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. 

First Practice

I met my third and my second last night at SPCC for a little practice.  It felt good to get out on the ice again.  It was also very cold.  I usually wear a hat and gloves during games and went out yesterday without them. 

I recently read Russ Howard's Curl to Win and he talked about how he doesn't recommend the tuck slide.  I happen to do a tuck when I slide and always felt like like it made me more accurate with my shots.  He talked about how you're a little less stable in the tuck and I definitely feel less stable when I'm going for a lot of weight (and sometimes when not going for a lot of weight).  I tried to think about not doing the tuck yesterday, but it just comes naturally to me.

There was a surprising number of people there.  Every sheet was in use last night pretty much the whole time I was there.  But this is one of the few times in the year where you can uninterrupted ice time, so it's understandable.

First game's on Sunday.  Can't wait.