SPORTS FLASHBACK 2005: Competitive curlers need both fitness and finesse

Some curlers may look like they would be more at home in the aisles at Safeway selecting groceries rather than on the ice throwing rocks for the Manitoba men’s curling championships at the upcoming Safeway Select.

It was not that long ago that an Olympic curler was chastised for being out of shape and the suggestion was made that he did not look enough like an athlete to represent his country in such a stellar competition.

Looks can be deceiving, and if you harbor any doubts that competitive curlers require both finesse and fitness to be at the top of their game, it’s time to turn loose your imagination a little.

Picture this. You are at the previously mentioned grocery store, about to push a shopping cart down the cereal aisle, past all the healthy foods, while heading for the cookies, which they hide at the other end of the store.

Now, imagine you have a rock the size of a small watermelon and you must slide it along the floor and make it stop in the middle of a designated target, way down at the other end of this aisle. Your rock must slide past the Nature Valley Trail Mix, past the “Oatmeal to Go”, past the Alpha Bits, Rice Krispies, and Corn Flakes, slowing down as it passes the jumbo boxes of Special K, and comes to rest just before it crashes into the freezer chest where they keep the Safeway Select Gourmet seven cheese lasagna. Good shot!

Now, imagine you must then repeat this feat again and again. Just to make things interesting, imagine you are playing the second end, where you will have to slide that same watermelon-sized 40-pound rock back up the aisle. Past the five-grain granola with hazelnuts and honey, past Safeway’s own grape cranberry juice, past the Kool-Aid and Tang, past the Minute Maid orange juice and the Safeway iced tea, coming to rest just before it crashes into the friendly cashier at the 15-items-or-less express checkout.

The lesson to be learned in all this is that strenuous sports do not always look like strenuous sports, and good athletes do not always look like good athletes. Curling is much more than chess on ice and is, in fact, great exercise (not to mention fun) for all ages.

That’s probably why Manitoba golfers hang up their clubs in mid-November and take up curling to keep in shape for the next golf season.

That’s why farmers park their tractors in the winter and head to the rink, where they are sure to keep their muscles toned and ready for the spring seeding season.

That’s why baseball, football and soccer players look to curling as an off-season way to stay in shape.

But getting in shape should not be the only incentive to launch a fitness program at the local curling rink. Anyone with experience in both shopping and curling will agree it also takes a certain amount of fitness to push a loaded shopping cart up and down the aisles. It also takes a great deal of finesse to execute that tricky in-turn on two wheels to avoid an oncoming cart during busy two-for-one days at Safeway.

Now, imagine you are back at the curling club, settling into the hack, getting ready to throw yet another tricky in-turn takeout.

Or better yet, imagine you are at the Safeway Select, settling into a comfortable chair in a luxury box at the end of the sheet, getting set to watch one of Manitoba’s best execute that tricky in-turn takeout.

Tickets for the 2006 Safeway Select in Steinbach February 8-12, 2006 are available at Canada Safeway.

See you there!