where we are when selection processes like this are enforced. I am not involved at all in scottish youth curling but even i know of kids who have walked away from curling when they were shunted into the sidings while their curling buddies were selected (or even pre-ordained?) to jump aboard the train bound for Gravy.

Going slightly off topic I do find Copeys excellent 'behind the glass' articles stimulating however I do think his latest offering a bit strange. I think he is asserting that council run curling facilities are unfair because they have an advantage over privately funded rinks as they receive outside financial support and do not need to balance the books. Is this not EXACTLY the same unfairness as unfunded and unsupported curlers face when competing against academy curling teams?

The RCCC cannot sort this and the BOA and other outside agencies are doing what is best for them and are making an excellent job of turning out world class teams for scotland time after time. The real guilty ones are those curlers/ athletes who will not rock that boat onto which they desperately seek to climb aboard.  Until the players get together and insist on open and fair competition in national championships and a proper Olympic Qualifying Competition, and all the profile that would bring throughout the rest of the (current) country, the sport is heading for eliteness in perpetuity.  Or is it?   Curling funding after independence...there's a debate!  England for Olympic Gold in 2018 ?

like...lol