Friday, December 11, 2009

Guest post: Skip's reflections

The ____ Dutch didn't just go on and win it, did they?!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Double Dutch

This was, to pulverise a football euphemism, a game of three halves. We played very well to establish a three shot lead and had the Dutch skip not played a perfect freeze at the third it could have been five. But then we played the fourth poorly. One story would be three missed shots including a very rare last shot strike miss from Jamie - half an inch less ice (this is curling talk for the uninitiated) and the story would be different. Another story might be tactics being slightly aggressive. Whatever the story, as said in the earlier post, one that got away.

So to the fifth all square. The Dutch were dictating tactics and established two stones either side of the house. We had last stone. We were heavy with the draw to the four foot circle. Into the half time break with the Dutch with a two shot lead.

End six and lady luck cast her (this time) vicious hand. Already facing some Dutch stones, Michael's first caught a piece of dirt on the ice and headed towards Ailsa Craig in fright. Dutch had a chance to guard. We made little impact with our next. Jamie faced three guarded Dutch stones with his first and still managed to remove three. However, it came to a draw and this time light. Three more to the Dutch and an uphill struggle was recognised.

We are fighters not quitters. Much better play and we edged back with singles at 7 and 8. The Dutch skip produced some magic to edge us out of what looked like another steal at 9 and took one. Probably by now more cussed than likely winners we nevertheless went after four in the last but were run out of stones.

Bottoms and pants. We finished third in group B1 which means no prizes. It does mean no relegation to the new qualifying round but we were arrogant enough not to have feared that. It also means beer. For the first time in several weeks. There is also the small matter of the "Losers' Party" - I like parties but, goodness, how I did not want to go to a party for "Losers".

English Dream Over

No penalty shoot out. The only German present was playing for England. Nevertheless the dream is over - beaten by the Dutch in the play off for second place in Group B1....and so going home early. Final score was 8-5 and this was definitely one that got away but more on that later.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

England in Play-Off

England win last game. Netherlands eventually do too. Play off between Dutch and England tomorrow for runner up in our group and place in semis.

England v Serbia

An efficient win for England v Serbia. Team are tired after the late night v Netherlands last night and early morning start (7.30am) v Serbia. A bit of recovery time now before the must win against Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian skip has all but lost his voice and can only give a high pitched yelp when he wants sweeping. Should add to the colour. Looking forward to it.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

England v Netherlands: Match Report

A dark and blustry evening in Aberdeen but inside the curling rink the lights were on and the ice was keen and clear. All set for a tense match between one of the favourites for the B Group, the Netherlands and the pretenders, England. And tense it was. While the previous night the supporters suffered from apnia, tonight they really were on the edges of their seats in a ding dong battle.

England had edged the early skirmishes taking a 2-1 lead but then at the fourth end England's attempts to keep a shot on the button hidden failed. A guard failed to draw enough and a 3 was conceded when the Dutch skip played an excellent run back triple promotion to remove the English shot. However, the team has spirit and capitalised on a Dutch mistake to take a two at the fifth. All square at the half way break - why did we play those first five ends at all then?

At the sixth England stole one and nearly again at the seventh but instead forced the Netherlands to give up last stone for a single so still all square. England should have had two at the eighth but a draw came up a few inches short so only one. Then the ninth was a poor end - when Jamie came to play his last stone the Dutch were lying three. Jamie drew to second shot and was well positioned for his stone to jam on a Dutch stone if hit. The Dutch skip took the challenge rather than settle for a draw for two and then was wide, jamming the English stone against their own so it spun to shot - one to England.

Two up going for home, England cleared out efficiently so the Dutch ran out of stones. England win 7-5.

Tomorrow is an early start against Serbia - another must win.

Baltic Assignment

We completed our soujourn in the Baltics with an efficient victory against Lithuania. Possibly a little fortunate early on although Jamie played a great last stone at the first - strike and roll to freeze on a Lithuanian stone in the wings behind a guard and so lying shot. The Lithuanian skip was tempted into trying a split of ours with the possibility of counting two or three if he made it perfectly. It was, however, a very difficult shot to come round the guard. It did not curl enough, he freshed and England were one up.

After that we played very well so that the poor Lithuanian skip became accustomed to having to play increasingly difficult shots to try and unseat our heavily guarded shot stone. Not to be and the score gradually increased in England's favour. At the half way mark we were in command at 7-0. A single to us at the sixth and Lithuania shook hands. We never had last stone through-out the game.

In the big match of the morning round the previously unbeaten Russians beat the previously unbeaten Dutch. We play the Dutch tonight. Bring it on.

We Speak to the Supporters

Last night's victory in Tallinn (for which read Aberdeen but similarities striking) was witnessed by a small but loyal (and may I say, rather attractive) band of supporters and John Brown. We ask the supporters for their reactions

Question: Were you on the edge of your chair during the game?

Supporter "No, for safety reasons as I might have fallen forward when I drifted off to sleep"

Question: What was the high point?

Supporter "Henry's triple and also his being distracted by the Latvian girls on the next sheet. Never seen so much saliva in an ice rink - could have formed icicles..."

Question: Scariest moment (of the game)?

Supporter "Jamie's [fine, ed] draw against three at the seventh. Absolutely terrified. Never been so scared since first time I saw John Brown"

Question: Have you slept with Tiger Woods?

Supporter: "No, and I lived in America for four years so I am feeling insulted"

Question: Any advice for the team?

Supporter 1: "Stop insulting John Brown, he is not scary and is doing a grand job as number five and shadow coach"

Supporter 2: "Cream eggs a day - for the supporters"

Back to the studio for the pre-match summary of England v Lithuania.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Stop Press: Estonia Result

This was like a European football tie in eastern Europe. You know you will have to grind out a result. It may not be pretty but get a result and it is all to play for at home. And that's the way it turned out, we ground out a result against Estonia. First 3 ends blank. Our mistake at the fourth and we let the Estonians go one up. Immediately we hit back with a well taken two so we were leading at the half way mark.

The second half also started brightly with our forcing Estonia to draw the tee and take one when faced with three of ours. They responded by reciprocating at the next end. At the eighth Jamie's last stone was an attempted freeze which was just short leaving the Estonian skip with one and having a very difficult draw for two. He failed, took only a single and we had last stone. The ninth was a poorer end for us and Jamie had to hit and lie against three with jis last. He just rolled an inch or two off nose and the Estonians were celebrating a steal of one. So one down going down the last end. Some great stones from all of the team and their skip was left with a difficult freeze attempt with his last. He came up a touch short but was lying shot. Jamie calmly pressed the trigger removing the Estonian counter for a three and the game.

A hard earned and far from pretty win. Afterwards back in the studio the verdict was "the boyz done good. It's always tough to come here and win, Harry (?) and that's what they done. They'll be happy tonight". And so we are.

Mexican Works Well

Mexican food and lashings of ginger beer might have only half impressed Enid Blyton but it did the trick for the England Men's Curling Team. Much better performance against Spain - everyone playing well and tactics spot on. Half way it was 5-1 and we were in command. After the half way break we powered on and the Spanish surrundered when we reached 9-1 up. Cream eggs will be distributed later as a reward.

Conscious I did not say much about the Russia game last night. This was more to the need to get dinner on board at a reasonable time rather than the pain of losing a close encounter. Not that it did not hurt but we played well and the game was close. Unfortunately a short draw at the seventh end, so often the crucial end in a 10 end game, allowed the Russians to move ahead 6-3 and we were then playing catch up against their fine defence. We ran out of stones with the score 7-4 after a fantastic effort. The physical effort was huge - and remember my scale of reference includes comleting the New York Marathon last year - so that I could not open a packet of crips afterwards. We would like a rematch but we need to do a lot better before that would be possible.

Its Estonia next at 8pm this evening. They have been very good so far so it will be a tougher game.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Third Game v Russia

Lost 4-7. Very close game. Just came up short. Bottoms. Smelly Bottoms.

Going for Mexican food. Hopefully that should fix things.

Second Game: V Poland

Knew when I started this blog that hardest thing would be first defeat. I was obvously hoping that would either not occur at all or would, at the very least, be later during the week. I am also not a great loser. Although the passing years have mellowed my behaviour after losing, I still hate it.

So we lost to Poland. No excuses, they played better than us, made their shots when it counted and in the end out performed us. Final result was 9-4. After 3 ends we were leading 3-0 so it shows the scale of their playing better. We will dig deep now. We have Russia this afternoon at 4. Russia are one of the favourites and they are now on 3 wins (we have had a bye). We need to rise to the challenge.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

First Game: v Greece

Made life difficult for ourselves gifting the Greek team a 3 when we had last stone at the second end. As we said afterwards seemed like Greece had six players that end as we played their stones in. After that we had another bad end at end 3 only managing a single with last stone. Then we started to hit some form stealing 5 ends in a row to lead 7.3 after 8. In the ninth we changed tactics and made the Greeks hit. A slightly fortuitous roll for Greece left Jamie with a difficult hit through a port that would not curl enough to go through the gap - two to Greece. Down the last and clearing the Greek stones out ending with Jamie nosing with his last for an 8-5 win.

So off to a winning start. Team played some good shots and some good ends but we can play better. Next up is Poland at 8am tomorrow so a day to recover.

Last night was the opening ceremony with the pipers leading in the grand parade of 51 teams (men and women) - Kirsty Balfour, skip of the English girls team carried the flag for England. The Scots received the biggest cheer (this was Aberdeen) when they, as host nation arrived at the end. Quite a big crowd (presumably mainly friends and relatives). Part of the entertainment was singing the Scottish anthem "Flower of Scotland". Sadly some of the English Men's Team knew the words better than the proofessional singer brought in to lead the singing.

Our secret mission to find a bride for Henry (the only unmarried member of the team) is off to a reasonable start with potential candidates being identified in a number of the women's teams. More on this anon - and you will keep this secret won't you?

Off to rest...

Friday, December 4, 2009

Tit Bits Until the Real Action Begins 8am Tomorrow

Arrived in Aberdeen. Temperature above freezing so naturally it was raining hard. Got hopelessly lost looking for the apartment, while desperate for the toilet. Driving with legs crossed is not easy.

Finally found appartment more by luck than judgment. One of team there. Eventually rest of team arrived too. Michael has a Chinese wife who recently brought a daughter in to the world so Michael has enjoyed his parents-in-law cooking Chinese food for last few months. Naturally we ate Chinese and made Michael go and buy it too.

AND so to the curling. This morning was practice ice. Each team is allocated ten minutes on each of the 6 sheets at Curl Aberdeen, the "field of play" for the next few days. We had practiced "practicing" within this tight timeframe so we accomplished what we needed in checking out the ice and stones efficiently. Ice was good - reasonably keen (fast) but not stupidly so. Unless things change, no excuses there, then.

Before that was the BIG MOMENT: pulling on the England shirt for the first time. The shirts have to have our names and country on the back, the event sponsors Gruyere cheese's badge and we also have our team sponsor: Fentons Rink's badge, so the shirts had been some time in preparation (professional embroidery mainly but thanks to Shona for excellent badge stitching as well.) We had had a trial run in one game last weekend but that was not truly representing England - a bit bizarre really as I was in a Scotland t-shirt, Scotland fleece and Scotland training top to see Scotland mess it up against Argentina at rugby and then into the changing rooms to strip that all off and put on England kit. Split personality!

Anyway, kit felt good, nobody in Aberdeen lynched us (yet) and an old Scottish friend at Aberdeen curling rink promised to support us. It may only be one supporter but it is a start. I am worried that he was grinning insanely at the time but you can't have everything.

Now is a good time for a big thank you to our team sponsor (he may not want to be associated with us by end of the competition so better say thanks now!) So thank you to Ernest Fenton of Fentons Rink in Kent for his support. Amazingly I am no longer the only link to curling in the asset finance world in which I practice law: two clients quite independently have seen their children take up the game at the rink in Kent. Many people in the Kent area have tried the game for the first time; for some it is like a night at ten pin bowling and for others it has become a sport which they have taken forward. There is a schools league and England are competing at junior level again. All thanks to Ernest and this, still the only rink in England (perhaps Sheffield soon though...)

Tomorrow, 8am we take on Greece in our first game, so early to bed tonight

Keith

Thursday, December 3, 2009

For Queen and Country or for Charity?

Some Reasons for a Scotsman to Represent England at Curling

1. not good enough for Scotland;
2. someone has to;
3. deep cover;
4. it annoys the hell out of my brother-in-law;
5. Jerusalem is a good song and you can whistle theme from "The Great Escape" [mind you "Swing Low" urgh!]
6. charity;
7. sabotage;
8. 18 years of missionary work among English population deserves a reward;
9 er, that's it

Alternative and Better List

1. England is home now and this is the best curling possible from England;
2. Playing a leadership role in developing curling in England;
3. Hopefully we will leave it in a better place than we find it;
4. Team reflects multi-cultural society in England;
5. old enmities should be amusing not serious in 21st century.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

For Queen and Country...or for charity?

Lucky me. This is my last day in the office for 12 days. But this is no ordinary holiday. Tomorrow I travel to Aberdeen (just inside the arctic circle, or at least felt that way last time I was there) to represent, ahem, a Country at the European Curling Championships in Aberdeen. The Championship proper kicks off on saturday and ends a week on saturday. The best teams in European curling will all be present (although luckily we don't have to play all of them). For the Country I represent the targets are a place in the top tier of European countries and qualification for the World Championships - this has not been achieved for some time so would represent a significant step up.

Before we get ahead of ourselves answers to some FAQ.

Q) Do you mean hurling?

A) No, dummy, this is not Hurling. Hurling involves the outdoors, sticks, a little ball, goals and broken jaws. Curling (these days, at least) is played indoors, involves 40lb (20kg) stones being athletically thrown down a 150ft (46m) smooth ice surface on the tactical direction of one player while two others slide beside the stone and when required brush its path to keep it straighter and go further. The tactical decisions as to what to do with each stone has led to curling being likened to chess on ice. Curling is an Olympic sport in which GB has realistic medal hopes in Vancouver. And so far, no broken jaws...

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh6YcRmYSYw (a less than 2 minute clip of top level competitive curling)

Q) Do you wear skates?

A) No, only similarity between curling and skating is the venue. Curling ice is colder (-2.5c), has a pebble of water spray frozen on it which is the surface on which the stone travels, must be flat and clean - even a small amount of dirt can cause a stone to "pick up" and veer off course. Curling shoes where one foot has a teflon sliding sole and the other a grippy rubber sole are worn. Watch the clip above and you will see the players are generally sliding on one foot and propelling themselves with the other.

Q) How long does a game last?

A) Depends on the competition. At the European games are 10 ends long which will translate to between 2.5 and 3 hours.

Q) Its just like bowls, isn't it?

A) It would be just like bowls if it were not for the ice (which is slippy, doh!), the sweeping, 8 stones per side per end, the athleticism.... Don't believe me? Try it for yourself: http://www.fentonsrink.co.uk/

Q) Are you a thrower or a brusher?

A) Four players in a team. All throw 2 stones. Skip directs play and throws last 2 stones. Lead (that's me) throws first two and then sweeps remaining six. Second throws second two and sweeps the first two and last four. Third sweeps the first four, throws the next two and directs play when the skip throws his two. From this you can deduce the most physically taxing positions are lead and second while the most mentally taxing is skip. It is very much a team sport - successful play involves coordination of effort. Most teams believe their skip is mentally taxed.

Q) Which country is it you are representing?
A) Enough questions for now.