This article is joint work with John Newhook of Dalhousie University.
Routinely, one of the delivery elements we encounter frequently with young athletes is the inconsistent placement of their slide foot when in the setup position prior to beginning the delivery.
In the delivery it is critical that the slide foot be positioned in a heel-toe orientation relative to the hack foot so as to permit the athlete to squat without twisting their hips, which leads to a multitude of potential problems that must be “fixed” in order to release the stone correctly on the line of delivery. Â
This article (click on the image at right to open the PDF), originally written in 2014, documents the effects of a misplaced slide foot in the setup position. We are grateful to former Wilfrid Laurier varisty athlete Evie Fortier of Ottawa who acted as our model for the photographs included in the article.Â
To better illustrate the issues that can occur with the alignment of the legs and the hips when the slide foot is misplaced, I placed 1-inch wide green painter’s tape on the front of Evie’s curling pants. The tape makes the misalignment of the legs more obvious when viewed with a camera. It is a straightforward tool to utilize with your own team as the tape presents a much clearer picture of leg alignment than the ubiquitous black of virtually all curling pants.Â