What a show this week! We talk with Kerri Einarson who just repeated as Scotties Champion and then speak with Brendan Bottcher who's been to the last 3 Brier Finals. We discuss the challenges of a tournament in the bubble. You won't believe the hassle that Kerri had with her drivers' licence. Reviewing the fitness level of team Einarson. Will there be a women's world championship? We review some key moments in the Scotties' final. How Kerri embraced being Team Canada and not putting pressure on themselves. Then Brendan gets into his preparations for the Brier and the various challenges he's expecting, starting this weekend.
We discuss the Scotties and how it's going so far. Curling Canada has done an amazing job of getting the Scotties off the ground during these challenging times. Kevin gives us an update on the ice conditions in Calgary, how the stones have been a little inconsistent and how they've been sanded twice during the week already. Kevin and Warren share their memories of the first time they qualified for the Brier. The fellas share some thoughts about the Brad Jacobs team - their thoughtfulness and their intensity in competition. The impact of Sandra Schmirler on the women's game and how her impact continues and grows today. Tanner Horgan joins us with a young curler's take on the state of curling in Canada and the 3 changes he'd like to see. Kevin has the full schedule of curling events that will be held in Calgary. He also discusses the challenge of getting advertising logos out of the ice before the next big event begins. And Warren has our weekly poll question.
Our guest is Helen Radford, Curling Canada Manager of Youth Curling and NextGen. We discuss the state of youth curling in Canada including: - Curling Canada's new U15 Rockfest and the NextGen program which helps lay the foundation for Canada's future champions. - Are doubles and triples the key to keeping our top young athletes in the sport? - How do get we exposure to curling added to school curriculums - Are there enough good coaches to instruct kids - Curling Canada is working with at least a couple of apps under development. Also, which teams will qualify for the final 8 of the Scotties, which starts this week. Plus an interesting Facebook group debate on the Inside Curling page.
Former Curling Canada Chair John Shea joins us on the show. John and Kevin get into a great back and forth about players having a louder, younger, and objective voice at Curling Canada. We discuss what's happening with qualifications for the Olympics trials. Warren has the results of our poll: How many teams should be playing off for the National Mixed Doubles title? And we field an interesting question from one of our emailers: Why do we limit rotating positions to just Triples and not do it with standard 4 person curling?
Emma Miskew joins us this week. Emma is part of Team Homan, a three time National Champion and 2017 World Champion. We find out what's been happening with her and discuss preparations and training leading up to this year's Scotties. She discusses the addition of Sarah Wilkes and moving Joanne Courtney to lead. Emma knows it'll be a different Scotties and also hopes there are no injuries with many players going from 0 to 100. She and the fellas also discuss: - Emma's three pieces of great advice for young curlers. - What coach Earle Morris has meant to Team Homan. - Her skip Rachel Homan is due in early April. - Mixed doubles….the prize money improving! - Some fall out from an email in our last show - Warrens weekly Poll: from our Facebook group which is now over 3000 strong...Who's responsible for the promotion of curling in Canada? - The artistry of quickly preparing ice surfaces for curling in multi-sport arenas. - Why cool rocks are crucial - A great email from Amanda Gates, who's played in three Scotties - Our fearless Scotties and Brier predictions
* We're joined by Edmonton's Kelsey Rocque, two-time World Junior Curling Champion. * We learn all about her young career so far, get her thoughts on some of curling's hottest issues and why she won't be at the Scotties (as the nation's 5th ranked team, she certainly should be). * Does Kelsey have any regrets about curling in Alberta despite how hard it is to get out of the province? Hell, no! * Why not have two seasons in junior curling? * What does Kelsey think of triples curling? * What are the biggest challenges she faces in managing the curling club at the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton? * Also, a great email on what needs to change with instruction at the club level, not to mention the fun factor at some clubs. * Poll: The Brier and Scotties will move to 18 teams this year versus 16. Next year, should they move to 20 teams or return to how it used to be? * Should the best junior team get an invitation to the national championships?
We're joined by BC skip Tyler Tardi, who won a record three straight Canadian junior titles and back to back world junior championships! He jumps in on a number of curling topics including: The expansion of this year's field at the Brier and Scotties, going from 16 to 18 teams. We get into why clubs should start allowing more curling variations, like mixed doubles or triples. Kevin has the latest on spiels across the world. The Rules of curling: Warren discusses the history of the hog line rule…and why is it called a hog line? The history of the Purple Heart and our poll on who should receive them, particularly with the new wild card teams being added this year
This week, we're joined by Kamloops skip Corryn Brown, former Canadian Junior Champion, whose team will represent B.C. at the Scotties for a second straight year. We find out about Corryn, her family curling roots, what's going on with her, her team's practice regimen, and changes she'd like to see in the sport. Corryn also jumps in on our discussion about junior curling and changing the qualification strategy. Also, some possible solutions on how we elongate the junior season, which ends so darn early. Warren has all of this week's curling news, including a COVID-19 update, the status of the bubble events in Calgary and more. Kevin talks more about outdoor curling rinks, including which top Canadian players have built their own ODRs to keep up with their training, plus more on the sport Crokicurl. We discuss how the under-25 curling crowd is loving mixed doubles and what everyone loves about Skins Games. Warren tells us a little about the Turner Curling Museum in Weyburn Saskatchewan. Kevin discusses how our national championship needs to stop excluding some of the top teams. For example, if Canada's top 3 ranked teams all happened to be from Alberta, why would you let only one Alberta team compete at the Brier or Scotties? And imagine being one of the top performing teams in the history of your university, yet getting almost no financial help for the school...
In this episode, we discuss: - Given the state of the pandemic, do Canadians want to see Curling proceed with trying to host a bubble event in Calgary? That's one of our poll questions. - Building backyard curling rinks and the sport of Crokicurl — a mashup of crokinole and curling. - Where the money comes from for curling at the national level - Introducing younger players to high level curling Also: - Warren looks back on the curling career of the Golden Girls: Joyce McKee and Vera Helen, four-time Canadian curling champions. - Guess how many curling pins Warren has in his collection? - A club in China has over 5000 members? And: - Team Scotland’s 2021 World Junior coach sends us a note about the cancellation of this year’s World Juniors. And he has some suggestions on what can be done.
19 year old Tyler Powell joins us on the show, part of the next generation of excellent young Canadian curlers and excited to discuss the state of curling. Tyler is a multi-sport athlete and also, among other things, the 2019 Canadian U18 silver medalist. He has some great perspective on what matters to younger curlers and some interesting takes about the sport's current image problem. We also discuss how curling needs to look at further promotion of the sport on social media where the next generation spends so much of their time. Is the future of curling actually mixed doubles? There's an age divide in curling. While there are calls for a change in the structure of championship curling, the majority of the over 40 crowd favour the status quo. Warren and Kevin describe their Zoom meeting last week with a curling club in Belgium. Warren has the latest COVID update while Kevin reports on some of the spiels going on.