In every sport you strive for consistency but there’s no escaping the fact that there are a few weeks of the year when it’s more important to peak than others.
This is definitely one of them.
I’m really proud of our record of qualifying for the European Championships and if we beat Hannah Fleming’s team in a best of five head to head we’ll be going to another one.
And, with this year’s Euros being at Braehead, this wouldn’t be a good time to miss out!
We’re happy with our form going into it.
We won a European Tour event in Switzerland last weekend after two second places in Canada.
I believe the work we did with Glenn, our tactical coach, and Kate, our dynamics coach, in Stockholm has really moved us 10 steps forward.
It could end up proving to be one of the most important weeks of our season even though we didn’t even make the knock-out stages.
We had a lot of games last weekend, coming through the C road, and we’re hoping that beating Hannah’s team in the semi-finals will give us a psychological advantage.
This is the last competition for Kelly because Anna has got the green light to return for our next event after her ACL surgery.
Kelly’s been great and we definitely want to send her home to Canada with a win.
* The men’s event is a three way fight, and I’ve got brothers in two of the teams!
It’s a bit of a cop out but I really can’t call it. The three rinks are so evenly matched.
A Team Smith (Thomas’s team) v Team Brewster (Glenn’s team) final would obviously be ideal. I’ll not be taking sides if that happens though and it might be best to skip a family Sunday dinner!
* Tiger Woods’ comeback delay showed that it’s one thing getting your body in a fit state to compete at the top level in sport but it’s another thing entirely to get your game right.
It doesn’t matter how good a player you were, sport moves on without you.
If Tiger has lost his confidence, that’s an incredibly difficult thing to build back up.
It’s a chicken and egg situation. He needs to play well to get more confident but he needs to be confident to play well.
He’s got a mountain to climb. There are guys out there who are just as dedicated to practice, fitness, coaching, psychology and all the rest as he was.
Unfortunately you really need to keep your hand in or you get left behind in the dust.
* Jessica Ennis-Hill has timed her retirement perfectly.
In an ideal world she would have loved to have won another Olympic gold but the way she performed in Rio showed she was totally right to keep going after London. She got to a level that could have won gold again.
She’ll not get old thinking “if only”.
But she’ll know the dedication required to keep going for another year and a World Championship – even in London – isn’t nearly as big an incentive as an Olympics.
Jess is going out at the top with a legacy that she can be proud of.
