In this episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" I pay a visit to the home of APITGP's sponsor, Canada Curling Stone  Co. in Komoka, ON. With me in this episode is the managing general of CCS, Fred Veale and his daughter, Kim Tuck. Fred has forgotten more about curling stones than I'll ever know! This episode is the companion to the previous one with national ice technician, Jon Wall. Apparently those of you out there who listen to APITGP did so with enthusiasm regarding "What's The Ice Telling Us?". There were more downloads of Jon's episode in the first 24-48 hours of publication than any other, and by a long shot. This episode with Fred & Kim I confident will be just as popular.
And, there's a bonus with this episode as Kim (along with husband Wayne) are an elite mixed doubles team. I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to chat with Kim about curling's newest, and possibly fastest growing curling discipline!

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Today's episode in "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" is about our playing surface. There are few if any other sports where the understanding of and interaction with the playing surface plays such a major role in performance. To help us learn more about curling ice, I have invited a national ice technician to join us in the person of Jon Wall. If you're an active curler or someone who watches the game played on TV, you will enhance your experience by listening to someone who creates our playing surface and not just for those TV events, but also for the understanding of the ice upon which most of us play in our local curling facility. 

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In this episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" we take another, more in depth look at "concussions". My guest again in this episode is our "Safe Sport Consultant", Jenn Ferris. If you're rolling your eyes thinking that a concussion is highly unlikely in curling, you may change your mind after hearing what Jenn has to say!
At the conclusion of the episode, I once again invite my listeners to send comments and/or questions ([email protected]) for a "Mail Bag" episode. If I can't answer your question, it's more than likely I know someone who can so please, send me lots of comments and questions!!!

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This episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" sheds light on a situation in sport whereby coaches, hopefully very few in number, have taken advantage of their position of influence over their athletes. The result has been forms of abuse and harassment and some of it with very young athletes. For this episode I contacted Jenn Ferris who is extremely knowledgeable about this topic and has participated in a number of coach education programmes with the goal of stemming the tide of unthinkable abuse of the trust that we all have as coaches when we are in a position of influence not only over the skills of athletes, but their very lives. 

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This episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" clearly falls into the unusual category. The  best way to describe it is by referring to it as a podcast version of an audio book. The book is a wonderful story for young people, by my friend from Newfoundland & Labrador, Jean Blackie. The title seems somewhat contradictory in that the word "sweeps" in the title doesn't quite seem to fit. One might expect the word "shoots", as in hockey. Well, that's the whole point of the story. It is about hockey but it doesn't end solely about hockey. 
The protagonist in the story is a young aspiring hockey player named Shawn. He wants desperately to make the rep. hockey team for a variety of reasons. When he doesn't survive the final cut (and some of his close friends do), his world is turned upside down!
That's when a kindly next door neighbour enters the story, suggesting that Shawn give curling a try. After much sole searching he does just that and to his surprise, his hockey playing friends also discover that hockey isn't the only winter sport to play.
I initially wanted to publish this podcast audio book at Christmas as my gift to young people but I chose this time of year as many aspiring hockey players will have found themselves in the same situation as Shawn. It's in the months of late September and early October that "rep. hockey teams" are established from tryouts. If you know of a boy or girl, who like Shawn, didn't make the team, suggest they listen to "He Sweeps, He Scores". 
The chapters have been recorded by author Jean Blackie and yours truly! 
This episode is dedicated to my grandsons, Lucas & Jacob Tschirhart (stars of S1E1 & S1E25 of “A Pane In The Glass Podcast”) who know all too well what Shawn went through when they tried out for their rep. hockey team ! 

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This episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" comes from the Capital Winter Club in Fredericton, NB. Established in 1961, this curling facility has become one of the most impactful in the land. Its vision, programmes and dedication have, with the help of two individuals you will meet on the episode, have made it that way. Jaime Watson & Wayne Tallon  join me to describe the journey to make the  CWC the place to be in New Brunswick's capital city! 
Your curling facility may take some of those initiatives and ideas to your facility to also make it the place to be in your community. 
I also followup on an excellent question a listener posed to me regarding the last episode on "Eye Dominance" so stay tuned to the conclusion of this episode to hear Vinay Goenke's question and my response.

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This episode in the "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" series is a followup to S1E9 ("It's Our Signature Skill") and as such, I'm strongly encouraging you to listen to that episode or revisit it before listening to this one. Eye dominance is critically important from a technical perspective as it dictates how the athlete will "see" his/her target. We coach and instruct a hand/eye co-ordinated sport. To ignore eye dominance may leave those who  entrust their signature skill (the delivery of the curling stone) to us, wanting! The antidote is in the understanding of how eye dominance in the delivery of a curling stone affects the performance of that skill!

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This episode of "A Pane In The Glass Podcast" is for the members of the Grand Cove Lawn Bowling Club but by extension, for all lawn bowlers (and curlers). It's about the most impactful time of the season to consider changes to one's lawn bowl delivery (or curling delivery). Spoiler Alert, it's not at the start of the season!

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This episode is an interview with Paul & Anita Tardi and their journey with sons Jordan & Tyler as they traveled from novice curlers to now playing on elite adult teams.  Paul & Anita share the ups, the downs, the triumphs, the losses but most importantly, helpful hints to any and all parents who want to be a part of their son or daughter's development. 
Have note paper and a writing instrument ready! You don't want to miss a word, a wise and experienced word, from Paul & Anita.

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This episode is for parents and coaches of junior age athletes! It's the first episode of two, examining the role coaches and parents play in the development of athletes at this stage of their development. In this episode I update an article from my blog site (truenorthbill.blogspot.com) of the same title and I include an article written by an ER physician who does not mince any words for parents of young athletes ( buckle your chin strap for that part of the episode)!
The companion episode will be a conversation with parents who have been there, done that and have the T-shirt! Look for that episode next week!

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