New Curling Pictures

You might have noticed that the curling scenario pictures look a little different now.  The drawings are now to scale and were drawn using Google Sketchup (the free version).  Credit goes to this site for providing the drawing I was using before.  And credit goes to KB1UDN for the drawing of the curling stone that's now used in the new picture.  The curling stone is actually a nice 3D drawing, but you don't really get to see that as I set everything to have a top view. 

This is still not perfect for me.  Maybe if I bought the Pro version (very unlikely at $495), I'd like it more.  However, this was free and is a little more realistic compared to the old drawings.  There doesn't seem to be a reliable way to make arrows, so I only place the rocks in Sketchup and then I draw in the arrows in SnagIt afterward.

If you want to make your own curling drawings, I'm sharing my curling template here.  I may also update it in the future to have the 1-10 numbers (though my team doesn't use that during our games.)  Also, feel free to e-mail me some of your own pictures and I can discuss them.

My Brother's Learning to Curl #2

My brother had his second curling class and he liked that there was a lot of individual attention as all of the students continually practiced their slides.  There was a lot of discussion of the "ABCs" of curling which I had never heard of before:

• Alignment
• Balance
• Curl

A little hokey I think with curl as the C, but I guess if it helps everyone remember things.  One of the drills that helped me out early was sliding with two rocks.  When you're starting out, just being on a slider messes with your balance a little bit, and holding on to two heavy rocks helps you get a handle on that I think.

They also did some drills where they had to try to get a rock between two cups.  I first read about this drill in Colleen Jones' Curling Secrets and will sometimes use rocks instead of cups.  Also, if I'm practicing with one of my teammates, usually one of us will hold a broom a few feet past the hogline.  It's always surprising how sometimes you can still miss the broom even when it's much closer to you. 

One of the big surprises to me from my brother's description of learning to curl is that they spend 20-30 minutes each time setting up the ice.  This is something that I completely take for granted at the St. Paul Curling Club.  But my brother now knows how to put the hack in and things like that.  In his words: "You have it totally easy".

On the number of people with curling gear, only a few people came back with shoes and stuff like that, so I guess the instructors were off on their prediction.  However, my brother is considering getting shoes now, especially if he plays in a league afterward.  I also learned his opinion of curling shoes, which he considers ugly.  On curling shoes that have the velcro on top, he said, "They look like orthopedic shoes."  He has a point there. 

Game 12 Recap

This was a bad game for us.  First, Second couldn't be there (new babies need a lot of care) and there was a mixup with finding a sub (my fault) so it was just the three of us.  And I just couldn't get a handle on reading the ice at all during the game.  Also, I had a somewhat stubborn refusal to take out guards thinking that I could use them later.  But by the time my shots came around, I had to make a difficult raise and/or throw a rock through a port and I feel like I pretty much didn't make any of my shots for the game.  (Note to opposing skips: I'm likely to miss shots where the broom is placed on the 12 foot and beyond.  I seem to always go wide.)  But the final score was 6-1 after six ends and that brings our record to 7-4.  Afterward, I was thinking that if we played more of a takeout game, the score could've been closer, but I don't know if it would've been enough because they were making nearly everything.

Here is an example of how the match went.  This is my second shot from the first end and my team doesn't have hammer.  Because of all the guards, I have to make a tough runback and get my rock to stay in the house.  (There wasn't any other shot, right?)  While I did make the takeout to save one, my rock wasn't shot rock.  There were two other ends that ended in a similar fashion. 

Here is an example of how poorly I called the game.  This is the third end where my team is down two and it's the last shot for Vice; my team has hammer.  I wasn't sure which rock was closer, but I thought it was likely to be theirs.  So I decided to call a takeout on their rock (the dashed line).  I realized at the time that it was kind of a gamble, but I didn't realize that a. the rock would curl way more than I thought and b. there would be a perfect double raise to take out my own stone.  I thought the worst case was a takeout on that guard.  The opposing team would end up scoring two for that end.  I know I could've called draw weight instead, but that just wasn't happening for us during that game and during that end.

Anyway, after the game, Lead and I bought some raffle tickets to help out the Junior Women's Curling team, who are going to play in Fairbanks, Alaska for the upcoming Junior Nationals.  The prizes are a new broom (I could use one of those) and a curling stone.  I have no idea what I'd do with a curling stone, but apparently, rocks can be sold to others for a few hundred dollars so I might do that.  I'll let you know if I win.

My Brother's Learning to Curl

My brother, who lives in the bay area, started a 5 week learn to curl class last week.  I had taken him to the curling club last year and I think it's kinda cool that he's now taking this class and may play in a league afterward. 

After I asked how it went, his first words were "I'm really sore."  I think that's a good thing.  It means that they must've been able to fit in a lot of throwing and sweeping.  They even played a mini game, which my brother's team won and it was his rock that was the winning point.

A few things to note:

• My brother realized how much nicer the St. Paul Curling Club is compared to arena ice.  Apparently, he could tell how uneven the ice was.
• Some of the instructors were overheard discussing how many of the students in the class (of 30+) would come back with curling shoes and a broom.  Last year for this class, around a third of the students came back with all the gear.  That's very surprising to me.  There are a few teams at the SPCC that have matching outfits, but still use sliders and house brooms. 
• He didn't really get the free guard zone rule and didn't think it was explained all that well.  (But I and/or other opposing skips have forgotten about it from time to time, so maybe not that big of a deal.  This even came up during game 11.)
• He said it was fun.

Game 11 Recap

After a week off (no subbing), we were back on the ice.  Vice actually hadn't played since Game 7 back in early December.  I needed subs for Lead (vacation) and Second (congrats on the baby boy!), but our subs played well.  My team won the game 13-7 after 8 ends, though we could've called it after 7 ends (my team was up by six), but the opposing skip wanted to throw the rocks back down.  This brings our record to 7-3, which I think is pretty good, especially since games 3 and 7 were so close.

Interesting thing about the opposing team was that they were on a little bit of a losing streak.  They decided to switch things up by moving their lead all the way to skip and then everyone took a step down.  I would've expected her to not be so good at takeouts, but she had some hit and rolls and a nice runback.  A few years ago, my own team had some trouble and I'm not sure why, but for one game Vice and I decided that we'd play first and second and Second and FormerLead (who would leave Minnesota the following summer) played third and fourth.  Without going into detail, it was just a disaster and we lost by a lot.  But I think we all learned something though.  So if you're having some trouble with your team, I guess I would say don't be afraid to shake up your order, even if just for one game.

In the scenario below, it's SecondSub's first shot.  My team doesn't have hammer, we're yellow rocks, and we're up by three (in the sixth end I believe). 

I was conflicted as to what to call here.  I decided to call a shot in the top of the house (#1), one that was completely exposed, which we did make with a fair amount of sweeping help.  Of course, that shot was taken out and then I did it again.  The opposing team ended up taking one for that end.  I feel though that with a little bit more thought, this setup could've led to a steal for my team.
 
One reason for playing the rock in the house was that the opposing team's front end had been a little inconsistent with their takeouts so I thought I'd test that out.  I know though that against other teams, hoping for a missed takeout (on a wide open shot) usually doesn't work out for me.  One shot I strongly considered was playing a guard instead of in the house, just in front of where the shot ended up (#2).  That's probably the more sensible play as it forces the other team to either take out a guard or attempt a runback.  Another option would be to place a guard to block the raise (#3).  Then, if they play a rock in the house, I can try to take that out or draw to it. 

I didn't want to draw to the four foot in this situation; I felt it was a little more dangerous.  If the shot's off on line, it might raise their stone.  If it's too heavy, then there's a nice backstop to draw to.  So I thought the open shot was a decent play. 

Anyway, it was a good game.  The opposing team lead by three a couple times, but my team had two four point ends.  (Big sigh of relief after those two ends.)

Curling Source Shot of the Week #1

The Curling Source just posted their "Shot of the Week".  "It is a tie game in the 8th end of an 8 end game. You are shooting yellow and have last rock. It is your third's second rock of the end. What should you do?"
1. Hit and roll for shot
2. Draw top 4 for shot
3. Peel the guard
4. Run/Peel the gaurd into the top blue stone

Just thinking about my team, the easiest shot is a takeout for shot rock.  Now, to precisely get the correct roll is always kind of random for my team.  We're thinking about it, but we're never really sure whether or not it will happen.  And my first fear is always whether or not a shot will make it around a guard so I might call for a sweep a little too early just to make sure that I at least get the desired takeout.  And then once the rock gets past the guard, then I'll see about getting the roll. 
However, in this particular scenario, I'm more likely to call a freeze for Vice, though I'll ask for back line weight.  Ideally, the freeze makes would make our rock very difficult to takeout.  Depending on where it lands, it could be shot, or I could throw a rock that makes it shot.  If there's too much weight on that the shot and it ends up moving that stone back some (or out), that's not a terrible scenario either.  Our rock would most likely be open for a takeout, but as my team has hammer, I think I'm OK taking my chances with that, at least against the teams that I see on a weekly basis.  There's also the possibility that the shot ends up being a draw behind the guards for shot and I'll take that too.  I ask for more weight than is necessary mainly because I don't want the shot to be short and then act as a guard and then I'll have to do a more difficult runback.

Choice 4 would probably never occur to me.  To do a raise with that much distance needed is just too difficult for me to get that angle correct.  I think that's when someone knows that they're really good, when they can call and consistently make a raise from that far up.  But while peeling the guard isn't my first instinct, it's probably not a bad strategy if you have hammer.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.  Post your thoughts here or at The Curling Source.

Curling Gear - Shot Shoes

My team has a bye this week, so here's another post on curling gear, specifically shoes.  Since the fall of 2008, I have used the Shot shoes from Goldline.  These shoes were picked because they were among the cheapest ($95 plus shipping).  I hadn't really been curling that long yet at the time, but had been told by several curlers that buying shoes is a really good purchase.

I could not agree more.  I remember at the start of that season, Vice and I were practicing and it was my first time wearing my new curling shoes.  After a few slides, I said to him, "I feel like I can make any shot in these shoes."  Now, as described in a few of these posts, I certainly am not a great player, but I could definitely feel the difference in my slide between wearing shoes and using a slider.  And while this is hard to directly attribute to the shoes, by the end of that season, we had a seven game win streak and almost won the second half season for the league.  (Let me just say that there was a LOT of luck involved in that win streak.)

One thing that my shoes don't have is a toe dip on my right shoe (FYI, I'm right handed).  I can see how having the toe dip would reduce the resistance there a little bit.  Additionally, for the Shot shoe, the teflon thickness is only 1/16".  I can't speak to this from experience, but they say you should be able to get more weight in shots with thicker teflon.  So I'm guessing that my next set of shoes will be thicker, but I'm a little worried that, combined with a toe dip, it'll be even harder to dial back my weight when I need to.  But there's probably always adjustments for new shoes.

Recently, Shot Rock Curling Supplies set up shop at the club and I was looking at the Balance Plus shoes, all of which have a dimple in the center of the teflon part of the shoe.  It was explained to me that this forces you to have your foot flat and therefore better balanced.  For me at least, with my tuck slide, I'm not sure that I'll get the full benefit as my slide has me on my toes. 

I didn't try them on, so I guess I don't really know.  It'd be nice if someone (me?) were able to try on a bunch of shoes and write up a comprehensive comparison.  But until then, I can tell you that I like my Shot shoes and I would recommend to pretty much all curlers that they get some curling shoes.

Arnold Asham on the Curling Show

I'd like to highlight another episode of Dean Gemmell's Curling Show that I just listened to, which featured Arnold Asham.  For those that don't know, he's the founder of Asham, one of the big curling equipment suppliers.  Now, I'm not always up to date on the new curling technology, but I'm kind of intrigued with two of the new broom features discussed on the show:

The Boomerang Shaped Brush

Kind of a weird idea, right?  Most brooms today have a rectangular brush head (like mine) or an oval shape (like my teammates').  The boomerang kinda makes sense though; the diagonal parts should make it easier to brush debris and frost to the sides.
 
The Grooved Brush Head

Such a simple idea.  When you're sweeping, frost accumulates more on the edges of your brush head.  Why not make a brush head with more edges?  And it doesn't really cost all that much more for the grooves compared to the flat ($2 more). 

So I just added a boomerang broom with the grooves to my wishlist.  It costs $166, $100 more than my first broom, but I think I'm ready for something new when next season comes around.

Game 10 Recap

Not that you're keeping track, but you may have noticed that I jumped from Game 8 to Game 10 for my recaps.  Due to the holidays Game 9 has been postponed.  I'm guessing Game 9 doesn't really affect the league standings or else there might be some pressure to get the makeup game scheduled.

Anyway, my team played well and we posted an 8-2 win after 7 ends.  Supposedly, we're evenly matched as B level teams.  I would've guessed that their team would be much better as I've played against this skip before and their lead and second have been subs for me in the past. 

Vice was out at the last minute, but fortunately, I was able to find a sub an hour before the game.  My sub was in his first year, but while there was some trouble hitting the broom, I'm happy to say that his weight was pretty good the whole game. 

Here's a memorable shot, at least for me.  The situation is my team is up by 4 or 5 and we don't have hammer.  It's the second shot for Second (who's playing third).

I decided to call a guard to block the raise (rock #1).  My thinking was that I'd just make it very difficult to score.  As it turns out, due to a bad no sweep call by me, the rock didn't make it across the hog line.  The opposing team did make a raise, but was only able to score one for the end. 

The better call might have been to just take out that rock (#2), but I just wasn't positive that we could make that shot.  There was a danger to me that we'd have the wrong angle and all that happens is their rock gets raised into the house behind all the guards.  (There may have been other rocks that aren't pictured that may have made the takeout a little more difficult as well, but I don't remember.)  What I've also been thinking about is that by calling the guard, I was basically conceding the end with my best case scenario being a blanked end.  I was OK with that (my team's up), but if that takeout was made, the rock might have rolled into the house or might be set up for a raise with one of my shots.

I guess it didn't really matter as my team won, but it's always good to keep the more aggressive plays in mind.  I also thought it was interesting that in the previous end, all 16 rocks were in play at the end.  I think that's the first time that's ever happened in a game I've played in.