There will be no coming out of the hack and admiring their shots for two Okotoks curlers at the upcoming Alberta Winter Games.
That’s because in the mixed-doubles format, Miki Becker and Rhiley Quinn will have to pop up and sweep their own rocks.
“It can be very challenging -- you have to be very accurate when you let the rock go,” said Quinn, a student at Holy Trinity Academy. “You just get up and go. Sometimes you catch the rock when you are halfway down.”
Becker and Quinn qualified for the mixed doubles at the Games in Medicine Hat, held Feb. 10-13, by going undefeated en route to winning the Zone 2 qualifier in Okotoks late in 2015.
Becker is a veteran of the two-person game, he competed at the 2014 Alberta Games in Banff.
“It’s something different,” he said. “You’re more responsible for how the game turns out (as compared to four-person).”
Two-person curling starts each end with the team who has hammer with a rock just behind the button.
The other team has a guard halfway between the house and the hog-line. Rather than throwing eight rocks, each team throws five, not including the two set up at the start of the end.
One curler throws the first and fifth rocks, with the teammate throwing the middle three.
Quinn said she has learned to appreciate the condensed version of the roaring game.
“I like it almost better than four people,” she said. “It’s a lot faster and you’re more involved. You’re shooting then getting up and sweeping. You get a chance to hold the broom -- you do everything.”
Becker said his previous experience at mixed doubles will help him in Medicine Hat.
“I’m less nervous and I know what I am getting into and what to expect,” Becker said.
They are going in as equal partners, planning to take turns as to who throws the two book-end rocks and who tosses the middle stones.
“We switch whenever we feel the need to — whether one is playing better than the other or the type of shots,” Becker said.
The format calls for co-skips.
“It doesn’t matter whether you are throwing two rocks or three rocks, because you are still calling shots (during the end),” Quinn explained.
Team coach Al Quinn — Rhiley’s father — said he likes the curlers to alternate throwing two and three rocks in the opening ends.
“Throwing three rocks in a row really helps them get their draw weight,” Al said.
The pair has been getting game experience by curling in a league in Cochrane as Okotoks does not have pairs competition yet.
It’s good practice for the Games. Of the eight southern Alberta teams that qualified for Medicine Hat, three compete in the Cochrane league.
The mixed-couple format will be introduced to the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
For more about the Alberta Winter Games go to abwintergames16.com
