Throwing Rocks
Glenn Paulley
Coaching in the sport of curling
Coaching in the sport of curling
As a certified Competition Development coach with 20 years of coaching experience, I can offer guidance and suggestions to coaches of every LTCD stage. Coaching services are offered through Throwing Rocks Consulting Services Limited.
Featured articles
Why bunny-hop brushing may not be the advantage you think it is
Increasingly, this season I’m witnessing the adoption by Canadian Junior and U18 teams of a brushing tactic used by some teams – mostly, but not exclusively, women’s teams – on the Grand Slam circuit. I’ve nicknamed that tactic “bunny-hop” brushing as it involves the near brusher jumping during the “push” portion of each stroke from a snowplough position. Most often I see the bunny-hop used on guards and draw-weight shots, where the tactic is employed between the far hog line and where the stone comes to rest. Typically, the bunny-hop is used when the stone requires additional carry, though sometimes the tactic is also used when trying to both extend the carry of a stone and, at the same time, accentuate curl by brushing in the direction of the stone’s rotation. https://youtu.be/o2woYB05zdU?&t=1843 Carole Howald of Team Tirinzoni uses the “bunny-hop” brushing tactic vs Team Homan in the final of the
The Battle at Port Elgin – September 2026
A marquee battle-of-the-sexes series of games between Canadian champions Brad Jacobs and Rachel Homan will take place in Saugeen Shores from September 25-27, 2026 at The Plex in Port Elgin. Games between the two teams will include regular play, skins, and mixed doubles games. Fundraising for local curling clubs Organizers Doug Flowers, Maurice Wilson, Dave Middleton, and Stu Silcox are hosting this world-class event to help build the sport of curling in their local communities, including Port Elgin, Southampton, Kincardine, and other clubs in the area, and to help fund critical curling club projects planned or already underway. The Plex seats 1200 spectators and the organizers are hoping for a full house for all of the games. 10% of net profits will go to a charity of the winning team’s choice, 5% of net profits to a charity of the runner-ups choice, and the remaining 85% will be used for
Delivery by athletes with opposite ocular dominance
What is ocular dominance? Ocular dominance is the tendency of the brain to prefer visual input of one eye over the other. While like many other mammals human beings have binocular vision with which to judge distances, humans almost universally prefer visual input from one eye over the other. According to Wikipedia, about 70% of people are right-eye dominant, and 29% are left-eye; why this is so is still not understood. In everyday circumstances most individuals don’t give their ocular dominance much thought; but in sport, eye dominance can play a significant role, especially in highly accurate tasks such as aiming. Sports such as darts, archery, billiards, shooting, and curling can be impacted by eye dominance, particularly when the athlete’s dominant eye is the opposite of their dominant (throwing) hand, which is sometimes termed cross-dominance. Celeste Gauthier, who throws 3rd stones for Team Émilie Lovitt, throwing an out-turn draw. Note
Foamgate, existing, and forthcoming research
At this point, many competitive curlers in Canada should be familiar with the recent announcement from World Curling about the withdrawal of specific foams in a small selection of brushes from World Curling’s approved equipment list for competitive play for the upcoming 2025 – 2026 season. World Curling came to their decision based on the outcome of brush testing in Morris, Manitoba during the Victoria Day weekend, along with feedback from the researchers on World Curling’s equipment advisory group, of which I am a member. To a significant extent, World Curling really didn’t have a choice but to try to address the concerns first brought to their attention with the players’ manifesto that was put together just prior to the Grand Slam event in Guelph this past January at the WFG Masters. The players who signed onto the manifesto were concerned that the brushes approved for competitive play this past season
Curling brushes – Try before you buy – Part Quatre
This article is joint work with Dr. John Newhook of Dalhousie University. This past weekend featured Provincial men’s and women’s championships in most of the Canadian provinces, and what was interesting to me was the number of teams who switched to Balance Plus brush heads for their respective territorial championships. As one example, Saskatchewan hosted the combined men’s and women’s provincial championships in Kindersley. All four of the teams in the men’s and women’s CURLSASK finals are regularly Hardline users (if not sponsored by the company). However, during Provincials two of the teams – Steve Laycock on the men’s side, and Nancy Martin on the women’s side – switched to using Balance Plus RS or RS XL brush heads with prismatic Hardline Hybrid handles. This situation was the reverse of a number of instances last season that saw teams (Kaitlyn Lawes in particular) use Balance Plus LiteSpeed handles with an
Curling shoes: choosing a slider
A curler has two primary pieces of equipment: a brush, and a pair of curling shoes. In golf, multi-million advertising dollars are spent each year by golf shoe manufacturers such as Footjoy (recently sold to interests in South Korea) to convince golfers that one golf shoe matters over another. I would argue that in curling, a shoe – particularly what type of slider is used – matters considerably more. Unfortunately, in both golf and curling it is difficult to buy shoes on the “try before you buy” plan. Hence in this article I’ll try to document the range of options for curling shoes. Proper curling footwear offers a considerable advantage over slip-on sliders, tape, or other temporary means of enabling a slide delivery. A proper curling shoe will assist with balance, reduce the amount of effort required to throw hit weight, permit more consistency by allowing a longer and more
