{"id":1075,"date":"2011-11-08T21:53:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T02:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glennpaulley.ca\/curling\/?p=1075"},"modified":"2011-11-08T21:53:14","modified_gmt":"2011-11-09T02:53:14","slug":"thoughts-on-the-pre-game-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennpaulley.ca\/curling\/2011\/11\/08\/thoughts-on-the-pre-game-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on the pre-game practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

In contrast to typical bonspiels or club play, each team involved in an Ontario Curling Association event, such as bantam zone playdowns, is entitled to a brief pre-game practice before each game. <\/p>\n

The practice is indeed brief. The 2011-2012 OCA Rules Supplement<\/a>, page 11, in the section entitled “Pre-game Practice”, states:<\/p>\n

\nAll competitions shall allow time for a one minute cooling\/sliding period and a seven (7) minute per team pre-game, organized practice.<\/p>\n

Practice is to be on the sheet of ice where the team is scheduled to play and only with the stones they will be using in the game. Stones cannot be touched during the cooling period.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Seven minutes is an important improvement over the five minutes tried last year during the 2010-2011 season, which, in my view, is too short altogether.<\/p>\n

Because the practice is so short, to be effective it has to be organized.<\/em> Many coaches have strong preferences about how the pre-game practice should be done. What really matters, however, is how well the pre-game practice can work for your rink<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A pre-game practice can have several possible goals, or combinations of goals. These goals include, but are not limited to:<\/p>\n