Yes, I know, it's been more than awhile since I've
put fingers to keyboard on my blog site. Thank you to the many who have sent
emails and made telephone calls to inquire if I was, well, OK! I doubt I've
never been fully OK, but thanks, I'm fine!
So what's the reason for the no blogs for several
months? I made a deal with myself that I wouldn't write just for the sake of
writing. If there wasn't something to say, I wasn't going to say it! But now
there is and it's time to reach into the electronic mailbag to answer an email
sent from someone for whom I have great respect. His name is John Newhook from
one of my favourite cities in Canada, Halifax. I had the joy of spending an
afternoon with John at the iconic Mayflower CC as he walked me through an
example of his passion and calling, the science of our sport, particularly as
it applies to one of the hot button topics, brushing!
This time the topic was "time outs", when
to call one and indeed if one should be called and, for whatever reason a coach
is called upon to chat with the team during an end, what does one say? What I'm
about to write certainly is not the definitive word on TO's, it's only my take on
the subject so John, buckle that chin strap, let's weigh in.
TO's in the sport of curling are curious animals!
From a coaching perspective, we usually only get two of the them, not counting
the mid-game break. And, calling a TO is something a player must initiate, not
the coach although, according to the rules on the date of publication of this
blog, the coach may signify to his/her athletes that he/she wishes to stop the
game for a brief chat. These rather sporadic opportunities to speak with one's
athletes puts curling into something of a unique position when compared to
other team sports.
If you think of a basketball coach for example,
besides the seemingly endless number of TO's available, most used in the last
minute or two of regulation time, he/she can substitute players in order to
take one aside for some one-on-one counselling, then quickly send the player
back into the fray. Not so in curling. In a curling facility setting, where the
coach is sitting, ahem, behind a pane in the glass (no low hanging fruit to be
picked to advertise a certain coaching manual), that transparent barrier does
more than keep the coach warm, it tends to isolate the coach from the
"rhythm" of the game, that ebb & flow of momentum and emotions
that inevitably take place in any athletic contest. To be blunt, a
well-intentioned TO with very valuable advice ready to be delivered can end up
being counterproductive, significantly disturbing that rhythm referred to above
which brings me to my first suggestion, rehearse TO's to reduce and hopefully
avoid the possible distraction factor.
When your team plays in regular league play or in
pre-arranged exhibition games, ask the opposing team if it's OK if you call
your two TO's (keep them brief) to help the team deal with your presence on the
ice. In most cases, especially if you have a young team playing in an adult
league, the opposing team will be more than happy to help by allowing you the
TO's.
My next suggestion is to decide who is going to
call the TO. Will they only be called by the members of the team or is it OK if
you, as coach, call them as well? Clearly a young team will benefit from the
input an experienced, certified coach can provide. Perhaps not so much with an
older more experienced team. That type of team may respectfully ask you not to
call TO's.
Mutually decide the nature of your input during the
TO. I learned this some time ago in my position as National Development Coach
when I was asked by a women's team in my programme who earned the right to play
in an event to complete the first Curling Trials field when curling finally
achieved full Olympic medal status, to be its coach at the event. During the
discussion about my involvement during a TO, I suggested that I would guide
them through an examination of all the possible shots which might be played and
the reasons for each. To that the team replied, "Bill, if we call a TO we
want you to come out, suggest a shot and leave. We've already done what you're
suggesting.". In black-and-white on your computer screen, that sounds
rather callous but it wasn't meant to be so and it wasn't taken that way by me.
Quite to the contrary, that's exactly what I needed to know!
Then there's the whole "time duration"
thing. As I write this, it's 90 seconds from the time the TO is called for the
coach to get to the ice surface and join the team and discuss whatever needs
discussing, another really good reason to rehearse TO's. You need to decide who
speaks first and where the discussion goes from there to complete the discourse in
the time allotted.
Venue plays a significant role. I've been
positioned in the most unusual of places relative to the access point to the
ice surface. The path to the playing area can be convoluted to say the least!
I'm writing this from my hotel room in St. Catharines, ON, waiting for my four
young curlers from Whitehorse to arrive for the 2017 Scotties Tournaments of
Hearts. I know I'm going to be positioned right behind the scoreboard, very
likely at the home end of the playing area. Not only that, I can speak with
members of the team between each end as long as I stay behind the scoreboard
(more about that later). Not much of my 90 seconds will be consumed by
travel.
By the way, a note about courtesy before I
continue. In our sport, as with most, if a team calls a TO, both teams may meet
with their coach. There has been a movement to allow only the team that called
the TO to do so. I'm not against that by the way but I digress. If you are the
coach of the team that did not call the TO, it's courteous to not access
the playing area before the coach who did call the TO and if that TO is at the
away end of the ice, you should not begin speaking with your team until
the coach of the team that called the TO has reached his/her team.
If you are a coach of a junior team, you are most
likely aware of a special TO known as a "Fair Play TO". This affords
the coach an opportunity to call a temporary halt to the game so a player can
recompose him/herself. That's a polite way of saying it gives the coach the
opportunity to settle a player down, no discussion re. strategy &/or
tactics or anything technical. I don't know who or which sport governing body
came up with that idea but it has proven to be a good one! This TO was the idea of one of my coaching role models, Keith Reilly.
If I may speak from personal experience, during
TO's including the mid-game break, I prefer to hear the athletes speak as
opposed to me launching into some diatribe which may be inappropriate (see
earlier paragraph re. distraction). My best TO advice has come from something
I've picked up from what an athlete said first. If the team knows that you are
waiting for them to speak, that's what will occur (don't forget those 90
seconds).
As a TV viewer, and this may just be my sensitivity
as a coach, when I see a team call a TO only to totally ignore the mere
presence of the coach, well, it's like fingernails on a chalkboard! Therefore,
I tell my teams that if they call a TO and just want time to talk among
themselves, I'm more than OK with that. I suggest that when the TO comes from
the ice, if they want me involved, just give me the wave and I'll come a
runnin', oops, no, you can't run to meet your team. Officials frown on that!
I said I'd refer to that rule at Scotties &
Briers (for example) that affords me the opportunity to speak with my team
between ends. There are those who would argue that calling the right shot and
playing it the right way (strategy & tactics) is in integral part of the
game (not much argument there I suspect) and therefore (now here's where views
begin to differ) it's a skill that should be developed by the team, and a coach
should not become a participant in those critical decision making
junctures. Hmm, good point I guess but what about precedent? TO's in other
sports allow the coach to become involved in decisions that regularly affect
the performance of the team and therefore the outcome of the contest. The
extreme example is North American football, especially at the more elite levels
where just about everything that happens on the field is choreographed by the
coaching staff. Well, I have always held to the belief that just because sport
X does or does not do something, that does not mean that curling should or
should not. That said, I have to be honest when I say that I work very hard to
"empower" my athletes in all phases of the skill sets required to
perform including calling the right shot and playing it the right (most
appropriate) way. When an opposing coach calls a TO when he/she senses that
his/her team is about to make a strategic &/or tactical error and calls a
TO to prevent that mistake, I get a little frustrated.
Here's my take on this matter. I feel it's
appropriate for me to meet with my team to ensure that the end plan for the
upcoming end is sound. I don't feel I should be able to influence my team's
performance during the playing of that end. Just my take and I welcome opposing
or supporting views.
And oh, by the way, not every TO is about strategy
and tactics, sometimes it is to remind the players of something technical or
about team dynamics or ...
There is one more TO and it’s an “official’s TO”.
If you feel you need to draw something, anything, to the attention of an
official, you cross your forearms in such a manner to be clearly seen. Clocks
will stop (if applicable) and an official will come to you to hear your
concern.
