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05.12.2005  

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Timing Rocks: Many methods... Which One to Choose?

Interval Timing or Timing From the Back Line to the First Hog Line

I setted up that system of timing in 1992. The idea was to help the sweepers evaluate the speed of the rock to improve their weight jugement. That theory was one of the 12 tasks to obtain my level IV coaching certification.

At that time we were using a countdown stopwatch setted at 3.5 seconds. The idea is to start the stopwatch when the rock reach the back line and listen the sound of the stopwatch when reaching zero. The location of the stone at the sound tells the sweepers where the rock is going to stop.

After three weeks of training, we made a test to verify the effectiveness of the system. Our skip threw 10 draws ; the sweepers had to tell where they beleive the stone was to stop and they had to make their prediction when the rock was near the first hog line. We got exceptionnal result ; our sweepers never miss by more than one foot. Than, we knew we had put together a very succesfull system.

Countdown stopwatches behing difficult to find, many teams used regular stopwatches and stopped it at the first hog line. The interval timing was born.

Even though, at the beginning, the only goal of the interval timing was to help the sweepers juge the speed of the rocks, we soon found more advantages to that system. That method allowed us to find the speed of the rocks. If one or many rocks were different for draw weights, the interval timing was showing that difference. It also means that this system helps to match the rocks before or during a competition.

I remember a very special situation. At the 1993 World Junior Championship in Grindlewald in Switzerland, we had to play with horrible rocks and before one particular game I had to tell my team that I could not match the stones since there wasn’t 2 rocks the same. I told the players to manage the best they could with that situation. Beleive it or not, these curlers were making their draws with a lot of precision. At the fifth end meeting, I asked them how they could manage to make their draws with these rocks and they said : « Using the interval timing the lead tells us the speed of each rock ».

Indeed, we know that when one ear the sound of the countdown stopwatch right at the hog line, the speed of the draw is 26,5 seconds (from back line to stop) and with a little experience one knows the speed of the ice according to where the sound is listened. We also know that 10 feet for a draw equal one second for the draw weight.

During that game at the Grindelwald World Junior Championship, the sweepers could tell to each player on the team the speed of each rock. For example, if the sound of the stopwatch is eqivalent to a 27 seconds draw and that stone stop one foot in front of the house, we know that this draw is half second light. Therefore the draw weight for that rock is 26.5 seconds.

The same method may be applied when using a regular stopwatch by timing the time for the rock to travel from the back line to the first hog line. After a while one knows the speed of the ice (or the rock) according to the time obtained.

More and more highly competitive teams use this interval timing method. Most of them utilize a regular stopwatch. My personnal preference goes for the countdown stopwatch since only one touch at the start is needed and there is no stop. The margin of error is reduce in comparison with a regular stopwatch which needs a second touch to stop the timer at the hog line. Moreover, the sweepers have to read the time after stopping the watch which is not the case with the countdown system.

If you haven’t tried this method of timing yet ? You should go for it. It is easy to get use to it.

Timing the Take Outs in Curling : Why Not?

In the previous Sweep Mag Issue, I wrote an article on timing for draws. In this article, I am writing on timing for take outs.

Timing the take outs allows the team to standardise the weights and makes every member of the team throw the same weights. That’s easy to do : during an on ice practice, time the take outs from a line to an other ; it could be from the back line to the 2nd T line for example. Once we have found the lenght of time for our nice take out weight for our team, we plan the number of different weights we want to use during games and we establish the time for these weights.
A team preparing for competition should control at least three take out weights : normal, heavy, light (or what ever you want ot call them) Most of teams throw their normal take out weight at 14 to 15 seconds and sometimes at 16 sec.(time require for the stone to slide from the back line to the 2nd T line). If we extablish our normal take out weight at 15 sec., we should have 12 to 13 sec. for our heavy weight and 17 to 18 sec. for the light weight.

A heavy weight at 12 or 13 sec. may be difficult to throw for some members of the team. One should train to progressively improve the weight up to the target one and temporarily throw weights which the curler is comfortable with during games. Allow me to remind you that it is very important to be comfortable with the weight a curler is throwing and never over do it. It is by training that gradually one becomes comfortable with big weights.

Timing methods used for take outs are the sameones proposed in the previous Sweep Mag Issue on Timing the Draws :

• From de back line to T line
• From the 1st hog line to T line
• From the 1st hog line to the 2nd hog line
• From the back line to the 2nd hog line
• From the back line to the 1st hog line

For a description of these Timing Methods, see the article on the previous Sweep Mag Issue. However, with method 1 and 2 it may be difficult to find the time for a take out when hitting a stone in front of the house since we stop the timer at the T line. That’s why many teams choose method 4 (from the back line to the 2nd hog line). Using that method 4 a normal weight should approximately be 12 sec., a heavy weight about 9 to 11 sec. and a light weight 14 to 15 sec.

As suggested in the previous Sweep Mag Issue, a team should combine method 5 (from the back line to the 1st hog line) with the method they are using. During on ice training, the team practices the chosen take out weights and we stop the stopwatch at the first hog line using the « LAP » button and we set back the stopwatch by pressing the « LAP » button again to finallystop the timer at the chosen line acording to the method used.

Doing so, we establish the corresponding time for our take out weights at the first hog line. This interval timing of the take outs aloow the sweepers to communicate the weight to the skip improving the communication process within the team. For example : if our normal take out weight usually is 2.80 sec., the brushers will know that the weight is heavier than expected if the time is smaller than 2.80 sec. and lighter if the time is bigger.

Once again, each method of timing is good. Chose one, combine it with method 5 and improve the team cohesion and steadyness.

Mental preparation : Stress Control or Management

This article is the fourth one of a series on mental preparation. Allow me a brief come back on the introduction of the last articles. My goal is to write an approach allowing the coach to improve some aspects of the mental preparation.

Here are a series of techniques that are part of the mental preparation:

• Relaxation
• Motivation
• Mental Rehearsal (technique)
• Imagery (self confidence)
• STRESS control or management
• Visualization (mental toughness)
• Activation level control

The first article of this series focused on mental rehearsal , the second on IMAGERY, the third on Visualization and mental toughness and this one on STRESS CONTROL OR MANAGEMENT.

Need for Stress :

Please, don’t start with the point of view that stress is always negative. Stress is essential for high performance. The curler who isn’t enough stressed has a tendency for lack of concentration, of intensity; this curler is absent-minded and anything that goes on affect him. Stress helps curlers to concentrate and play with intensity. But if the stress becomes to high, the curler start missing control, emotion comes in, concentration becomes disrupted and even neuro-muscular coordination is affected.

Level of Stress:

Stress is necessary provided the level is right for a high performance. The ideal level of stress is different from one individual to another. It would be an error to prepare all the team members the same way. The only way to be effective is to do so that each athlete knows the level of stress that allows him a high performance.

You face problems on important games if you have an athlete who performs well when the level of stress is low. In those situations, Stress becomes too high and this athlete cannot concentrate at his best. This curler has to find the level of stress within which he/she performs well and must establish strategies to put oneself into this level before the game. Of course, any athlete has to establish strategies to stay within the right level of stress during the game. We all know that at the end of games, the level of stress has a tendency to increase. We all have seen high level athletes experience difficulties at the end of important games.

On the contrary, if you have an athlete who performs well when the stress level is very high, you have to manage in such a way that he knows it and that he/she establishes strategies to place himself within this level of stress before the game and find ways to stay in that level during the entire game.

When playing a non important game or when playing a “week” team during a Championship, athletes that perform well when the stress level is low will generally play a good game. But athletes that perform well when the stress level his high will generally have a poor game since the stress level is too low for them.

Hey coach: you are privileged if your athletes are high stress performer. On important games, it is easier to find the right level of stress since your athletes naturally control that level of stress. We generally have one or two athletes that perform well when the stress level is low. These athletes can perform at a high level as long as they maintain their stress within the right level. We generally see low stress performer in the front as Lead or Second since the stress is easier to control at those positions. The high stress performers generally play at third and skip positions.

What should we do to find the ideal level of stress for each athlete?

What strategies could we use to make sure each athlete get within the right level of stress and maintain that level?

The form that follows is easy to fill and brings appropriate solutions. After a game, give a copy to each curler on the team and fill the form according to each ones feelings. It is recommended to fill the form all together to speak about solutions and answers. It is strongly recommended for coaches to fill that form; I am sure you can imagine the results on the curlers when the coach don’t control his/her stress.

Examples of symptoms:

Mental preparation : Imagery

This article is the second one of a series on mental preparation. Allow me a brief come back on the introduction of the last article. My goal is to write an approach allowing the coach to improve some aspects of the mental preparation.

Here are a series of techniques that are part of the mental preparation:

• Relaxation
• Motivation
• Mental
• Rehearsal (technique)
• Imagery (self confidence)
• STRESS control or management
• Visualization (mental toughness)
• Activation level control

The first article of this series focused on mental rehearsal. In this article, I write on IMAGERY. The goal of imagery is to improve, find back or maintain self confidence. This technique, as for mental rehearsal, sonsists in visualizing images of oneself in action. While mental rehearsal consists in visualising images of oneself at present time, imagery is composed of images of oneself that happened in the past. The curler selects a series of successful throws recently made and visualise these successful throws as often as possible.

When imagery consists in seeing throws and moreover the result of the successful throws; mental rehearsal care about execution of throws not on results.

Imagery technique is simple: as for mental rehearsal, imagery start by relaxing (take a few deep breaths for example) and visualise the selected throws one after the other, success after success,.

Imagery is very effective for a curler who has lost self confidence or who is beginning to doubt about oneself capacities. However, we have to be careful when using this technique. Believe my experience, the higher is the confidence, the bigger is the risk to fall apart when error occur.

I therefore suggest to utilise imagery when doubt comes in rather than keep on doing these exercises on a regular basis. Take note that imagery and mental rehearsal apply to every sports as well as in life in general.

Find a chart comparing the two mental preparation techniques describe in the two last articles:

IMAGERY

• Improve self confidence
• Visualise images of oneself in the past
• Visualise the results

MENTAL REHEARSAL

• Improve the technique
• Visualise images at present time
• Visualise executions, not results

Brushing technique for power brushing

We sometimes nostalgically remember the good old corn broom we used prior to the Eighties. The use of the brushes started to be popular at the beginning of the Eighties. Brushes in Canada were than made with Horse hairs while the Scothish were making and using the hog hair brushes. At the end of the Eighties, a timid effort was made for synthetic fabric brushes with interchangeable heads. Ted Brown, without behing the first to promote the synthetic brush, popularized it with his Brownie Brush. Today we find a wide variety of those synthetic brushes.

Following this brief resumé of the onset of the brush in Curling in Canada, allow me to write about the technique for the optimal use of that brush. The first technique taught was nice but questionable. Many will remember that method that consisted on placing both hands on the lower part of the brush handle and the upper part of the handle was laying on the thigh of the sliding foot. This technique was easy to learn and was economic on the energy system. The very low body position of that technique was causing weight reading problems to the brushers. While we were teaching that first method, high level competitors moved to a much higher position improving the weight reading. Many different methods made their apperances : different grip positions, body positions, with or without slider.

Actually, what we expect from the brushers is to warm up the ice temperature ; because we know that lesser cold is the ice the faster it is. (Allow me to digress for a moment ; a not enough cold ice will be faster, but the pebbles will be too soft and it will flatten out rapidly making the center ice slower as the game progress).

To warm up the ice, the brushers have to develop most friction on the ice surface. This friction is the result of the pressure applied on the brush head combined with the speed of the brushing movement. In other words, the friction relies on weight and speed applied on the brush head. (We also could discuss of the amplitude of the brushing movement).

Finally, we look for maximum weith and speed of the brush head.. I don’t want to start a discussion about the speed of the movement; each one doing their way according to their own speed capacity. It is possible to improove the speed of the brushing movement specially by improving the power of the anaerobic alactif energy system, but this could be the subject of a next issue article. The weight develop on the brush head is the topic I want to bring your attention on.

The majority of the curlers develops wieght on the brush head by mostly using their muscle strenght and a little of the body weight as follow :

We find all kinds of technique : with or without slider, brush handle in front (right side on the drawing) or behind (left side on the drawing) of the body ; feet close or far from the trajectory of the stone…

Whatever the technique used, our concern for this article is the weight developed on the brush head for most efficiency and the curler faces two alternatives to achieve that :

Use of the muscle strenght or

Transfer the body weight on the brush head

The first method :

eventhough the majority of the curlers and even the high competitive curlers use it, this method does not provide the weight of the second method and costs much more energy wise.

 

The second method

develops more weight on the brush head and demands less energy expense.

The proposed technique (second method) consists in bringing the shoulder as much as possible over the brush head. In this position, the brush handle is almost vertical.

Applying this technique, you will probably find that your brush is not made to suit this method ; your brush head will probably not be flat on the ice surface. Indeed, as a coach, I had to modify the existing brushes to suit this proposed technique. That the reason why I have develop the fully articulated Performance brush allowing a vertical position of the brush handle and consequantly allowing more body weight transfer to the head of the brush.

It is easy to verify this theory : Put your brush head on a bathroom scales, take your usual brushing position and look on the scale the weight you develop. Repeat the same exercise bringing your shoulders over the brush head without straining with your arms ; only grip firmly the brush handle with your hands. Look the result on the scale. If you used a curved or crooked handle, you won’t have to grip firmly the handle since you only have to lay on it.

Doing this last exercise, you will find that this theory is right.

A New Look At The No-Backswing Delivery

A short historical review The no-back swing delivery has quickly become popular, both in Canada and throughout the world. At the Canadian Junior Championships in Winnipeg in 1989, the Quebec team, skipped by Martin Ferland, was the only one using it. At the Canadian Junior Championships in Vernon, B.C., in 1992, three of the four finalists (male and female) were using it, including the two winners. At the 1993 World Junior Championships, only the two Canadian teams used the no-backswing delivery. These days, at any national or international junior competition, the majority of teams are using it. A technical retrospective When the ice is fast or when not much weight is needed, it is now generally accepted that the no-backswing delivery is easy to learn, for both beginners and curlers who are switching from a conventional delivery. To get unanimous agreement among curlers, however, a way must be found to get enough leg drive to throw takeouts, especially when peel weight is called for. To do this, two factors are essential. First, the hips must be kept low, both during the pull-back and the weight transfer for delivery. Clearly, the lower the hips are during pull-back, the more the knee of the hack leg will be flexed. This will allow a stronger drive by the hack leg during delivery. Secondly, and vitally important, is the weight transfer. This is started by bringing the hips well back during the pull-back, putting the body weight over the sliding foot when the pull-back is completed. From this position the weight can be transferred during the delivery phase. The weight is transferred from the sliding foot to the hack foot and back to the sliding foot to complete the delivery. This weight transfer is essential for throwing heavy shots. A new approach Until very recently it was thought that the more weight that was called for the longer one had to delay the forward movement of the sliding foot. It seemed logical, since the longer one waited the more weight transfer would be used. (Let me digress a little. This body weight transfer discussion takes for granted that everybody knows what we are talking about, but maybe that isn't the case. What exactly do we mean by "weight transfer" ? It is really quite simple. The transfer consists in moving the body weight from one foot to the other. The simplest example is in walking which consists of transferring one's body weight from one leg to the other. Weight transfer is one of life's earliest learned skills.) During the no-backswing delivery, the weight transfer is completed when the sliding foot is in its sliding position. Holding the sliding foot behind the hack for the longest possible time makes for a good weight transfer, but there is a drawback. It forces the curler to make a quick and sudden movement of the sliding foot at the completion of the forward push, compromising both the quality and the balance of the slide. The solution The pull-back : At the completion of the pull-back, all of the body weight must be on the rear foot (the sliding foot). Forward push : Start the forward movement by moving all one's body weight from the sliding foot to the hack foot. When all the weight is on the hack foot, lift the sliding foot and bring it forward to its sliding position (rather than leaving it back); BUT KEEP IT ABOVE THE ICE AS LONG AS POSSIBLE TO DEVELOP A MORE EXTENDED WEIGHT TRANSFER. Clearly, while the transfer is taking place the hack leg will be providing the proper drive (depending on the weight required). The amount or duration of the weight transfer will vary as the weight of the shot called for and the same will apply to the drive provided by the hack leg.

Release : Biggest challenge in Curling The Problem :

The biggest difficulty in curling is throwing a stone at a target applying a rotation movement to that stone while it leaves your hand. Curling wise, the throw primarily is a translation movement and at the most crucial time of the throw, when the rock leaves your hand, you must add a rotation movement to that stone without deviating from the translation (throwing line). It is very difficult to apply a rotation movement to a body in motion without deviating from its direction; unless the body in motion is maintain on its direction by rails or by any other means. In curling, the body in motion is a stone sliding on ice without anything to prevent the stone from deviating from its direction.

Techniques on release have been developed to face that difficulty. All the techniques start with a good grip and rock positioning: 10 O'clock for an "in turn" for a right hander etc… The thrower maintains the grip and the rock position both during the swing and the slide. He than apply the rotation to the stone on the last three feet (one meter) of the throw bringing the stone handle at noon. If the turn is applied during three feet with a good grip and a good rock position, the rock will do 2 ½ to 3 rotations on a draw. If the stone makes more than 2 rotations, we consider the release as being positive. A positive release allows the stone to travel straighter at the beginning of its slide to start curling later on facilitating throws control.

My PROPOSAL:

Here is my approach for a better release: As traditionally: Start with a good grip, high wrist Good rock positioning: 10 O'clock or 2 O'clock Maintain the grip and rock positioning during the swing and the slide. And, when you are ready to make the release, rather than applying rotation while releasing the stone,

TURN FIRMLY THE HANDLE UP TO NOON WHILE MAINTAINING THE GRIP ON THE HANDLE AND WHEN THE ROTATION IS COMPLETED (handle at noon) open the hand to release the rock at the target. (To know if the rotation is applied firmly enough, count the number of rotations on draws. You should get 2 ½ to 3 rotations).

My proposal consists in a two step release. First, apply the rotation and second release the stone. You think to turn the handle and only after you release the stone aiming at the target. During the second step of the release, no question of applying turns to the stone; the stone is already rotating. You simply have to focus on releasing at the broom.

The release is than completed by a translation movement which cope with the translation movement of the stone in curling.

Drift

A drift when throwing is a deviation of the slide delivery to the right of the line of throw for a right hander or to the left for a left hander. The drift is a major fault and must as soon as possible be corrected to maintain a regular level of performance.

While using the traditionnal technique which is the lift of the rock on the backswing, the drift is often found on beginners, but almost unexistant for the competitors. With the advent of the No Lift Delivery technique, this drift fault is more and more frequently found even at competitive level.

What causes the drift? During the forward swing, the stone is pushed toward the target (skip brush) and the sliding foot, for a right hander, is moved forward from left toward the center of the body consequently to the right. If this left to right forward movement (always for a right hander) is not contor balanced during the forward swing, we will find a drift of the slide delivery toward the right side of the target. Generaly, this drift is more palpable on big weights since the forward movement is done faster.

Correcting the drift, one can not eliminate the the left to right movement of the sliding foot; at the most one may reduce the sideward movement by placing the sliding foot closer to the line of throw during the backsing. In spite of that, the correction of the drift is very easy : one must correct the TIMING of the forward swing which is :the forward movement of the stone must come before the forward movement of the sliding foot. When the stone is pushed toward the target and the sliding foot comes afterward in the sliding position during the trust of the hack leg, the slide delivery is straight and there is no drift.

On the other hand, there is a drift when the forward movement is simultaniously done by the stone and the sliding foot. If you know someone who drift durlig his/her slide delivery, check his/her forward swing and you will find that the stone and the sliding foot simultaniously come forward. Ask him/her to first put forward the stone and secondly the sliding foot ; the drift will disappear. In order to control the timing of the forward swing, I strongly recommend to start with the same timing on the pullback swing whish is : first, pull back the stone and than the sliding foot.

A better timing of the pull back favors the correct timing of the forward swing.

One question comes : Why don't we find drift on competitors using the traditionnal backswing? When lifting the stone during the backswing, the stone automatically comes back forward first and the proper timing is respected.

With the No Lift Delivery, the stone being always in front of the curler, it is easy to forget the correct timing and to simultaniously move forward the stone and the sliding foot. Using the No Lift, one has simply to think of TIMING. André Ferland

Four major faults observed during the no backswing delivery

1. Rock not positioned on the target line at the starting position
2. Backward slide of the rock with deviation from the target line
3. Sliding foot positioned to the side at the end of the backward movement (figure 7)
4. Sliding foot is open at the end of the backward movement (figures 8 & 9)

1. Rock not positioned on the target line at the starting position

First, let's describe the target line : the target line starts at the skip's brush (target) and ends at the center of the hack. It is extremely important to position the center of the stone on the target line at the stance position. It is common to omit this both the no backswing and the conventional deliveries, the difference being that the target line (axis) in the conventional delivery starts at the skip's brush and goes through the middle of the two hacks, along the center line.

Note :
In the no backswing technique, the axis is a matter of choice. It can go through the hack, along the inside of the hack, between the hack and the center line, or on the center line itself. The important thing is to leave the rock on the axis at all times from the stance to the release. I strongly recommend the axis which travels through the center of the hack.

Correction :

When a player does not position the rock on the target line, he/she must be aware of this error and be shown the right way to position the stone. An easy and efficient training exercise consists in tying a rope to the skip's brush, asking the player to take his/her stance ; once done, ask the player to let go of the rock and get up. The rope is then tightened, passing through the target line (center of the hack), and the position of the rock can be checked. The exercise can be repeated until the rock is consistently positioned on the target line.

2. Backward slide of the rock with deviation from the target line

This fault means that, at the end of the backward movement, the stone is no longer on the target line. The rock has been pulled back either inside or outside of the target line. This fault is very frequent, even at the competitive level. The no backswing delivery being easy to do, the curler tends to forget the importance of a backward movement following the target line.

If the rock slides inside the target line, it will move to the outside of that line during the forward movement, and vice-versa.

Correction :

Same exercise as in 1 after tying a rope to the skip's brush, ask the curler to do the backward movement, stop, let go of the rock and get up. Tighten the rope and check if the stone is on the target line at the end of the backward movement. Repeat this exercise until the rock is consistently positioned on the target line at the end of the backward movement.

3. Sliding foot positioned to the side at the end of the backward movement

The lateral movement of the sliding foot during the backward movement has virtually no effet when the player does not transfer his/her body weight. If this movement is not too pronounced, the player will tend to drift off the target line during the forward slide.

For a take-out, the lateral movement of the sliding foot causes serious problems to the curler during the body weight transfer to the back foot (sliding foot). When the sliding foot slides sideways at the end of the backward movement, the body weight being tranfered to that foot throws the body off target line, thus affecting the stone.

The sliding foot positioned to the side instead of behind the hack forces the body and the rock to move to the inside of the target line during the forward slide. This problem is more serious than the previous one (2) as not only the rock, but also the whole body is off the target line. During the forward slide, the rock and the delivery will be off-line on the right side for a right-handed player and on the left side, for a left-handed player.

Correction :

Understand the way to improve : Work at sliding the foot in a straight line during the backward movement. Position a brush handle on the ice to help the curler slide his/her foot in a straight line behind the hack foot (figure 10).

4. Sliding foot is open at the end of the backward movement

The sliding foot opens out during the backward movement, causing hips and shoulders to open. Therefore, they are no longer face the skip's broom, nor remain perpendicular to the target line. During the forward movement, the hips and shoulders will have to move perpendicular to the target line, otherwise the odds of deviating off the target line while pushing out of the hack are quite high. Curlers who open out their hips during the backward movement lose consistency in their deliveries.

Correction :

Understanding the way to improve and concentrate in moving back the sliding foot in such a way that it points towards the skip's broom during the backward movement.

As you can see, the biggest problems facing the curlers using the no backswing technique happen during the backward movement. This backward movement that looks so easy is full of traps. Be alert !

Knee problems: a common curling ailment

Everybody in the sport knows a curler with knee ailments. Many have had to abandon the sport because of this problem.

Is there a solution to KNEE INJURIES ? Curling puts a lot of strain on the knee joint and will continue to do so, particularly on the knee of the sliding foot. If a solution is to be found, it will have to be in the delivery of the stone.

One important development appeared in the 70s; the flat-footed slide. This method reduced the stress on the knee. Was this the final solution to KNEE PROBLEMS ? Not really. Curlers are still haunted by knee problems.

When new curlers are being trained, whether they be mini, junior, young adults or others, we insist on teaching them a balanced slide, which is quite justified. To arrive at this result, two major factors come into play:

1. Outward rotation of the sliding foot, to provide a wider sliding surface; and

0 ° rotation = small sliding surface

45 ° rotation = wide sliding surface

2. Placement of the sliding foot directly under the body during push-off to begin the slide properly.

While these two points continue to be valid, some modifications have to be introduced. More on that later.

There is a third major technical factor that is essential in the development of curling if stress on the knee joint is to be alleviated. Everybody who is teaching or coaching in the sport is aware of it but we pay it too little attention. This third factor is the amount of flexion of the knee joint.

The more the forward knee is bent during delivery, the better balanced the curler will be. The result is that the vast majority of curlers slide with their forward knee bent too much, sooner or later risking knee injury. This brings us to the question:

What is the ideal amount of knee flexion which will guard the joint against injury while still allowing a comfortable slide ?

Is it 45 ° ?: This position provides a comfortable slide, but puts too much stress on the knee joint.

45 º = comfortable, but too much stress on the knee

Is it 60 ° ?: This position is better, but still too stressful

90 ° = No danger, but uncomfortable

Is it 90 ° ?: This is the position recommended by orthopedists, but it makes for an uncomfortable slide.

A compromise solution is to slide with the knee bent at about 80 °

We are convinced that keeping the forward knee bent at 80 ° will make for a comfortable slide (with just a few hours of practice) and provide adequate protection for the knee joint.

A second stress factor on the knee joint is the outward rotation of the sliding foot. This helps with balance, as was mentioned earlier, but it also places a torque on the knee joint, which is another injury risk.

0 ° 15 °

Outward rotation of sliding foot and

Position of the knee of the sliding foot

We have concluded that full outward rotation of the foot must be sacrificed in order to protect the knee. The ideal position to avoid injury is 0 ° , but this places the knee directly against the chest, compromising the slide. A slight outward rotation of about 15 ° is the solution. It puts minimum stress on the knee joint and gets the knee out of the way of the chest.

We have another suggestion for avoiding knee problems. After releasing the stone, do not remain in the slide too long. A follow through of no more than three seconds before rising will also take stress off the knee

Finally, an exercise program aimed at strengthening all of the leg muscles will go a long way to protecting the knees from injury.

We do not claim that breaking the above guidelines will inevitably lead to knee injury, but we are convinced that virtually all knee problems in curling can be eliminated by following them. We have used this technique on several curlers with minor knee problems and, with very few exceptions, they have returned to the sport with no relapses.

In summary, to prevent knee problems:

1. reduce the outward rotation of the sliding foot to no more than 15 °;
2. keep the knee bent to no more than 80 ° during the slide;
3. do not stay in the sliding position too long after releasing the stone; and
4. follow an exercise program

Meaningful practice

The development of a curling team lies to a great extend on the quality of the on ice practice. Two factors allow the optimal development of a curler or a team : QUANTITY and QUALITY.

QUANTITY :

The quantity is an easy factor to control. More the curlers throw rocks, the better is the improvement. For example, an athlete that trhows thousands of rocks will be more performant that one throwing fifty or so. In short, a curler should throw as many rocks as possible and ideally throws rocks on a daily basis.

QUALITY :

The quality of a practice is as much important as the quantity but implies much more complexity. Therefore that is the factor on wihch I will bring my attention for this article.

The on ice practice should contain 3 steps : 1 - Technical training; 2 - Shot making; 3 - Mini-games. (Of course, the practice begins with a warm up and finishes with a cool down where stretching is important)

1. TECHNICAL TRAINING : (20 to 40 minutes)

The technical training consists of bringing the concentration of the curlers on one aspect of the throwing or brushing technique : Grip, Stance, Back swing, Forward swing, Slide, Release, Follow through, Brush holding, Brush positionning, Brushing movement.

To be effective :

a) The coach has to know very well all the technical aspects of throwing and brushing.
b) The coach has to know the level of each athlete he's involve with.
c) The season should progress from simplicity to complexity.This means proceed with easy and simple things at the beginning of the season and progress to more difficult tasks as the season goes on. For example, throw open draws and open hits at the beginning of the season and throw come around draws and come around hits later in the season.
d) Each on ice practice should allow the curlers to improve only one or two technical factors and it is a basic needs to stick to these one or two factors. It is fairly easy to improve one or two technical factors during one technical practice if one concentrate only on these one or two factors.Too many curlers and/or coaches go on ice without clear planning and than simply throw rocks ; as a result, after the first rocks thrown one start paying attention to the line of delivery, after the 2nd rock it is the release, after the 3rd could be the weight and so on…When concentrating on many technical factors at once, we have less control on these factors and we gain less improvements. It's a simple idea, just improve one factor at a time and after twenty practices or so we will have improved thirty or fourty technical factors (of course we will have came back a few times on each factor).

The following graphic shows how this principle improve a curler or a team. Briefly, at the beginning of the curling season, the technical factors are simples : Grip, Stance, Back swing for draws, Forward swing for draws, Back swing for hits, Forward swing for hits. However, we will move quite rapidly to more complex factors like : Slide on the axis (line of throw), Rock on the axis, Release, Follow through. At the beginning of the season, each factor is taken separately and when we control many factors, we start to join them together. For example, we work on axis of delivery and release separately to keep the concentration on as least factors as possible. When the athlete controls these two factors, he throws the rocks concentrating on both factors on the same time. An other example : during a practice where we work only on the axis of throw, we will eventually release the stone, but it is important for the coach to give feedbacks on the axis only, not on the release.

The same principle applies when working on the release, we give feedbacks only on the release. At the season of competition (championships), we will have went through all the technical factors and we will have put them all together .

2. SHOT MAKING : (20 to 40 minutes)

The second step of an on ice practice : the shot making goes through the same principles as the technical training. We begin by simple shots as open draws and open hits to go toward more complex shots as come around draws, freezes and come around hits.

The shots thrown must go along with the level of the tecnical practice we're at. At the beginning of the season, if we haven't work on axis of throw, nor the release at the technical level, we will throw draws and hits working on weights only ; we won't pay attention to the axis of throw neither will we give feedbacks on the releases. This will come soon, but not now. Remember to work on one factor at a time (See the previous graphic).

We devide the shots into two groups : The draws and the Hits. Draw group : long guard, short guard, draw in front of " T ", back line weight, hack weight, bumper (the stone softly hit the back board)…
Hit group : normal, heavy, light, peel…
Note : I place back line, hack and bumper weights within the draw group because these weights are related to the speed of the ice and than vary accordingly with the draw weight.For example, if I add one half of a second to the draw weight, I get a back line weight ; if I add one second to the draw weight, I get a hack weight and if I add 2 seconds to the draw, I get a bumper (for a 27 second draw from back line to stop, I throw 26.5 for the back line, 26 sec. for the hack and 25 for the bumper).

Model of shot making during a curling season :

For draws :

• Open draws in the house
• Guards
• Alternate draws and guards
• Draws, guards and hack weights
• Guards, draws in front of " T ", back line and hack weights
• Long Guards, short guards, draws in front of " T ", back line, hack and bumper weights

For hits :

• Normal weights
• Heavy
• Aalternate normal and heavy
• Light
• Alternate all the weights

After a few on ice practice, the curlers will be comfortable with almost all the weights and we will progress to complete shots, I mean the curlers will throw the weights at the broom.

Model for draw shots (after a decent control of weight is reach) :

• In turn draws/guards to the center
• Out turn draws/guards to the center
• In turn draws/guards to the side
• Out turn draws/guards to the side
• Come around draws to the center
• Come around hits to the center with back line, hack, bumper weights
• Come around draws to the side
• Come around hits to the side with back line, hack, bumper weights

Same thing with take outs. About Peeling guards, it is important to get use to hit both side of the target rock by hitting the internal side and the external side of the target stone. For instance, we have four ways to peel a guard :

1. Hit the internal side of the target stone with an IN turn
2. Hit the external side of the target stone with an IN turn
3. Hit the internal side of the target stone with an OUT turn
4. Hit the external side of the target stone with an OUT turn

We should also practice the peels on corner guards on both side of the sheet, which make 12 different shots to play for peeling guards. (See the following graphic)

3. Mini-GAMEs : (15 TO 30 minutes)

The 3rd step, mini-games, consists in completing the on ice practice by a game 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2.

These mini-games may take any kind of format : (with or without sweeping)

• Normal game (1 or 2 ends)
• No take outs (only tap backs are allowed)
• Only IN turns
• Only OUT turns - Shoot out style game
• (See the C.C.A. Drill Manual for more games)

This mini-game stage aims two goals : 1, the fun of playing and compete ; 2, Finalise the on ice practice with a game feeling.