After watching this week’s Scotties action in Sault Ste Marie, I’m concerned about the standard of curling among the women’s ranks in this country. The lack of consistency, easy misses and the lack of imagination in the shot calling. While I may be biased coming from the Men’s point of view, I believe there are several areas in the game where teams just fall short when there is no reason to.

It can be said that many of the best shot-makers are from this country. The inability to use shot making to win consistently, relying on opposition to miss, has become a crutch that is preventing the Canadian teams from realizing their true potential. Teams play to not lose, rather than play to win. The result is a lot of tight losses, against teams that are as good or better.

Without a doubt, Kelly Scott is one of the best shooters in the game.  Against PEI on Thursday, she casually called a runback in a key situation, went down the ice, and made it. She could see part of the stone and could have picked it out, but to score two, needed to make the runback. Being able to throw like this, why don’t these teams use these weapons more often? Knowing your opposition can make runbacks on you can intimidate teams, and will get you one step closer to becoming dominant.

Having travelled to many nationals and international events over the last few years, it’s obvious that the World is now able to handle Canada’s teams. The rest of the World is training full time, creating super-teams and developing programs where they get the best out of their athletes. They’re using aggressive strategy and playing to win, thus able to back up their tactics with execution.

In Scotland, they’ve developed one of the great talents in the game in Eve Muirhead, with tutelage from her father Gordon and the assistance of the Junior Academy, Eve has won three World Junior titles, and now as a 19 year old is skipping the British Olympic Team. A side note on Eve, she’s also an elite junior golfer in Scotland, and when asked by British Golf Media which American University she would attend, she replied by telling them that she only golfed for fun, and that she would be staying at home as curling was her sport.

The program in Scotland is developing several strong teams and players, with Claire Hamilton among them. Many around the World have not heard
of Claire, especially with Eve in the spotlight, but as a Junior, Hamilton and her junior team finished third in the Scottish Women’s championship, beating out many more experienced rinks. The young squad impressed many with fearless play, aggression and an attitude of playing to win.

The Olympic squad in Scotland is a hand-picked group of athletes, with a large investment in coaching, training, and all the extra support staff added in to help create a strong team by their governing sport body. They chose the best players in the country, and then they travelled together, with cuts made to get the team down to 5 players. This is much different then the Canadian Trials system, where teams get to playdown for the opportunity to be the Olympic representative.

Having worked at the European Championships this season, as well as witnessing curling teams from around the world, I’m predicting Canada will fail to medal at this year’s Olympics in Vancouver. Sending an inexperienced team to the games, as well the improvement shown by the rest of the World is very good will make the Olympic competition very difficult on Canada’s Cheryl Bernard. Bernard is one of the teams that has made the sacrifices and commitment to the program to become Olympians, and it has certainly paid off.

While China has struggled this season after their World Championship title last year, I still believe they’re the best team in the World. They’ll be ready in Vancouver. Sweden is statistically as good as ever, and will be a contender to win the Gold again. After that, you’ve got Canada’s Bernard ranked along with teams like Mirjam Ott of Switzerland, Muirhead, and Deb McCormick of the United States. One thing to be concerned about though is there will be no easy games in the field. Anyone could win a medal in what I would consider the toughest women’s field in curling ever.

Many players in Canada are calling for a less dedicated system for the Olympic qualifying, this in my opinion would be a mistake. With the World putting more into their teams, (Scotland’s squad system, Chinese full timers, Russian squads travelling the world) there is a need for the Canadian women to focus on their Olympic shot. If you want to be an Olympian, you must put in the sacrifices other athletes in other sports do. If you choose to have children during the qualifying process, are you really fully dedicated to being the best in the World? What other sports do you see athletes only partially committing to be an Olympian?

Again, I talk about the Scott team here, who won the 2007 Worlds in Japan, dominating the event from start to finish. This team had the “no babies” media buzz, but had several children during the lead up to the 2009 Trials. Whether it was the realization of what’s truly important in their lives, or the demands of raising young children, this team had lost the edge that made them the best in the World, resulting in a poor showing at the Trials, and a disappointing 4th place finish at the 2010 Scotties.

While I’m not downplaying the need for balance in your life, and the choice of having a family is a noble one, it just goes to show how now that curling is an Olympic event, the demands on the athletes have changed. If we loosen the system, teams will not be forced to train as hard, put in the commitment and work harder to continue to improve.

While the men continue to be the best in the World and push the standard higher and higher, the women have been slowly falling behind. Kevin Martin has arguably formed a super-team already, and the men know they must do this to beat the best they play against here in Canada. Maybe it’s time the women consider this a more viable option before the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Curling Association must mandate it from the top? No medal in Vancouver might be the wakeup call needed…..

Enter the Earle Morris ‘Junior Academy’. What he’s done with Rachel Homan and her Ottawa team is very similar to the Scottish system. He’s taught Rachel the fearless strategy, and how to play to win. And how to learn from her own ‘misses and makes’. Earle was chastized last year for allowing Rachel to make an aggressive shot for two against Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes, though the approach taken allows Rachel to learn how to consider the risk and reward. Earle has been working with this Ottawa team since they were 15 years old, when I saw Rachel and Emma beating up Ontario’s best, winning an OCT Championship title.

This young team developed, playing a mix of junior and adult events, even winning a Men’s OCT event in Ottawa, beating some strong Men’s teams. This experience has lead to Rachel learning to win, and she carries that through when she plays at all levels. It took this team some time before they finally won an Ontario Junior title, but the experience learned has made Rachel all the better for it, with her game being at the elite level, qualifying for the Canadian Olympic Pre-Trials before she even had an opportunity to playdown for the National Women’s title.

Look what a little experience in the house can do with some young great shot-makers, with Kathy O’Rourke, and her surprising Prince Edward Island foursome. Fearless all week, they displayed the kind of go for it attitude that is exciting to watch. Had it not been for some nerves, they would have defeated the seasoned Jennifer Jones in the Scotties final, who plays the classic style of forcing the miss. And while Erin Carmody and Geri-Lynn Ramsay were solid juniors, the best record they ever posted was 7-5 at the Nationals. Look what can be done with a little guidance. Maybe this is a template for future successes?