Curling

EDMONTON -- It's no longer men or women with brooms. Canada's elite curlers also have motion-capture cameras, high-tech suits and biometric research at their fingertips.

The rocks haven't changed. The stones are made of ailsite - a type of granite found on the Ailsa Craig, an island off the coast of Scotland. And there have been only occasional rule changes and improvements in brooms.

But the sport is no longer low-tech and Canadian curlers have used all the electronic help at their disposal to grab an edge going into the Vancouver Olympics.

The latest place where curlers can hone their skills is the new National Training Centre, based at the University of Alberta's Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton.

The centre is focused on the development of high-performance athletes and incorporates advanced training procedures as well as some research into the sport of curling.

"It's like being the head pro at Pebble Beach,'' head coach Rob Krepps told The Canadian Press as he proudly gave a tour of the centre. "I'm a self-professed curling geek, I'm like a kid in the candy store.''

"Giving us an advantage in Vancouver? Well that's the plan,'' he chuckled.
"This whole thing is about trying to help Canada gain and maintain an advantage on the international competitors that we will face in the Olympics or in the world championships. I think our athletes have definitely bought into that and know we're trying to help them be the best they can possibly be.''

There is also a National Training Centre at the Calgary Winter Club but this facility has a few more bells and whistles including two designated sheets of ice just for training and research.

"Sheet 1 is surrounded by motion capture cameras. It all comes to this on-ice workstation,'' he said pointing to a large computer work station.

"Those cameras there - are motion capture camera and infrared technology and similar to the technology used to build video games. That is what we use for the research part of what we do here. It's all linked up with 12 video cameras for a total of 20 cameras on the sheet.''

The cameras provide three different views of the curlers as they deliver the rock. It can be slowed down frame-by-frame in order to let the athlete determine what they are doing wrong or right with their delivery.

It is also possible to have a curler don a special suit complete with sensors and turn the entire visual into a three-dimensional representation on the computer.

"You get almost immediate feedback, right? And a picture is worth a thousand words so sometimes I don't have to say a word and they know what they have to do, go throw another one and then come back to see if it's any better.''

This is a busy place. A number of Canada's top curlers use the facility on a regular basis although some need the technology less than others.

"Our whole team has definitely used it,'' said Olympic men's skip Kevin Martin.

"My in-turn I usually get it locked in but the out-turn sometimes I tend to overrotate,'' he added. "It's really hard to know what you're doing unless you see it. With the stuff at the Saville, I don't know how many cameras there are but you can see every angle of your hand and how you're releasing it.''

Krepps said about 40 national team athletes come up to the centre, especially in the summer months. He said obviously Martin doesn't need any coaching help.

"It's about trying to help the athletes in the way they want to be helped. In Kevin's case they just want us to provide a real good ice surface for them and that's what we do,'' Krepps said.

It's the ice surface that prompts skip Cheryl Bernard, who is also Vancouver-bound, to make the drive up from Calgary.

"It's the ice that is the key because you need to simulate arena ice especially for the women. We don't get to play on it as much as the men,'' said Bernard, who like Martin is past the point of needing more coaching.

"Maybe when you're old and cagey and know what you do and exactly how you throw. We're the way we are,'' she said with a laugh.

Sheet 1 at the training centre is also being used by the training centre and the University of Alberta to research the biomechanics of a curling stone's delivery and what happens with the line, weight and rotation of the rock as well as an analysis of the mechanics of sweeping the stone.

"The technology that we have there has really been a benefit
to us because all of a sudden some of the more experienced players are actually impressed by the technology because they get to see themselves and they can self correct,'' explained Gerry Peckham, the Canadian Curling Association's director of high performance.

"They can self-coach and they can self-adjust but there's nothing quite like seeing it on film to give you the difference between real and feel.''

Although the Saville Centre was once open to curlers from all nations, that isn't the case now.

"This is one of Canada's national training centres, so that's part of the bargain when you are set up and supported by the Canadian Curling Association,'' said Krepss.

"There was a time a number of years back where international curlers came through this facility on a regular basis but it's pretty much now reserved for our top Canadian athletes."