Laura Watt: The added belief and motivation to reach new curling heights after winning World Junior Championships gold

There were tears of joy and unbridled happiness for what very much was a pinch yourself kind of moment.

But becoming a World Junior champion was not just about the here and now.

What it has also done for Auchterarder’s Laura Watt - and undoubtedly the rest of Team Henderson - is reaffirm that there is terrific potential for future success in this sport. Success on the grandest of stages among the best curlers on the planet.

It is of course important to enjoy and savour the feeling - what a feeling it was - but use the experience to fuel belief and confidence for endeavours to come.

“I think winning the World Juniors has given us all a bit of belief that we can achieve highly in our sport and one day maybe go on to play in the Olympics,” said former Community School of Auchterarder student Watt.

“We’ve watched so many Scottish girls go to the juniors before us and go onto great things in curling.

“This motivates us to keep up the training and all of our hard work to allow us to achieve like that again and more.”

Team Henderson, also including skip Fay Henderson, Perth’s Holly Wilkie-Milne and Robyn Munro, has step by step been heading in the right direction across the past year.

They have learned, even when the chips may look down, to never throw in the towel and always keep the faith. That sort of attitude helped them clinch gold in the German town of Füssen.

“This team has been through a lot together in such a short space of time,” Watt admits.

“We’ve played 13 tournaments together since August which is a very packed season. We’ve just learnt how to be around each other and how to get the best out of us.

“Our skip, Fay, always keeps a calm atmosphere around which helps us all to keep level headed when it comes down to