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GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT // TRAINING TIPS FROM JON Never take basics for granted By Jon Mielke, Curling News columnist


Fla. Te program ran in conjunction with the 2016 National Championships and was funded by a grant from the World Curling Federation (WCF). It featured renowned Canadian instruc- tor and coach Bill Tschirhart and WCF represen- tative Scott Arnold. Some of the top coaches in the country signed up to attend – a real testimo- nial to the presenters and the agenda. Te symposium was designed for non-begin-


I


ner coaches who work with higher level athletes. During one of his presentations, Coach Tsch- irhart talked about an athlete getting into the hack and having “SFT” in his/her mind. Te letters stand for “See the shot, Feel the shot, and Trust both the call and your ability to make the shot.” Pre-shot visualization increases the likeli- hood of success. It is an additional part of a pre- shot routine that goes beyond cleaning the stone, aligning things to the skip’s broom, etc. It is important to remember, however, that a


shooter cannot focus on “SFT” if he/she has poor balance, misalignment, or a faulty grip/release, etc. But, if all of these delivery components are solid and a part of every shot, it allows players to free their minds and lets them focus on things like precision weight. It sounds like a contradiction, but a really


good player has to be able to take certain things for granted. But, at the end of the day, they can- not take them for granted. During practice ses- sions, they have to go back to the basics to ensure that they are solid and can be trusted to be there during the heat of battle.


n February I had the opportunity to par- ticipate in the coaching symposium of- fered by USA Curling in Jacksonville,


On a similar note, Dave Jensen, a personal


friend, a terrific instructor and coach, and pretty darn good curler, was hired as a USA Curling na- tional coach last summer and ultimately helped the U.S. junior women’s team earn a world silver medal. I was anxious to talk to Dave aſter one of his


first trips to the National Training Site for Curl- ing in Blaine, Minn., last fall to work with some of USA Curling’s High Performance Program athletes. When he got home, I asked him what he had to offer participants. Dave said they started by looking at each


player’s line of delivery and worked toward team consistency, thereby making the skip’s job of calling line easier. From there he worked with each player on things that he/she might want to look at. Resulting adjustments would hopefully allow each individual to feel more confident as they step into the hack and might also give the skip more confidence that the player could make whatever shot the situation called for. Once again, even for High Performance Program ath- letes, there are some basic things that you just can’t take for granted. On a third, final, and still related note, I had


the extreme pleasure of working with a junior girls team, ages 14 and 15, during the past sea- son.


It wasn’t always easy because we live 175


miles apart (Bismarck and Devils Lake, N.D.), plus they do not have early ice in Devils Lake,, so we had to look elsewhere for ice time. We made three trips to Manitoba for early season bonspiels and had practice sessions in Grand Forks and Bismarck before the girls got home ice to play on. At the end of the day, the girls may have been happy to see the season end and they probably


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think that I am a one-trick pony. Besides things like strategy discussions, team communication, sweeping, etc., almost everything that we did during the season related to the ABCs of a good delivery (alignment, balance, and curl (grip, turn, and release)). We worked on making those components of their deliveries so solid that they could almost take them for granted, thereby free- ing them to focus on finer things during their deliveries. It is a little bit like the movie “Karate Kid” – wax on and wax off. If I have the pleasure of working with the girls


again next season, there will be no surprises re- garding where we will start and what will be a regular part of every practice session. Te goal is always to get so good at the ABCs that you can take them for granted, but always knowing that you can never really take them for granted. Tat is always the case, regardless of whether you are a new, intermediate, or high performance curler. Until next time, have a good summer and


maybe play in a summer ‘spiel – just for fun. Bis- marck’s summer ‘spiel is July 14-17 (http://www. capitalcurlingclub.org/). Good Curling! Q (Mielke is a Level III instructor and a Level


III coach. He is a member of Bismarck’s Capital Curling Club and a 2012 inductee into USA Curl- ing’s Hall of Fame. His previous articles are avail- able online at: USA Curling – Media – Curling News – Columnists – Jon Mielke).


6 )) usacurl.org


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