Trying to Sweep Like the Elites
Amateur Curlers Sweeping
After spending the weekend in DC for the Kayser I had the pleasure of watching an awful lot of elite curling on TSN piped into the clubhouse. Between that and watching the Brier online this week I’ve been trying to see what the elites do differently that maybe I could pick up. Clearly my delivery needs work but I also thought maybe I could improve my sweeping. I tried to keep an eye on where they are in relation to the stone, where they grip the broom, the angles, the motions, etc. After winning our Monday league game (and not being able to lift my right arm above my shoulder on Tuesday) I feel like I was either doing something right… or wrong.
So here’s what I did. My upper hand gripped like I was holding a remote control such that the end of the broom was at my elbow. My other hand was gripping the top of the broom with that arm out stretched. I kept the broom at a 45 degree angle and swept with the broom head parallel to the direction of travel. I tried to get my body as horizontal as possible and put most of my weight on the lower hand while using the upper arm to actually do the sweeping. I still kept my gripper on but tried to shuffle step my feet to stay with the rock instead of walking.
Elite Curlers Sweeping
Here’s where I think I went wrong. First, I’m an amateur. Not only am I new, but I’m not in nearly as good of shape as I should. So I hope to spend the off-season doing both interval cardio training, and some arm strengthening. In the short term I really need to find some good stretches. I don’t know why I’m having difficultly raising the one arm up but I’ll bet more strength and flexibility would help.
What are your favorite tips and tricks to get the most out of sweeping?
How do you stretch your arms before a game?
What do you do to stay in shape in the off season?
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