CURLING IS a demonstra- tion sport at the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France. By Linda Moore Contributing Writer Canada’s representatives are the 1991 national ‘champions — - teams skipped by Julie Sutton of B.C. and Kevin Martin of Alberta. The Sutton rink (from Victoria) has third Jodie Sutton, second Melissa Soligo, lead Karri Willms and coach/alternate Elaine ‘Dagg-Jackson. As national champions, the Sut- * ton team also gains a berth in the Scott Tournament of Hearts (Ca- . nadian women’s championship), to be: held this year in: Halifax from Feb. 29 to March 7. It will be difficult for -the women to prepare for two high- calibre competitions that are held within. one week of each other, - -but the team has taken the year ‘ off work and school to concen- trate on all aspects of curling... — They have devoted time to fitness training, mental prepara- tion, nutrition, and, of course, curling practices and games. These women are the top curlers in the country, but they have a lot of great tips for curlers who enjoy the game at a less competitive level too! Here are their suggestions to help you with your game, along .«. with some notes.on how they ap- --- proach the game of curling. s: WARM-UPS: '.. Always prepare yourself for a game or practice session. Warm- . . ups can help loosen you up, both mentally and physically, and pre- : vent injury and soreness of mus- eles, --- : The team likes to jog around > the curling rink, to ‘‘get the blood ’ ‘moving.’”? Then, they do at least 20 minutes of stretching before the on-ice session. As well, they have a_ short meeting to discuss either the game plan (strategy to be employed), or the goals of the practice. This way “you can eliminate any sur- prises.’* : ; PRACTICES: The Olympic tearm trains on the ice for one to two hours. They begin with slides (three to five without the rock), and then they throw the rocks to keen up the ice and to loosen up (to ‘‘get in the groove’). just enough room to Olympic curlers at the top of their game Winter Olympics in Albertville, France In team practices, they concen- trate on their delivery. They throw at a broom to work on line and the execution of various shots (draws, tapbacks, etc.). Releases are practised one at a time. ‘Some sample practices, which can be done individually or as a team: @ Line up rocks at the hogline and try sliding out towards each of the rocks to work on con- sistency of sliding out. to the broom. @ Line up pairs of rocks at the backline, tee-line and hogline. Space the rocks so that there is slide through, : At first,. place them on either side of centre line, then move them to the left and then the right so that other possible lines out to the broom are attempted. Practise sliding through the rocks, first without a stone and then with one. This shows you if Yew are drifting off line in your d&ivery. . SWEEPING: To improve fitness levels as wel! as technique, the team members Suggest that you sweep up and © down the centre line, from tee- line to tee-line. Rest and then try again. - The team practises sweeping for 20 seconds, resting about 40 se- conds, sweeping 20 seconds, and so on. Starting with 12-minute drills and then increasing gradu- ally, it's quite a test! _ For communication and weight judgment, they throw oniy draws for two ends during a practice, having two sweepers trying to guess the weight of each shot and sweep it correctly. (They alternate throwers and sweepers.) Also, they work on communica- tion, and on sweeping and throw- ing accuracy, by trying to draw’ around guards. GAMES: League games are used to con- centrate on different goals. One game they will concentrate on line of delivery, then another they will work on releases, another com- See Set page 16 Allstars selected THE NORTH Shore high school girls’ basketkall all-star selections have been made by the coaches of the senior league’s nine teams. Players were chosen without regard to positions played. North Shore Girls’ Basketball FIRST ALL-STARS Playcr School Lori Hallstrom Cathrine Olsen Amy Lewis Susie Sutherland Lisa Hallstrom Sentinel Windsor West Vancouver Carson Graham West Vancouver Position ‘Guard Forward Guard Guard/Forward Post SECOND ALL-STARS - | Clea Ainsworth Windsor Kara Tasaka ‘Erin Mackey Dara Hendren Argyle - Stephanie Haladner West Vancouver Handsworth St. Thomas Aquinas Guard Forward Guard Forward Wing HONORABLE MENTIONS Marnie Brown Carson Graham Forward/Guard Wednesday, February 19, 1992 - North Shore News — 43 a Valentine's Bonspiel TENSE MOMENTS happen when the rock is in motion even during a fun bonspiel like the one held by the North Vancouver Curling Club last week. The A Division winner of the Valentine's Bonspiel was Toby Barr, B Division winner was Herb Wilson and C Division winner was Glen Dickson: Thirty-one teams took part in the event held at the Lonsdale RecCentre. Blues’ playoff hopes dashed their main disadvantage. CAPILANO BLUES men’s and women’s basketball teams _ hosted Douglas College in a final effort but both teams’ playoff hopes were dashed on Saturday night at the col- lege’s Sportsplex. Up first in play, the women’s team was down by 33 points at the half-time buzzer, but surged forward with 31 points in the se- cond. Douglas College, however, an- swered Capilano’s drive with 34 points of their own to take the game 84-48. Leading the Capilano drive in the scond half was Karen Four- chatk with 13 points for a total of 15 on the game. Blues sharpshooter Heidi Maida emerged as the game’s overall high scorer with 7 points despite suffering a thigh injury. early in the first half. In the men’s game, the Blues fought a seesaw battle against Douglas College only to have tur- narounds kill them in the second half. Axel Christiansen scored an outstanding 19 points in the late stages of the game, but it wasn’t enough as Capilano lost 109-81. Christiansen led the game in overall scoring with 27 points on the night. A week earlier, on Feb. 7, the men’s and women’s teams hosted By Michael J. Gilgan Contributing Writer Okanagan College at the Sport- splex. : Both Capilano teams emerged victorious with the women defeating Okanagan College 61-52 and the men pulling off an 88-86 victory over their Okanagan rivals. The next night, however, the Blues travelled to Nanaimo and were defeated by Malaspina Col- lege. The Blues men’s team battl- ed to a 108-68 loss, while the Blues women’s team held it close only to lose by a 61-46 margin to their Malaspina counterparts. ‘In Valentine’s Day action back at the Sportsplex, the men drop- ped a narrow lead in the first half and lost 88-82 to Fraser Valley College. In women’s action, Fraser Valley -held the Blues women’s team to 15 points in the first half and 17 in the second for a lopsid- ed 93-32 decision. Women’s coach Dawn Schocler considers her team’s height to be “‘Because of their size they get really frustrated going inside...and - then everything breaks down. We're trying to take advantage of our quickness more, and outside shooting, because that’s all we have against teams like (Fraser Valiey),’’ said Schooler. In upcoming games, the Blues men’s and women’s basketball teams travel to Cariboo College on Feb. 21 for their season: wrap-up. In tournament action on Feb. 7, the Cap Blues womea’s volleyball team came away from Castelgar empty-handed after losing three games and winning one against the home team Selkirk College. On Saturday, they dropped three more decisions to Vancouver Community College, Okanagan College and Trinity Western Col- lege. On March 9 at the Sportsplex, the Canadian men’s national basketball team, will meet the Seattle American Athletic Union All-Stars. The match will. be a warm-up for the Canadian team’s trip to Barcelona this summer. Featured in the game will be Port Coquitlam’s Sean Hartley and Delta’s Krist Mansson. Mansson is a former SFU star who played in the Seoul Olympics in 1988. The game takes place March 9 at 9 p.m. at the Sportsplex.