Retirement.
Without having a crystal ball, I’m expecting it to be the word that comes up most in interviews I do for the foreseeable future.
I’ve certainly been asked about it enough already!
The phrase that has stuck in my head over the years is ‘you’ll know when it’s time’.
So many people have said it that I’ve forgotten who I heard it from first!
This week has been a perfect illustration.
On the one hand, there’s Ash Barty who has decided to call it quits at the age of just 25, having just won the most recent Grand Slam in tennis and potentially being just a few months away from defending her Wimbledon crown if she’d chosen to carry on.
INSTANT ANALYSIS: Veteran Jennifer Jones teams up with Mackenzie Zacharias’ foursome
TSN’s @bwcurlingTSN takes a deeper look at the fresh formation and what it could mean going forward.
WATCH
⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/hoHzX0xovJ
— TSN Curling (@TSNCurling) March 17, 2022
Then on the other hand, there’s arguably the greatest female curler of all time, Jennifer Jones, who at the age of 47 has committed to extending her career by joining forces with an up and coming team in their early 20s.
It’s such a personal decision to retire or not retire and I’ve got absolutely no doubt that both have taken the time to weigh up the pros and cons and have come to the right conclusion for them.
In tennis, 25 is probably about peak age but we all know how tough that sport is physically and mentally.
It’s virtually a 12-month job these days.
Curling offers you the opportunity to have a much longer career.
No guarantees
For Jennifer, she obviously still has the passion to try and win more even though she’s achieved everything the sport has to offer.
It will be absolutely fascinating to see how the dynamic works between the girls of Team Zacharias and a curling legend.
There are no guarantees.
They’ll be hoping it will be the final piece of the jigsaw for four talented young curlers who are part of the next generation breaking through but, with such a significant generation gap, you can’t dismiss the possibility that the chemistry just might not be the same.
It was heart-breaking for our women’s team to have to withdraw from the World Championships.
With Covid spreading through the group it was absolutely the right decision – for them and for their opponents and everybody else involved in the Championships.
Team Scotland withdraws from World Women's Curling Championships
Read statement: ▶️https://t.co/liiWWTa5Qk#curling #WWCC2022 pic.twitter.com/ZYIk3cR50G— British Curling (@BritishCurling) March 21, 2022
Only two of the girls had been at a Women’s Worlds before.
Some of them had their families in Canada as well.
Everything will be a bit raw still but you just have to use setbacks like this as motivation.
Prince George has been a bit of a cursed place for Scottish curlers because that was where we were for the Worlds that got called off a couple of years ago.
It’s another reminder of the tightrope we were walking in the months leading up to the Olympics.
We had our own scare going into the qualifiers and when I look back on becoming a bit of a recluse, I’m so glad I went over and above what was expected of us.
Even then, I could just have ended up being unlucky.
I’ve watched a lot of the competition from the sofa and it looks like the teams you would expect to see heading into the play-offs will make it.
Switzerland are setting the pace but as we showed in the Olympics, the round robin and knockouts are like two different tournaments.
And you can be sure the Swiss girls will have that in their minds as well after going into the semis in top place in Beijing but ending up without a medal.
