The 2019 Brier starts tonight with the play-in game so I thought it might be a good time for a curling post. And I write this not because I know something that I want to share but because I’m seeking more information. So I’d love to hear from any of my curling friends about this!
When I first started curling (October 2010) my entire goal with my slide and delivery was to not fall over. Easier said than done! And I think most new curlers go through a progression of sorts as they learn the delivery. First it’s getting the footwork down so you can at least push out of the hack and slide a bit. Once you can do that, it’s all about balance and trying not to fall over. New curlers tend to put some of their body weight on the stone as they slide so the next step is figuring out how to let go of that stone without tipping over. While you are learning all of this, hopefully someone is teaching you about the line of delivery and how nice it would be if you could sort of slide out in the general direction of the skip’s broom (the target we use for aiming.) And then we have the last piece: the release.
That last part, the release, is what I’m calling the missing piece!
(Before I go on, let me tell you that the above explanation of learning the curling slide and delivery is a very simplified, general description. When you watch good curlers throw the rock, they make it look easy. It’s not! The curling slide is like a golf swing from the standpoint that there are a million little micro-movements that those good curlers have tweaked and mastered over years of practice. I’m just giving a quick explanation to get to that last part.)
When we teach learn-to-curls we get people sliding with two stones so they can focus on their footwork and feel the slide without worrying much about balance. Then we take away one stone so balance becomes part of the equation. After that we have the new curlers let go of the stone and then we get to the release. I was taught (and taught to teach) what we call a 10 to noon/2 to noon release. We start with the handle at what would be either 10 or 2 o’clock if the stone was a clock and then gently rotate the handle to noon as we let go of the stone, reaching out as if you were going to shake hands with someone. Doing this properly should put 2-3 rotations on the stone as it travels down the sheet. It’s been a long time since I did my level 1 instructor training but it seems like this is still the “proper” way to teach new curlers the release and it does seem to work. Meaning that if new curlers follow those guidelines, they will put a decent turn on the stone.
Here’s the thing though: when I watch top curlers, none (ok, very few) of them are only doing what I just described above. They are of course putting a good turn on the stone but there’s much more to their releases than the simple 10 to noon/2 to noon we teach beginners. That makes total sense. They are playing at a much higher level, on really good ice and have mastered all of the parts of the slide and the delivery. New curlers have enough to worry about (not falling over!) and would be overwhelmed by complicating things further. But how do those of us who have played for a while get to what might be the next step beyond that 10 to noon/2 to noon delivery we learn when we are new? And do we want to? I think so!
I play on arena (hockey/figure skating ice that we turn into curling ice) ice now and it’s dreadful. Our sheets are full of “moguls” and “speed bumps” from drips off of the ceiling. We have Zamboni lines and chunks out of the ice in various places. Most league nights we will only have one or two playable paths into the house, usually taking negative ice, and our first end draw weight is “throw it as hard as you can and add some more.”
The point of all of that isn’t to gripe about our ice. It’s to explain that our ice doesn’t force our curlers to have a good, solid, consistent release. In fact, people can benefit from having a bad release! A poorly released rock can lose its handle and drift into a place in the house that is un-hittable! So while we are teaching the 10 to noon/2 to noon I mentioned above and talking about putting a good turn on the stone, because our ice is so bad, the results of a poor release aren’t glaringly obvious.
In contrast, the last couple of years I curled in Duluth, the ice was great and they were sanding the rocks a bit periodically to get even more curl for the big events that happen at that club. If you showed up to league night during that time and didn’t put a good turn (at least 3 rotations) on the rock, it could curl like 8 feet! Or lose the handle all together and just drift around out there! So that ice and those stones forced a good turn and release and we saw very quickly the results of a bad release.
What I’ve found though is that it can be very difficult to focus on putting a good turn on the stone using the 10 to noon/2 to noon method without adding some lateral movement to the shot as you let go of the stone. When we talk about this in curling, we talk about dumping the turn in or flicking it out. This seems to be especially true on hits. You can tell if you are doing this by your skip’s reaction. If you dump it in, the skip will instantly start screaming and if you flick it out the skip will say, “whoa, never” and you’ll most likely watch your shot sail right by the stone you wanted to hit, especially on straight ice. We did a spiel on dedicated ice a couple of weeks ago and struggled a lot with this. Everyone was sliding well, pretty much on line and then missing a lot of shots on the release.
Is there a solution? I think so! It’s the mysterious “positive release!” I say “mysterious” because I feel like I’ve heard many different things from many different people. I’ve had people tell me that they are making a motion like they are throwing a dart as they let the rock go. I’ve had people show me a little “pop” at the release. I could never get the hang of any of those!
Here’s the best definition I’ve found from The Curling School by CurlTech: “It (positive release) means making a move slightly toward the skip’s broom by extending the arm from the flexed position and rotating the rock at a certain rate to ensure a 2-3 revolution spin.”
I really like that explanation and lately it’s been working for me! By making that motion toward the broom (on the line of delivery) as I put the turn on the stone, I’m able to get a good turn on the stone without the lateral movement! But it’s not always easy!
A couple of years ago at the Lupus Spiel (an awesome event that every curlers should do BTW) I got to do a mini-camp with Kevin Martin. He showed us exactly what I described above in the CurlTech definition. You slide out and “soften” the elbow of your throwing arm so you have a nice bend in the elbow. As you get set to release the rock, you gently extend your arm (toward the skip’s broom, on the line of delivery) as you put the turn on the stone.
This all felt good at the mini-camp but that spiel happens in May so I didn’t have a chance to practice any of this and by the time I got back on the ice, it was a train wreck! Mostly on hits. Instead of softening my elbow to get that nice bend, I was pulling the stone back toward me and my “gentle extension” was basically a shove forward. It was a mess so I quit doing it. But about a month ago, I realized that I was back to flicking out my in-turn (lefty) so I decided to revisit what I learned at the KM mini-camp.
For whatever reason, this time I’ve been able to soften the elbow instead of pulling the stone back and I’m able to keep the extension gentle as opposed to shoving the rock. All good things! The upside is that I feel like I’m finally able to put a good turn on the stone while keeping the stone on the line of delivery without any lateral movement. The only challenge is that this does add another variable to the delivery. Instead of having all of the weight of the shot coming from my leg drive, I need to account for that subtle extension when I kick out of the hack.
If you want a good visual of what I’m taking about with the bend in the elbow and the extension, Jamie explains it well toward the end of her video on grip and release.
In watching the Scottie’s again this year, I noticed that many, even most of the curlers released the rock like this. I’ll be curious to see if I notice the same in the Brier.
Anyway, this got a bit long. Sorry! But this has been a topic of interest to me for a long time and I feel like it’s a part of the slide and delivery that has been a bit hard to pin down. I do think this could be helpful thing to start exploring with curlers who have a decent slide and are generally on the line of delivery. Maybe it could help solve some of that flicking out or dumping in on the release. It could perhaps be the “missing piece” for us wannabes who would like to shoot just a little bit more like the pros!
I’d love to hear from other curlers on this! Especially if you feel like you’ve discovered any keys to a solid, consistent release.
