Cristina Marin to Play for Romania

The Glasgow University Curling Club likes to take pride in the fact that we take members from all skill levels; we strive to help our members develop those skills and to be as successful in the sport of curling as they can be.

This season we’ve had a true success story in Alina Cristina Marin, now a second year Neuroscience student, who joined the club as a complete beginner at the start of this season – as there is not much curling ice in her native Romania.

She took to the sport immediately, joining the University Club as a full member and attending sessions of the Braehead Saturday Sweep. By half way through the season she was also making her own curling jewellery.

In April, Cristina attended a camp in Brasov, Romania, that saw Hungarian and Romanian junior curlers learning and playing together. Skipping her own team, Cristina won the competition at the end of the camp.

During the camp she also managed its social media presence. The camp, during which she also met the Romanian nation coach, saw her selected to play for the Romanian national squad.

Earlier in April she had travelled to Stranraer playing lead for Glasgow University’s second team in the Scottish Universities Open. The second team got to the quarter finals of the High-Road before being knocked out by Glasgow’s first team, who went on to win the competition.

Having returned to Romania to meet and train with her new team, for which she believes she will be throwing lead’s stones, she has taken up the role of fundraising for the team.

Next season she and her team will be competing in the European Junior Curling Challenge and the C-Division European Curling Championships.

Curling in Romania is somewhat different to that over here, with very few active participants and infrequent ice availability, which is very often of a somewhat poorer quality than that seen over here. Cristina pointed out that;

“One thing that is worth mentioning is that we don't have curling ice in Romania, so the curlers there are really dedicated people, training every week on really poor ice.”

When speaking about curling with the Glasgow University Curling Club she said; “I would also like to say I am really grateful you guys "adopted" me into your family even though I was not even a curler. And I'm really proud to call myself a Glasgow Uni curler.”

Having had a chance encounter with the Team GB ladies during a session at Braehead, Cristina also noted that; “for a curling fan turned into a curler, bumping into Eve Muirhead was quite a nice touch.” She added; “I love Scotland.”

I think it’s safe to say that all of the Glasgow curlers are immensely happy for Cristina and we’re happy to call you a Glasgow Uni Curler too.

We wish her all the best for her upcoming season and for a glittering curling career.