What else is happening in the world of WC curling?

Training camp in Italy!

Nine key survival tips for coaches!

1. Don’t expect to be an overnight success – Winning consistently is not a matter of luck, nor is staying in coaching for a decade or more. Both require commitment and hard work.
2. Don’t take it too seriously – It is true; it is just a game. Tom Seaver said it best, “The good players feel the kind of love for the game that they did when they were little leaguers.” And although as coaches we want to do our best, many of us are guilty of taking our work too seriously.
3. Don’t promise more than you can deliver – The quickest and surest way out of town is to tell everyone within earshot that you’re going to win it all this year, and every game along the way. Championships and undefeated seasons are more easily talked about than achieved. In the poet Robert Frost’s words, we have “promises to keep,” but we also have “miles to go before (we) sleep.” And depending upon how much we promised, sometimes those miles can be very long indeed.
4. Don’t try to do all of the work yourself – Simply put, find dependable people to do part of your work for you. Prolonged overwork can create a state of mental, physical, and emotional fatigue that saps your energy and drags you down like a case of walking pneumonia.
5. Try to space out your work – Even in the best of situations, the demands of coaching  will consume most of your time from mid-October through April. If you work at it, you may be able to ease your preseason and in-season burden somewhat by working on various aspects of your program during the off-season.
6. Be organized – One way to be organized is to file everything. If you’re familiar with Murphy’s Law, you know that two days after you throw something away, you need it again. The solution is, of course, not to throw it away in the first place. File it. And so you can find it in your files, use key words in your headings. Don’t file everything under C for “curling” just because you’re a curling coach. Another aspect of organization is to approach your coaching and your busy work as well, in terms of priorities. What sort of priorities? Well, a clogged drain in the dressing room is one kind of priority. Dealing with players’ problems is another and usually a high priority, too, except during practice and games, in which case dealing with problem players might be a higher priority.
7. Evaluate everything and USE your evaluations – Coaches are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of their basketball programs. If you as a coach hope to achieve your potential in a given situation, you should strive to monitor the progress of every phase of your program. This means taking time out after daily practices to sit down and evaluate your drills, time allotments, and so on. Recording those evaluations in writing so you won’t forget them. In like manner, after games you should evaluate the effectiveness of your game plans and scouting reports, noting problem areas and jotting down ideas that might work next time you play that opponent. You should also periodically evaluate yourself, your assistants, your team,your program and your goals, including your progress towards them.
8. Teach curling fundamental skills – This may seem to be a silly thing to say, but it is not. Nowadays, new players through the pros are so deficient in basic skills and strategy. The fundamentals situation is  bad: Your team will look well coached if you can teach your players one skill, namely, assuming and maintaining an effective strategy. The other basic skills to learn is the fundamentals of the follow through on delivery. 
9. Learn to communicate effectively – Teaching is communication; so is motivation. You cannot teach or motivate effectively unless you develop an approach to communication that is as precise and internally consistent as your game plans and practice schedules. Make no mistake of it, the ability to communicate effectively is the single most important coaching skill you can possess. And because it is a learned skill, you can master the art of communicating—and teaching and motivating as well—by laying the groundwork that will ensure its effectiveness in any coaching situation.

Submitted by A. Duel

Alberta Provincials are under way! (Updated)

Alberta provincials are under this weekend in Edmonton at the Jasper Place Curling Club. 

Team Smart is trying for it's 10th provincial title. 

Final standings after the round robin at Wheelchair Provincials:

Smart 2 - 0
Graves 1 - 1
Kuchelyma 0 - 2.

Graves and Kuchelyma play the semi-final at 3pm MST today. The winner plays us in the final tomorrow at 11am MDT.

Parking necessity for disabled, says woman

Bonnie Belec

Published on March 04, 2015

Advocacy group, government announce awareness campaign

Cecilia Carroll can manoeuvre around a sheet of ice with ease, but when it’s piled up in a blue zone the curling lead says she doesn’t bother to get out of her car.

© — Photo by Rhonda Hayward/The Telegram

Blue-zone parking is essential for people like Cecilia Carroll, lead on Team Newfoundland and Labrador in Canadian Wheelchair Curling. But when the parking zone is full of ice, if it’s not marked or maintained properly or if it’s being misused by someone who doesn’t have a disabled parking permit — then that’s a problem for Carroll and the hundreds of other people with disabilities who rely on the Blue Zones for parking. So the provincial government and advocacy groups are trying doing something about it.

“I don’t think people understand just how vital it is for me to be able to park here as opposed to all the way over there through all the ice and snow to get to the ramp,” she said, pointing across the parking lot.

Carroll, the 2014 lead on team Newfoundland and Labrador in the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship, was at the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities-Newfoundland and Labrador (COD-NL) Wednesday for the launch of an accessible parking education and awareness campaign.

“To maintain my independence as an individual is extremely important,” she said.

“I don’t want to have to have somebody take me everywhere I need to go. I’m quite capable of doing it on my own. I just need a place to park, my chair and off I go,” said Carroll.

Service NL Minister Tony Cor­nect and Kelly White, executive director for COD-NL, said one of the goals of the campaign is to  make businesses and organizations aware of the significance of having visible, accessible blue zone parking.

“Accessibility is vital in supporting inclusion, and blue zone parking is a key element to making our built environment accessible to all persons with disabilities, as it affects their mobility,” said White.

“We want to help businesses and municipalities understand the regulations and the best practices for them and have people with disabilities have the choice of where they work, go to school, socialize and shop,” she said.

The partnership began in 2012 and involves brochures for business owners, pamphlets for accessible parking permit holders and presentations to organizations.

It is designed to promote education and awareness of the proper designation of accessible parking, including the correct installation of signage and dimensions of spaces, as well as the proper use of the parking permit.

Service NL is responsible for the enforcement of accessible parking regulations.

“The legislation is vital to ensuring the health and well-being of persons with disabilities and operates with their best interests in mind with respect to safety, accessibility and convenience,” said Cornect.

The minister said the government strengthened the requirements in 2012 regarding the proper identification of spaces and increased the fines for parking in blue zones without a permit.

“We know through inspections and blitzes, a number of businesses have complied and done so quickly and we know others have struggled to comply,” said Cornect.

“This campaign and outreach will hopefully increase awareness and help those become fully compliant and we will continue to combat careless parking and obstruction of spaces,” he said.

White said part of the campaign includes a pamphlet for permit holders to explain their responsibilities as users of blue zones.

“Permit holders have to understand their obligations. They are only to be used by permit holders and are not transferrable to friends and family. We want people to understand it is not a privilege, it is a right,” she said.

The brochure and pamphlet can be viewed at codnl.ca and servicenl.gov.ca/licenses/building/index.html.

bbelec@thetelegram.com

Fines for violations under the Buildings Accessibility Act:

•Corporations — $1,000 to $25,000;

•Individual Owners — $500 to $5,000; and

•$200 to $2,000 per day for each day the offence continues beyond the time specified to have it corrected.

 Some guidelines for accessible parking permit holder:

•The permit is issued to the person who requires it, not to a specific vehicle.

•Only one permit is issued per person.

 •The permit can be used in any vehicle that the permit holder is a passenger in.

•It is illegal to use a permit not issued to you.

 •A permit must be displayed in the windshield of a vehicle occupying a designated accessible parking space.

•For proper identification, the permit number and expiry date must be visible.

Dundee, Ewan, Neilson, Denholm, Donaldson, Webstar, Hogg win on opening day of Scottish Wheelchair Curling Championship

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Laura Hale in Wheelchair curling, Winter sports // 0 Comments

With the Scottish Wheelchair Curling Championship underway today in Stirling, teams of Dundee, Ewan, Neilson, Denholm, Donaldson, Webster and Hogg have come away with wins.

 In the first matches of the day in Section A, Denhold drew 4 – 4 with Dewar in 6 ends. Donaldson drew 5 – 5 with Malone. Ewan had the only win in Section A in the first session with an 8 – 3 win over Harvey in seven ends.

 In the first matches of the day in Section B, Hogg drew 5 – 5 with McPherson. Neilson crushed Webster 5 – 19 in six ends. They scored 5 points in the first, third and fourth end, and then added 4 more in the sixth end. Webstar scored 3 in the second and 2 in the fifth. Dundee beat Hatten in the last draw for Section B in the first matches, winning 7 – 1. Hatten did not manage to get their point until the final end.

 In the afternoon session in Section A, Ewan beat Malone 7 – 3. Denholm beat Harvey 6 – 4 after scoring 2 points in the final end. Donaldson beat Dewar 5 – 3, coming from beind 2 – 3 in the fifth end to claim victory.

 In the afternoon session in Section B, Webster beat McPherson 4 – 2. Neilson had another large win after beating Dundee 13 – 1. Dundee took an early 1 – 0 lead after the first end, but Neilson then went to score 1 in the second, 4 in the third, 2 in the fourth, 3 in the fifth and 3 in the sixth. Hogg put away Hatten 9 – 1.

 In section A, the Harvey team includes Alex Harvey, David Bain, Mary Bell, and David Telfer. The Ewan team is composed of Gregor Ewan, Jim Gault, Tom Killin, and Jim Sellar. Malone side includes Angie Malone, Hugh Nibloe, Daniel Cowan, and Gill Keith. Donaldson team is composed of Ian Donaldson, Arthur Bell, David Morgan, and Val Watt. The Dewar side has Douglas Dewar, Jonny Boy,Phil Heron, and Irene Hainey. The Denholm team is composed David Denholm, Alison Cloudsley, Michael Greaves-MacIntosh, and Helen Turner.

 In section B, the Neilson side includes Aileen Neilson, Michael McCreadie, Alison Hopkins, and Alan Hopkins. The Webster side features Paul Webster, Dave Wightman, Gordon Rainey, and Anglea Higson. The Mcpherson team includes Robert McPherson, John Doyle, Debbie McKenna, and Stevie Law. The Hogg side includes Neil Hogg, Charlotte McKenna, Maria Duncan, and Leslie Barr. The Hatten side includes David Leeson, Ross Hatten, Mark Roy, and Martin Elliott. The Dundee side includes Elizabeth Ferris, Jay O’Reilly, and Michael Mellon.

Relive worlds with the video on demand archive!

Video on demand archive

• The archived games are available for the time being but can be removed without prior notice.
• You can download the games to your computer with the link provided.
• You'll need a Flash Video (FLV) compliant media player (e.g. VLC player or FLV-player) to watch the videos from your own computer.

Date
20.02.2015	Kiiskinen vs. Anttila
20.02.2015	Kiiskinen vs. Sullanmaa
20.02.2015	Puustinen vs. Malmi (1)
20.02.2015	Puustinen vs. Malmi (2)
20.02.2015	Rantamäki vs. Uusipaavalniemi
20.02.2015	Wickström vs. Juhász
15.02.2015	Kiiskinen vs. Kauste (1)
15.02.2015	Kiiskinen vs. Kauste (2)
15.02.2015	Puustinen vs. Hellsten (1)
15.02.2015	Puustinen vs. Hellsten (2)
15.02.2015	Sullanmaa vs. Kauste
15.02.2015	Wickström vs. Puustinen (1)
15.02.2015	Wickström vs. Puustinen (2)
15.02.2015	Wickström vs. Puustinen (3)
14.02.2015	Kiiskinen vs. Saarelainen ja Sullanmaa vs. Anttila
14.02.2015	Kiiskinen vs. Sullanmaa (1)
14.02.2015	Malmi vs. Hellsten
13.02.2015	Kauste vs. Sullanmaa
13.02.2015	WWhCC 2015: RUS-CHN
12.02.2015	WWhCC 2015: FIN-SVK
11.02.2015	WWhCC 2015: FIN-SCO
11.02.2015	WWhCC 2015: RUS-GER
10.02.2015	WWhCC 2015: FIN-USA and CAN-NOR
09.02.2015	WWhCC 2015: GER-SVK
09.02.2015	WWhCC 2015: SWE-RUS

Wheelchair Curling Coming to Meaford

Wheelchair Curling Coming to Meaford

Monday, 02 March 2015 

On Saturday, March 14th a very rare event will be coming to Meaford Curling Club, when they host a wheelchair curling bonspiel sponsored by the Ontario Curling Association.

For those who have never seen wheelchair curling, and even for those who have, this promises to be an interesting day worth watching, so if you can spare some time to show your support, please feel welcome to come out.

There will be contests in both the morning and the afternoon. The bar will be open from 11:00 am, and there will also be a 50/50 draw in support of our own Meaford Hospital Foundation.