Resources
This page displays social media posts from Curling Ontario, the Ontario Curling Council, Junior Curling Tour of Ontario, and the Junior Slam Series. In addition, one can view their specific websites or social media pages online. Here are some links:
- Ontario Mixed Doubles Curling Tour on Facebook
- Junior Slam Series on the web and on Facebook
- Ontario Curling Tour
- The OCC’s Curling in Ontario calendar
- Curling Ontario competitions
- Junior Curling Tour of Ontario, on the web and on Facebook
Rules and Strategy
- Rules of Curling for General Play 2022-2026, published by Curling Canada. Note that the 2022-2026 rules of play include the five-rock FGZ rule, slight changes to the rules surrounding touched running stones, and updates to the rules for mixed doubles.
- Five-rock Free Guard Zone – A positive change for curling by Curling Canada’s Nolan Thiessen.
- A two-minute guide to the sport of curling, produced by Curling Canada.
- Tac-Tic-Tee, a tactics game for curling created by Bob Martin of Rock Science.
- An overview of basic strategy from The Curling School.
Drills
- A package of drills from Curling Canada, sub-divided by the athletes’ LTCD stage.
- A comprehensive package of drills created by Sean Turriff, high-performance Director of the Ontario Curling Council and available on the CurlCoach website.
- Drills to Die For, a set of curling drills compiled by Bill Tschirhart and included in his book, A Pane in the Glass.
- A package of drills from Scottish Curling, with annotations and descriptions set for different age and ability levels.
- The Gauntlet Drill, an article that describes the setup and usage of this well-known drill for diagnosing delivery issues.
- Blocked, Distributed and Random Practice as it Relates to Skill Acquisition in Curling, an article by long-time coach Gary Crossley, devoted to coaches for the development of practice plans for their athletes.
- The Curling Canada Singles app contains a suite of drills stratified by age group (U15, U18, U21, U25+).
- Using lasers in curling, an article that describes the use of lasers in delivery training and the safety in their use.
Brushing
Since early 2014 I have been working with Dr. John Newhook, a long-time curling coach, Professional Engineer, and the Dean of Engineering at Dalhousie University, on studying brushing from a variety of perspectives: brushing’s impact on the trajectory of a curling stone; proper technique to optimize force, ice coverage, and impact on the stone; the technology of instrumented curling brooms; and improving the coaching of brushing within the sport.
Together, John and I have measured approximately 750 athletes over the past ten years, many of them multiple times. While many of the teams we have worked with are junior teams, we have also worked with both men’s and women’s teams who have competed at provincial, national, and international championships.
- Sweeping Secrets, a 2010 article by Scott Arnold of the World Curling Federation on some technical aspects of brushing discovered by the “sweep study” undertaken at the University of Western Ontario.
- Brushing footwork in the open stance
- The research behind instrumented curling brooms, a 2014 article that describes some of the physics behind the game of curling and the need to develop measurement devices to assist coaches in developing better athletes.
- Training tips for dryland brushing footwork practice
- On ice training for brushing footwork
- Dryland Training for Closed Brushing Footwork
- Dryland Training for Open Brushing Footwork
Delivery
- The importance of the preshot routine that describes the necessity for deliberate, consistent pre-shot routines for consistent throwing accuracy.
- Setup – the importance of the slide foot position, an article that illustrates the setup issues that can result when the slide foot is improperly placed before any delivery movement occurs.
Coaching
- Engaging Women and Girls in Sport published by the CAAWS.
- Women in Sport – a UK website devoted to women’s sport and coaching.
- Nutrition for athletes, published and maintained by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.
- A glossary of curling terms, published by Curling Canada.
- Curling, University, and the Student-Athlete – an article about what a freshman student-athlete can expect when they tryout for their university curling program.
A Pane in the Glass
We are pleased to offer several of Bill’s essays on coaching the sport of curling, essays which Bill compiled into his book, A Pane in the Glass, which is available in print from Curling Canada.
Topics include Bill’s famous “Drills to Die For” along with articles on delivery fundamentals, pre-shot routines, ocular dominance, team dynamics, and a wealth of others.
Podcasts
We offer a selection of podcasts that reflect our interests in coaching and specifically in the sport of curling.
All of the podcasts listed can be listened to on our site, or the reader can subscribe to the podcasts directly using their favourite platform, include Apple’s iTunes.
