A Pane in the Glass
Bill Tschirhart's A Pane in the Glass
Bill Tschirhart has been involved in coaching the sport of curling for many years. I was first introduced to Bill in 1990 when he was coach of the University of Waterloo varsity curling teams. Since then, Bill has held coaching positions provincially and nationally, coached at both national and international events, and at one time was Curling Canada’s national development coach at the Curling Canada’s National Training Centre (NTC) in Calgary.
Over the years Bill has published a number of articles about coaching the sport of curling, both in print media and on the web, and in addition launched an online blog a number of years ago. Bill recently retired to the community of Grand Bend, ON on the shores of Lake Huron.
Most recently, Bill has taken “A Pane in the Glass” to the airwaves, and now runs a podcast of the same name available on most platforms (see below).
Several of Bill’s many individual articles can be still found on the internet. However, in 2010 Bill published a compendium [1] of selected articles, along with additional material from other contributors who include:
- Bob Comartin, now retired, of Curling Canada’s Performance Enhancement team;
- Wendy Morgan, former Canadian national Wheelchair curling team manager and coach;
- Toby Macdonald, national coach and 1976 Brier champion from Newfoundland;
- Lindsay Sparkes, former Canadian national coach and Olympic medallist (with skip Linda Moore in 1988 at the Calgary games);
- and several other contributors including Bill’s daughter Susan.
Collectively the volume is called A Pane in the Glass: A Coach’s Companion and the book has an enormous wealth of material for coaches of all levels. The book consists of 298 pages of packed material, along with an Appendix with diagrams, drills (from “Drills to Die For“), scoring sheets, and other useful coaching material.
Regrettably, the book is no longer available in print form. Readers who are interested in acquiring a complete copy of the book in PDF format can email Bill and, in consideration, make a donation to the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.
We are pleased to provide here, with Bill’s permission, a selection of his many articles from A Pane in the Glass in downloadable PDF.
Articles from A Pane in the Glass
A Pane in the Glass Podcast
Recently Bill has moved to the airwaves to bring his coaching expertise to his listeners through another channel. His podcast, naturally entitled “A Pane in the Glass Podcast”, is available on iTunes, Amazon, and a variety of other platforms. His most recent pods appear below.Â
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Summer Read #1
by Coach Bill on July 13, 2026 at 1:00 amIn this episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" I begin the narration of "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbitt. Like the two children's stories I also narrated ("He Sweeps, He Scores" and "The Search For Delicious") they are for young people on holiday, who might a story expertly crafted for them. "Tuck Everlasting" is just such a story and it's for young people getting ready for the next stage of their life journey. This episode repeats the short prologue from last week's episode and begins the story with chapters one, two & three. Parents and grandparents, this is an excellent story to hear together with those young family members and friends!It’s your turn! Send me your thoughts by texting here!
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Pebble Water 23.5
by Coach Bill on July 7, 2026 at 1:00 pm
In this episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" I briefly talk about "frustrations" and "distractions" and then introduce the episodes for the remainder of the summer months. It's another narrated story by the same author who wrote "The Search For Delicious" (S5E5) Natalie Babbitt. This summer time story is "Tuck Everlasting" which poses the question: if you had the opportunity to live forever, would you? The answer may not be as obvious as you might think. In this episode I will begin the story with the Prologue with can be found at the 1415 mark in "Chapters". Enjoy!It’s your turn! Send me your thoughts by texting here!
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Pebble Water 23.0
by Aylex on June 28, 2026 at 2:00 pm
In this "Pebble Water 23.0" episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" you will hear an email from a regular listener (Leslie Gerard) who has some thing to say about soccer/football now that the games of World Cup 2026 have begun. There is a followup sound bite from a Canadian who is not happy about the cultural demise of "Hockey Night In Canada". Trust will be centre stage in a sound bite by Simon Sinek. His message goes out to anyone in a leadership role in sports or any other aspect of life. The episode will conclude with sound bites by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the well known astrophysicist and Billy Crystal, actor and baseball fan. You may wish to make use of the chapter markers (above) to locate that portion of the episode that particularly interests you or return to a portion that you wish to hear again. It’s your turn! Send me your thoughts by texting here!
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The End Of An Era
by Coach Bill on June 20, 2026 at 4:00 am
In this episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" I stop the presses for an announcement by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) that "Hockey Night In Canada" will no longer be bringing Saturday night hockey to television sets in Canada for the first time in almost 100 years (if you count the early years on radio). Today's episode will take a look at those years of HNIC from four perspectives, that of the CBC's official on air announcement, a sports talk show in the U.S., a reflection of one John Shannon who for many years was involved in the production of HNIC and lastly the accounting by a sport journalist on the economics of the CBC's decision. You may wish to use the chapter markers above these show notes to go to specific locations in the episode based upon the descriptions of the four points of view. It’s your turn! Send me your thoughts by texting here!
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One-On-One With John
by Coach Bill on June 14, 2026 at 8:00 pm
In today's episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" I talk with American curler John Benton about curling of course but more importantly about an addiction challenge that came ever so close to ending John's life. It’s your turn! Send me your thoughts by texting here!
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Coaching Scholastic Athletes (part 2)
by Coach Bill on June 7, 2026 at 4:00 am
In this second episode of "Coaching Scholastic Athletes" we hear from a Canadian soccer player who played for the Cornhuskers of Nebraska and now plays professionally in Canada for the Ottawa Rapid. Her name is Sadie Waite and she was joined in this episode by her grandfather Jim Waite who has set a scholastic coaching record in Canada. We talk about the differences between the U.S. and Canada from the perspective of an athlete and coach.It’s your turn! Send me your thoughts by texting here!
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Coaching Scholastic Athletes
by Coach Bill on May 30, 2026 at 11:00 am
In this first of a two episode series, we take a look at coaching scholastic athletes in the United States which is very different from the college athletic programmes in Canada (& perhaps in your part of the world if you are not living in North America). Episode two as you might guess will switch the focus to Canada which includes a chat with a long time and very successful college coach in the person of Jim Waite and his granddaughter Sadie who established a highly successful scholastic soccer career as a Corn Husker which means she played at Nebraska but now plays professionally in Ottawa for the Northern Super League's Ottawa Rapid. It’s your turn! Send me your thoughts by texting here!
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It's Why We Play The Games (part 2)
by Coach Bill on May 23, 2026 at 4:00 pm
In this episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" we conclude the topic of "Why We Play The Games" (as we did in the first episode through the lens of wheel chair curling). That first episode left us at the conclusion of the 2026 Canadian Wheel Chair Championship. Now Chris Daw must reflect and make decisions about synthesizing that which was learned to move the yard sticks down the field to prepare for the future, not only for his team, but for himself. As I express in the episode, there's much to take from Chris' words into your situation and sport whatever that may be. As with most episodes a transcript is available which some of you might find useful! It’s your turn! Send me your thoughts by texting here!