Kick off the new season by giving your game the jump start it needs as the VCC hosts two sets of clinics - for both Basic Skills and the Intermediate level.

Basic Skills Clinic: These clinics are for you if you’re new to the game, or you want to brush up on the basic skills you already have.

The Basic Skills Clinics will be two groups of two nights each - Sept 15/16 & 17/18. The cost is $40 per session.

Intermediate Skills Clinic: You’ve got the basics, now you want to fine-tune your skills to better prepare for the coming season. These clinics will focus on accuracy in hitting the broom and accuracy with weight (throwing, sweeping and weight judgement).

The Intermediate Clinics will be two groups of two nights each - Sept 8/9 & 10/11. The cost is $50 per session.

Registration - for either the Basic Skills or Intermediate Clinics - is limited to a maximum of 40 people per session, so register early by contacting manager@vancouvercurlingclub.com.

In addition to the pre-season clinics, there are other things you can do to get ready for the curling season that begins in about one month. Our General Manager and Head Clinician, Ken MacDonald, offers some insight on curling-related training that you can do now to help make your coming season more fun while reducing the probability of sore muscles at the beginning of the season.

As with any seasonal sport, pre-season training for curling has a focus on the whole body fitness level. In this case, we are talking about getting that aerobic system to a strong functioning level.

With the warm summer weather still around us, there are a variety of activities that can be fun and provide some training benefits for curling.
Running, biking and swimming are some of the most common but any activity that will raise your heart rate for at least 20 minutes will have a beneficial effect on your cardiovascular system.

A wonderful side effect is that the more you do, the better you will feel and then you will be happy to do more.

Another couple of areas that are great to work on are your core strength and balance/flexibility. The current popularity of yoga and pilates makes it fairly easy to find a program that will fit your schedule, is enjoyable and can be done with friends of all ages.

And while I can’t vouch for the long term benefits yet, the Nintendo Wii Fit system is a new kind of video game that focuses on these areas and helps you with goals and results. I’ll get back to you after I have tried it for a bit longer.

The bottom line here is that the pre-season is a great time to work on your whole body and get into better shape before the season starts so that those in turn takeouts become more deadly during the upcoming curling season!

Good luck and see you in September.