Day two of the Perth Masters 2023.
Thursday morning's second round saw both Czech teams on the ice. The men took on the Scottish youngsters led by the father of one of them, former successful national team player Ewen McDonald. The women lost to a foursome from Scotland led by skip Henderson. My rival on the coaches' bench was David Aitken, father of one of the Scottish representatives, Gina Aitken. In the afternoon match, the Czechs lost to Whyte, the former successful junior national team of Scotland. The weather had deteriorated and it had started to rain, so the journey to the popular Wetherspoon's restaurant was a little unpleasant. But we are in Scotland and we are prepared for such adversity. The Dewars Centre, where the tournament is being played, is a multi-sports complex that has been in operation for many decades, with a large swimming pool with jacuzzis and water slides, a multi-purpose ice rink where curling is played, but also public skating takes place. There is also a spacious lawn bowls hall and conference rooms. There are plans for an extension which will include a dedicated curling hall. The finale to the day will be a gala dinner attended by representatives from WCF, Scottish Curling and others. We have a trio of matches tomorrow, the results of which will decide whether we make it through to the quarter-finals.