Curling Your Way Through Medical School
Authors: Correia Denver 
Published: August 2024

Medicine has long been fashioned as adegree with poor work-life balance; withlong hours and a breadth of content to coveracross the scientific knowledge spectrum.Finding time to relax and unwind can bechallenging, especially at Medical School. In this article, medical student Denver sitsdown with Kevin Feng (intercalating medicalstudent) who is the Chair of ScottishStudent Sport Curling and the President ofGlasgow University Curling.Denver: Can you introduce yourself & tell usa bit about your journey into Medicine? Kevin: Indeed. While I’ve always wanted tobe a criminal psychologist, my passion forSTEM sparked my interest to pursueMedicine. I’m the current Scottish StudentSport President for Curling, representingstudents who curl all across Scotland. Denver: That’s interesting Kevin, so whatinspired you to take this sport up? Kevin: It all started at Fresher’s Fayre in 2ndyear (the first one after COVID-19lockdown) and I really enjoyed the floorcurling set they had. Shoving a few curlingstones down the cloisters was really themoment I knew this was my sport. That’s allhistory now because I’ve been in curling forthe past three years which still makes mequite new to the sport (since most curlershave done it since school).Denver: That’s an interesting history.Balancing medical school alongside beingthe Chair of Scottish Student Curling &the President of Glasgow UniversityCurling must be challenging! What do youdo in these roles?Kevin: I now largely oversee the dailyrunning of the curling club, communicatewith GUSA and support my committee withtheir responsibilities. I’ve previouslyserved as Treasurer and VP across my timein the society offering me immenseexperience. At Scottish Student Curling, Ilead and work with a team of Vice-Chairsworking through organising tournaments,bonspiels and introductory sessions. Denver: Seems like a plateful of work, howdo you manage your time between medicalschool and your commitments to thesport? Kevin: Medicine can be quite intense at thestart, however I’ve felt that as soon as youget a routine and diligently follow it, it canmake such as big difference. Curling was anew sport to me when I joined, but Ifostered strong connections all across,making it so much easier! It even perfectlyfollows University of Glasgow’s examinationcalendar since Scottish rinks are largelyonly open from September to April, eachyear. Denver: Have there been moments where itwas particularly challenging to maintain thisbalance? How did you handle them?Kevin: Certainly! Medicine and the curlingclub have quite a overlapping mismatchedschedule and this makes it a bit challenging– especially at the start of the year whenyou’ve got freshers week and lots ofplanning to do for the year ahead, whiletrying to handle the 15 weeks in the deepend! Nevertheless, I could actively rely onthe people I work with, especially whentimes got difficult. I’ve found maintaining aperfect work-life balance can be challengingbut certainly not impossible!Denver: You’ve made it seem easier than itlooks! Now for the final bits, how doessomeone join Glasgow University’s CurlingSociety? Kevin: Being a really open and inclusivesociety, our new beginners always trainalongside Scottish trophy & tournamentwinners offering a 1-1 mentorship andexcellent support. We would love to inviteanyone & everyone to come along to our training sessions on Wednesdayafternoons during term time. Denver: Lastly, what’s been your mostmemorable Curling moment? Kevin: Meeting Grant Hardie & BruceMouat – current Team GB Curling players!