Registered: Sep 2011
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Picture if you would the following scenario...

Your club puts ice in during the month of September, with leagues starting in mid october.

One of the leagues your team wishes to compete in is oversubscribed by one team, and the solution devised to resolve that is a knockout "Four teams in, the team that loses two games is cut from the league" reverse bracket kind of thing...which starts three or four days after the ice is in (hopefully...if all goes well...)

As your team is new to the league, you are one of the teams in said bracket. Your mission...win one of those two games.

Your team had no access to ice over the summer break, and you have one new member coming in with relatively little experience.

Your backend has played together for a number of years, and meshes pretty well. Your second has been steadily improving over his years, and you (as the skip) are confident he will be good at his job.

You're able to acquire a single 2 hour block of ice time to practice, the day before your first playin game (maybe 2 days before). You have access to normalish training aids (cones, gates, etc), but no outside coach.

How would you structure the practice to get maximum early season lift before an important series of games?

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Registered: Aug 2014
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That sounds tricky. I'd recommend doing a set of team oriented drills focused on weight control. It is important to practice not just deliveries, but also get in synch on the team communication and sweeping bit. And I think for early season games, most club teams are still struggling to get their touch back. So, if your team can use the time to get their weight control and judgment on sweeping back, then you'll have an edge. So I would do something like: quick warm up and throw the stones down to loosen up, break in the ice, and get a read on the ice. Then a set of drills like the following:

Line dancing: team delivers 8 stones in normal throwing order with the goal to have all eight touching the centre line (ideally you start from the back of the rings and draw in front of each stone, but if your lead hangs a high guard, then the fun begins - just like in a game).

Progressive hogline: deliver 8 stones in order. Where the first stone lands becomes the new hogline. Next stone must be delivered past it and it becomes the new hogline. Ideally the first stone is a high guard, but if the lead is deep, then the fun begins.

Around the clock. There are 6 zones, left hand guard zone, top house left hand side, back house left hand side, back house right hand side, front house right hand side, front house free guard zone. The team has to successfully draw a stone into the first zone before it can attempt a draw into the second zone. The goal is to draw into each zone in order in as few attempts as possible.

Pop goes the weasel: Line up 8 stones of one colour on the center line from the top of the house back towards the hogline. Make sure the stones are frozen to each other. The goal is to throw the eight stones of the other colour and raise as many of the frozen stones into rings.

If you google those drill names you should be able to find diagrams with the setups (plus other drills like them).

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Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:

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Originally posted by AlanMacNeill
Picture if you would the following scenario...

Your club puts ice in during the month of September, with leagues starting in mid october.

One of the leagues your team wishes to compete in is oversubscribed by one team, and the solution devised to resolve that is a knockout "Four teams in, the team that loses two games is cut from the league" reverse bracket kind of thing...which starts three or four days after the ice is in (hopefully...if all goes well...)

As your team is new to the league, you are one of the teams in said bracket. Your mission...win one of those two games.

Your team had no access to ice over the summer break, and you have one new member coming in with relatively little experience.

Your backend has played together for a number of years, and meshes pretty well. Your second has been steadily improving over his years, and you (as the skip) are confident he will be good at his job.

You're able to acquire a single 2 hour block of ice time to practice, the day before your first playin game (maybe 2 days before). You have access to normalish training aids (cones, gates, etc), but no outside coach.

How would you structure the practice to get maximum early season lift before an important series of games?

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Guest

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Registered: Sep 2011
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quote:

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Originally posted by Guest

I'd let the extra team in the league and adjust the league schedule accordingly.

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Registered: May 2014
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I like the suggestions from tea&takeout, although given only two hours I might stick to things that minimize unlikely game shots and maximize common game shots.

Two more classic practice drills that can really maximize your team effort within the two hours:

Perfect Team: (description from curlingschool.com) "play against an imaginary team that does not miss any shots. It begins with the skip gathering a few opponents' rocks at the house end. After your team throws a rock, the skip then determines what the perfect shot would be and executes it by placing the opponent's rock in the perfect spot. The skip must play for both teams. This drill is very valuable because it can simulate actual game conditions without the need for an opponent."

Don't get hung up on the "perfect" part. Instead of simulating them as "perfect" simulate the "most likely" shots that your playdown opponents will try and execute.

Designated Shot: (again, description from curlingschool.com)

"Pick a shot that the team throws a lot. Execute the shot with full sweeping and line calling. Agree on a standard for each shot. For example, three come-arounds in a row or three peels in a row or two freezes. This drill allows the players to practice a common shot when the pressure is off. This goes along way when the pressure is on."

Like the suggestions above these two involve every player on every shot, thereby increasing the effect of the short practice time. I highlight these two drills because they also concentrate your practice time on shots that you will actually use during your upcoming games. Given that you only have two hours to practice (total) before important competition, you want to maximize time spent on common situations and shots.

The other thing I would do is to include something that helps the teammates establish delivery rhythm. So during the warm up period, I might play two ends of "speed curling" in which each stone must be thrown before the previous stone comes to rest. It's a great way to minimize wasted time and establish delivery rhythm. It can take the place of the "quick warmup" mentioned by tea&takeouts.

Last piece of advice: don't overdo it. don't do anything that might get somebody hurt. it's the beginning of the season, so overdoing it might lead to a knee or muscle problem. or a fall leading to a broken bone or separated shoulder. warm up properly before practicing to reduce the risk.

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Registered: Aug 2012
Location: Washington, DC
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quote:

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Originally posted by AlanMacNeill


Assume that option was considered and declined (mostly because the season length really perfectly accomodates 16 teams, and 17 causes byes, which are considered undesireable...)

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Fairport, NY
Posts: 143

Ok ...maybe don't forget practice. But you said something that I'd consider in this situation. You said your second has improved. He should be your lead. Lead is so important. You simply cannot waste lead stones. 2nd is where the beginner can go. I say this for two reasons....

1) I'm assuming you are playing a team that has equal ability. And wasting a 2nd stone occasionally is something they will do too.
2) It is generally easier for beginners to throw takeouts and leads don't throw that many.

I almost always in spiels where teams are thrown together put the least experienced at 2nd. I like it in this scenario as well.

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Joe Calabrese

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Fairport, NY
Posts: 143

I once was in a 5 and under event where we had 5 guys. Four of the guys had experience. One didn't... it was his first year. We played a game with him at 2nd. His first 15 stones were shots that went through the house and hit nothing (not anything of ours, not anything of theirs).

We needed his 16th stone to hit something as we were winning and clearing stones. When he made the shot, the rest of our team jumped up and down like we won the Brier. We were pumped for him as he knew he was letting us down.

We wound up winning the game. I wouldn't suggest the 1 for 16 strategy, but it worked for us that day.

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Joe Calabrese

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Registered: Jan 2012
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It's the first time you've slid on ice in months and the ice will probably change a bit between the time you practice and play. I'd have everyone cool off their sliders and take a couple practice slides to remember how to throw. Use a stabilizer or two rocks if you need to but mostly its just a warm up because you are going to use muscles you forgot you had.

Then I'd put down the broom and have everyone throw an inturn and an outturn draw down the same path to see about how much curl you get from each player and get a sense for their release point. Repeat for "normal" weight hits going back so that everyone can get a sense of what "normal" weight is for your team.

Have everyone throw a draw to the button with sweeping with both turns down and back. Get a sense of hitting the broom and how much the ice changes (or not).

Each person will have thrown 8 rocks, 4 with sweeping. Go inside and talk about fun stuff over a beer while stretching those muscles you "found".

You aren't going to get 100% better in one practice but you can work off the summer rust while having a good time.

Jason

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Registered: Oct 2013
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"Relatively Little Experience"

Do you mean a beginner curler who has played a few games only, or one that has played a couple of years recreationally, doesnt really know that ins and outs of the game, but can throw rocks decently?

If it is the former, with a few games only, I would focus almost the entire the 2 hours on training the beginner. If they can keep most of their rocks somewhere in play, lets say 12 of the 16, and maybe have 6 of 16 be "useful" shots, that will make a bigger difference in the overall game versus the other three of you getting extra practice. Of course, the threee of you can throw some stones, but I wouldn't worry more than that.

If the latter, with decent experience, to me, I would just have a quick fun practice and leave it at that. I genuinely think that in a single 2 hour practice, for people who mostly know what they are doing, anything more than the basics is likley to be asking too much. In fact anything that might cause stress amongst the team would be damaging. I have seen too many people take a small time way too seriously and turn it into overall team stress.

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