Blog
Setup – The importance of the slide foot position
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.  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. To better illustrate the issues that can occur with
Curling, university, and the student-athlete
This article was originally published on the Ontario Curling Council website on 6 August 2016. Come September many active U18 curlers will make their way to Universities and Colleges across Ontario to begin their university careers as student-athletes. The majority of these student-athletes are already experienced players, many with several seasons of competitive play behind them and looking forward to continuing their pursuit of high-performance play by trying out for their respective school teams. And that is the subject of this post: what to expect from your school’s curling program when you arrive on campus as a freshman student on Labour Day. University curling in Canada is very competitive, and the calibre of play is high. At the university level, teams must consistently shoot in the 80-85% range in order to be successful. This past season, the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s curling team earned the right to represent Canada at the 2017 World University Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan by winning
Blocked, Distributed, and Random Practice as it Relates to Skill Acquisition in Curling
This article originally appeared on the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks High-Performance website on 27 February 2012. An age-old question in sport is what practice structure yields the best results in relation to effective skill acquisition. This article will define three different practice structures that are referred to as Blocked, Distributed and Random. The answer to this question is critical to all coaches, as they need to structure practices appropriately by selecting technical development drills that are appropriate given the biomotor capabilities of the athletes they are working with, as well as considering such mitigating factors as experience and degree of neuromuscular development. These elements, as well as others, all must be woven into the appropriate tapestry that will lay the foundation for elite athlete development. Blocked Practice refers to practice where one skill is worked on at a time. This skill is worked on until a predetermined level of competence is acquired, and then the coach and athlete move on to the
Applying toe-dip to a curling shoe
This article was originally written on 7 December 2012 and published on the Laurier Golden Hawks High-Performance Curling website. During a curling delivery the trailing (hack) leg can produce such significant drag that it can impact the ability of the curler to achieve what coach Bill Tschirhart calls an optimal “window of velocity” during the slide, and hence can impact both the speed and accuracy of the curling stone. Consequently, many curling shoes arrive from the manufacturer (Asham, Goldline, Balance Plus) with a toe coating on the hack shoe, made from a tough, hard resin that has a much lower coefficient of friction on the ice than leather. That toe coating is commonly referred to as a “toe dip” and in this article I will illustrate how to apply a toe dip to a shoe that doesn’t have one from the manufacturer. In this case, I’ll apply a toe dip using “Tuff Toe” onto a pair of two-tone Asham “Slam”
A preliminary investigation into knifing
On the afternoon of February 19, 2026 I met with Sean Maw and his research team from the University of Saskatchewan, along with Rob Gordon from World Curling, at the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon, SK to conduct some preliminary work into the brushing tactic of knifing, and to continue a profiling survey of a selection of Nutana’s curling stones. Curling stone profiling One of the many variables to be considered when doing on-ice testing of curling equipment – particularly brushes – is the characteristics of the curling stones being used in the tests: both mass and the roughness of their running bands. Mass is trivial to measure with a standard weigh scale; but having a quantitative measure of a stone’s running band requires a surface roughness profilometer, such as the Mitutoyo SJ-410. The video at right illustrates the output of the SJ-410 on a single path across a curling stone’s running band. https://youtu.be/2dFJ8JxPm_g To produce a profile of a
Delivery analysis clinic – Guelph Curling Club – 15 March 2026
Throwing Rocks Consulting Services Ltd plans to offer a delivery analysis clinic at the Guelph Curling Club on Sunday, March 15 2026 between 6:15pm and 8:15pm. The Guelph Curling Club is located at 816 Woolwich Street in Guelph, Ontario. In addition to an introduction (or review) of delivery analysis fundamentals, participants will gain experience with a delivery analysis setup and its equipment, and with using OnForm’s multi-camera analysis tools with which to analyze a curling delivery. Cost for the clinic is $40. This clinic is targeted towards coaches who work with competitive U15, U18, U20, or adult teams; it is not intended for instructors who work with little rocks or novices to the sport. Participation is limited to 12 coaches and will run only if at least 8 coaches have signed up. To secure your spot, the $40 fee must be paid in advance of the clinic. The fee will be reimbursed if the clinic is cancelled. Additional participants will