Place your stone(s) closer to the button than the opposition's stone(s)
How to make your shot?
Follow skip's basic instructions
Basic Instructions
Clean the stone and your sliding foot. Visualize how to make the shot called. In your mind follow the path of the stone to the target and think about how much it has to curl and how fast or slow it has to go to reach the target. Throw the stone along the imaginary line to the broom. Hit the broom. Let your team mates know if you did hit the broom, or were wide or narrow. Throw the correct weight. Know when to throw the weight for the shot.
The stone is lined up with the front and back foot as well as the broom at the other end of the rink
Weight
Shot
Over the Hog Line
Front of ring
Front of T-Line
T-Line
Back of T-Line
Back of Ring
Hack
Board
Heavy
Long Guard
Center Guard, Corner Guard, Close Port, or Biter
Freeze, In-Turn Draw, Out-Turn Draw, or Lie Shot
Raise, Bury behind Guard, Chip, or Out-wick
Double Raise, Hit and Roll, Hit and Stay, or In-wick
Take Out
Throw Through, or Double
Triple
Throw Through Narrow Port
Signals from me the "Skip" to other members of the team have to be understood and followed
Our system should work with normal draw weight as the central axis. My arm is straight out at a 90 degree angle to my body. Guard weight will see my arm down at a 45 degree angle to my body. If I want the stone over the hog line but not on the rings, my arm will be against my body. For normal take out and stay my arm will be up at a 100 degree angle to my body. For hack weight my arm will be up at a 120 degree angle to my body. For bumper weight my arm will be up at a 130 degree angle from my body. For take out and roll out of the rings my arm will be up at a 135 degree from my body. For peel weight my arm will be up at a 145 degree angle from my body. For a hard one my arm will be at a 160 degree angle from my body. For an extra hard one my arm will be up over my head with my hand as high as I can get it without my feet leaving the ice. Although where my arm is located asks for a specific weight it is advisable to keep "feel" as a central part of the throw.
Let your team mates know if you did throw the correct weight, to much or not enough. Follow the path of the stone to the target and think about what you did right and what you did wrong. Make sure your team is in a better position than before you threw your rock.
You have to make your shot stay in the front end of the house whether you hit their stone or not. Normal patch for a " Lead " is just in front of the top of the rings. Normal patch for a " Second " is one foot past the top of the rings. Normal patch for a " Mate " is two feet past the top of the rings. Normal patch for a " Skip " is just in front of the T-line. Hitting their stone is not as important as staying. Needless to say, it makes it easier to stay if you hit their stone with t-line weight.
When there are no stones in the house and we have the hammer or are ahead in the game, I will place the broom on the center line and give the signal for T-line weight. That is the only time the imaginary line and the center line will be the same line. T-line weight is when my arm is straight out. When the arm is against my body that is front of the house biting the 12-foot ring weight. When my arm is between these two position that indicates I want you to throw guard weight that is between the front 12-foot ring and the T-line. The stone will reach the front of the house without sweeping.
Practice
If you are having trouble hitting the broom, practice until you can hit it. If you are having trouble throwing the right weight, practice until you can throw the correct weight. Practice will not make us perfect, but it will sure improve our curling. If you want a stone to curl 3 feet and it curls 6 feet when you use T-line weight, try the other turn with the brush on the stone. Make adjustments until you get it right.
The follow threw after the stone is released
Head up, shoulders square, sliding foot slightly outward, backend low, and trailing leg straight with back foot turned out
Sweeping
The two sweepers have to know the speed of the path the rock will travel from release to where the rock stops. They have to know every rock's characteristics. They have to know what rotatation each curler uses for each type of shot. They have to be smart sweepers if they are to know when to sweep and when not to sweep. They have to know if the thrower is narrow or wide of the broom.
It takes a lot of concentration and communication skills to put a rock where it can do your team the most good. A lot of teams use a number system to guage weight. When it goes by the near hog line it may look like it will be a three, but end up being a one or a five. One of the sweepers has to call out the number that he thinks is correct. As the stone travels down the ice he has to let the skip know of any change in his estimate. It takes lots of practice for a sweeper to be a perfect estimator.
Russ Howard's recommendation is to use a synthetic brush with some angle to it. This will allow the sweeper to cover a larger area in front of the moving stone and sweep closer to the stone or the other brush. It is a good idea for one sweeper to be on one side of the stone while the other sweeper is on the other side. Both of their brushes are in front of the stone. The faster the brushes move the further the rock will go and the lesser the stone will curl.
Pay attention to every stone delivered in your game. You will learn something from every stone thrown. With practice you can be a good judge of weight and become a good estimator.
Gerry Dawson
Website Facilitator
There is a lot more to curling than just throwing a rock and walking away with a championship. The sport is about how we relate to people. To understand why we love the game you have to curl yourself. Curling clubs are losing their cachet as meccas for the wild and misbegotten. This will hurt the country's love affair with curling. Since the late 1980's the police took the fun out of drinking. However, curlers from any part of the country can yet drop into MCA and feel welcome.
Some of the staunch MCA regulars fear for the future of their club. As drinking and driving rules tighten up and MCA's bar income decreases, they wonder if the club can survive where other similar clubs have folded. The game is too addictive, the club is too strong, for a financila crisis to plough them under. We have to get people under thirty years of age addicted to curling. If you get them hooked, they will be curling when they are 70. The most important asset a curling club can have is a growing membership.
