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Curling News UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2011
Clock keeps turning but traditions stay true
T
he men’s and women’s senior national championships are in progress as this column is written. Reminds me that over age 50 curlers have been the backbone of the game since I started in the curling racket as a tyke circa 1961. Since that hallowed time, lots of aspects of the Roarin’ Game have changed. The other day I was wandering around and came upon a large semi-trailer parked in front of a curling club. It was open so I went inside. I thought I had been transported to the movie Lost Horizon (substitute the Alps for the Himalayas)— the place was full of modern curling stuff and staffed by Olympian Debbie McCormick. It’s always a pleasure to see Debbie, we had a nice visit, then I toured the premises and here’s some of what I found. First, I bought a nice wine bottle stopper with a mini curling stone on top. I am a sucker for these good quality knickknacks because they were so rare, in the USA at least, in my early curling days. The Chinese did not curl then, let alone win world championships, and neither did they manufacture curling stuff. In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, as I journeyed around the world of curling, I bought more and more stuff, and pretty soon I had a small collection—minigranite rocks, crystal rocks, and my favorite, books about curling. Now, unfortunately for Debbie, this uncontrollable urge to collect curling stuff does not apply to curling equipment. Equipment needed to be familiar and broken in, and therefore kept in small quantities, and made to last as long as possible.
Tales From Sheet Nine
David Garber, dj.garber@charter.net
My first curling shoes were called “boots” and had high tops, ala chukkas. I coveted the Ernie Richardson model. Curling boots were warm, had to be, since many ice houses were not heated. Later, I kept one and sometimes two pair of curling shoes in my personal stock, replacing them only when the right toes wore out from dragging on the ice (the rudder to keep the fish-tail at bay). After the days of corn, for me about age 20, I first used a brush with a small diameter shaft, which I snapped off while sweeping one day (younger and stronger then!) nearly getting the jagged broken edge through the heart. Thereafter, I used an oversized hog hair brush with the sturdiest shaft I could find, made even heavier when I added a custom Tefloncoated hardwood sliding block to the head, to elevate the hairs off the ice and thus avoid drag—a custom job that was possibly preMaskelesque! I still have the 22-pound monstrosity, but I now use a Hammer, which was new when I
bought it several decades ago, much lighter, and made of plastic which I could use for a slider with no drag. I changed the head once so I could say I wore the first one out. Hammers were economical. I noted in Debbie’s trailer that new brushes and shoes are priced like stealth aircraft. I’m not sure if they show up on radar, but they are made of rich Corinthian leather and inch-thick Teflon (the shoes) and the brushes with shafts made of Bucky balls or something unbreakable, all while weighing two grams. The cloth on the heads can make rocks go 30 feet further and not abrade pebble, or something like that. I never owned a broom bag, it was cheaper to use a buddy’s! In those good old days, curlers wore big, wooly, warm curling sweaters. They did not make noise when the curler went in motion. On the other hand, lots of men wore slacks like the Norwegian men in the 2010 Olympic Games, with various Scottish plaids. Icemaking was more an art and less a science than today. I can remember hand scraping with a heavy manual scraper that really provided us young guys with a workout. A few clubs managed to have true, very fast ice. More had at least one of their sheets with poor ice. But the art of ice reading was far advanced compared to today. On the other hand, training is far advanced and today’s curlers of all ages have deliveries that allow them to be much more accurate and consistent on the broom. Fortunately, the most important component of curling, the ethos of the game from club to championship level, survives, with few exceptions.
USA Curling ... Dare to curl
Key: O–Open; X–Mixed; XD–Mixed doubles; M–Men’s; W–Women’s; S–Senior; WC–Wheelchair C–Cashspiel; J–Junior; ST–Stick Events are listed Friday through Sunday but some may begin earlier. Check the club’s website for more information. FEB. 18–20 Belfast, ME–Little Int. M Copper Country, MI O Detroit, MI X Duluth, MN–International MW Grand Forks, ND W Green Bay, WI M Heather, MN M Lake Region, ND–Bantam J Medford, WI–Snowflake W Plainfield, NJ J Portage, WI–Badger Senior SW Utica, NY–Cobb X Waltham, IL M Wauwatosa, WI–5 & Under O FEB. 25–27 Centerville, WI M Chicago, IL X Grand Forks, ND–Can Am J Heather, MN W Kettle Moraine, WI X Lewiston, MI MWX Madison, WI–Curl v. Cancer O Mayfield, OH X Norfolk, CT W Pardeeville, WI–Red Baron M Potomac, MD–Kayser X St. Paul, MN M Utica, NY–College O Wausau, WI–Silver Spoon O MARCH 4–6 Albany, NY–TAM O Appleton, WI–The Stick St Bemidji, MN–Paul Bunyan M Chesapeake, MD–GNCC Sr. SX Curl Mesabi, MN X Grafton, ND W Kettle Moraine, WI J Marshfield, WI–Lobstein X Nashua, NH M Pardeeville, WI O Plainfield, NJ–Stone M Poynette, WI O Schenectady, NY J Tri-City, WI M Vikingland, MN–Runestone O Waltham, IL X MARCH 11–13 Centerville, WI–Fun ‘Spiel O Chisholm, MN–Serrano J Columbus, OH–Wines W Duluth, MN–Dunlop X Grafton, ND M Green Bay, WI–Shamrock W Heather, MN X Lake Region, ND SWM Norfolk, CT–Elisabeth Childs W Pardeeville, WI–HS Alumni O Schenectady, NY–Gordon Em. M Wauwatosa, WI M MARCH 18–20 Belfast, ME–Woods Family O Centerville, WI SM Curl Mesabi, MN–Springspiel M Grand Forks, ND M
Granite, WA–Jr. Novice J Green Bay, WI J Heather, MN–Teen ‘Spiel J Kettle Moraine, WI M Lodi, WI X Nutmeg, CT–Golden Handle O Stevens Point, WI M MARCH 25–27 Aksarben, NE–Irish Open O Arlington, WI SM Blackhawk, WI–Last Chance M Duluth, MN–House of Hearts O Grafton, ND X Itasca, MN–Second to Last O Minot, ND–Shirtsleeve O Pardeeville, WI–Spring Fling O Potomac, MD–Cherry Blossom O APRIL 1–3 Fairbanks, AK–International MW Granite, WA–April Open O Green Bay, WI–Funspiel X Lake Region, ND X Mankato, MN–Bunny X Stevens Point, WI X Two Harbors, MN X APRIL 8–10 Hibbing, MN–Last Chance M Plainfield, NJ–Bonsqueal O Poynette, WI O APRIL 15–17 Coyotes, AZ–Desert Ice O Evergreen, OR O APRIL 24–MAY 1 At Sea, Caribbean–Waterspiel O APRIL 29–MAY 1 Broadmoor, CO O Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX O MAY 6–8 Park City, UT–Rocky Mtn. O MAY 20–22 Poynette, WI O MAY 27–29 Hollywood, C–Blockbuster O San Francisco, CA O JUNE 3–5 Great Smoky, TN O JUNE 10–12 Granite, WA O JULY 7–10 Cape Cod, MA–Summerspiel X JULY 10–13 Cape Cod, MA–Summerspiel W JULY 14–17 Cape Cod, MA–Summerspiel M Green Bay, WI–Tailgate O JULY 17–20 Cape Cod, MA–Summerspiel Wc JULY 21–24 Capital, ND–Summerspiel O AUG. 5–7 Green Bay, WI–Senior Men’s SM Triangle, NC–Carolina Classic O AUG. 19–21 Fort Wayne, IN–Summerspiel O AUG. 26–28 Rice Lake, WI–Summerspiel O SEPT. 30–OCT. 2 North Shore, IL–NS Open O
Don’t see your event listed or it’s listed incorrectly? Send bonspiel dates and corrections to Terry Kolesar, terry.kolesar@usacurl.org
Did you win a bonspiel? Do you need to send in bonspiel results for publication in the Curling News? Send info to Editor Terry Kolesar via email at terry.kolesar@usacurl.org. Be sure to include caption information as well as club affiliations for all the event finalists. The next deadline is March 11.
USA ready for action at Wheelchair Worlds in Prague The 2011 Wheelchair World Championship will take place Feb. 22March 1 in Prague, Czech Republic. USA’s team of Augusto Perez (East Syracuse, N.Y.), James Pierce (North Syracuse, N.Y.), James Joseph (New Hartford, N.Y.), Jacqui Kapinowski (Point Pleasant, N.J.) and Penny Greely (Green Bay, Wis.) will play in a 10-team round robin with Canada, China, Czech Republic, Korea, Germany, Norway, Russia, Scotland and Sweden. The team is coached by Steve Brown (Madison, Wis.) and Rusty Schieber
(Portage, Wis.) with Marc Deperno (Utica, N.Y.) serving as team leader. Greely is the newest member of the team, replacing Patrick McDonald, who had season-ending shoulder surgery. The team was selected after a skills competition took place this fall at the Green Bay (Wis.) Curling Club. The U.S. has prepared for Worlds with several bonspiels throughout the past few months. Webstreaming from the event can be viewed at www.curlingpromo.cz/curlingove-webove-kamery-hala-roztyly.php.
Team USA (l-r): Augusto Perez, James Pierce, James Joseph, Jacqui Kapinowski and Penny Greely.