Skip Hand Signals

Kay_Neine

Lead

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Skip Hand Signals

« on: December 05, 2011, 08:26:08 PM »

No I dont mean the rude ones Cheesy

Hope its ok to ask this in here - its a newbie question so not as technical obviously as the others in here.

I just wondered if anyone could out do google and point me in the direction of an illustration to show the basic hand signals used by the skip in curling? After wondering why someone was tapping their brush at the other end of the rink on my last go I thought I best try and find out! Cool

thanks in advance


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wee eddie

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Curling Club: Ayr & Alloway ~ Country Club ~ Galston Haymouth
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Re: Skip Hand Signals

« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2011, 11:05:17 PM »

I was thinking of posting the handout that I give my new team at the beginning of each season but it's two pages long. I shall shorten it and post that tomorrow, sometime.

Meanwhile, although this will not help with the Hand Signals, this may help you understand some of the Shots that you are likely to be asked to play. http://www.curling.ca/start-curling/commonly-played-shots-flash-animation/

By the way: ~ The Canadians call them Rocks and we call them Stones. It's a matter of scale!

There was a First Class German University Site, with some very good instructional Videos, but I have lost my link to it.


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wee eddie

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Curling Club: Ayr & Alloway ~ Country Club ~ Galston Haymouth
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It took less time that I expected

« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2011, 11:48:40 PM »

This is a précis of the letter I send members of my New team, each season. If anyone wishes to disagree with my description of the signals and how far the Stones should travel. Please post your opinion, I'm still learning.

Here are the signals that I use to indicate how hard I wish a stone to be played. As you will be aware, the slower the Stone, the more it tends to curl and conversely, the faster it travels, the straighter it goes. Any Stone that has sufficient energy to get just beyond the Hack, also has sufficient energy to remove another. So, there’s really little need for the pyrotechnics.

Our Lead will usually be asked to place the two Stones, just in front of the Rings, in the “Free Guard Zone”. It is a very difficult shot to pull off, but if successful, will give us a considerable advantage. That Shot is usually indicated by my running the Head of my Brush in a Semi-Circle around the Front of the Head.

If I wish you to “Draw” a Stone to a particular position, I will place my Brush on that Point and tap the Top of the Handle or place my hand horizontally across if the T-Line is the distance needed. Sometimes I will use the Brush Head to map out the Curve that I hope the Stone will take.

“Back Rink Weight” ~ played with just enough weight to reach the back of the Head and no more. To indicate this, I will turn slightly and run the Head of my Brush across the back line of the Head. That slight extra weight will keep a stone straighter and will tap any stone it hits, in the Front of the House, to behind the T-Line.

I think that we can all remember when, as Lead, we were asked to put a Stone in the Free Guard Zone and it trickled right through the Head, coming to rest a little beyond the back of the circle. Very frustrating! That is actually about, “Hack Weight”, a Stone with just sufficient energy to reach the Hack, without knocking it. It is indicated by the raising a foot and tapping its heel. If it’ll reach the Hack, it’s quite sufficient to tap another Stone right out of the Head.

“Barrier Weight” ~ Just a little more weight, to make the stone go straighter and it should be just sufficient to come to a halt just as it reaches the Barrier. This is indicated by drawing the hand across the body “at waist height”. This stone should still draw a little. A bigger weight may be need when playing a shot across the heavier ice on the outside of the Sheet but remember “It isn’t going to crash into the Barrier” Just come to a halt there. This should have quite sufficient energy to knock two Stones out.

There are heavier shots that are also known as “Barrier Weight”, these are indicated by the hand being drawn across higher up, say, the stomach, as opposed to the waist, and should be fast enough to just tap the Back Boards. An indication higher up the chest still and the Stone should reach the Boards while still running.

An “Arm, across the chest, fingers tapping/slapping the opposite Shoulder” indicates probably the most difficult shot in the book; it is only used to ensure that the Stone runs really straight across a tricky piece of Ice and most of us tend to tweak it.

There are times that you need to know which the “Shot” Stone is. I will tap it with the handle of my Brush if it is theirs. If ours, I will tap it with the head of my Brush and tap my chest.

Every Skip has a different opinion as to how fast a Stone should go for each particular Signal, You may have to read your Skip's mind if you are not told.

Every time we play a Shot, we intend that it should do just what the Skip has requested. However, for many of us, it rarely does. Do not worry.

If you have a choice of the things to concentrate on: Being on the Brush and getting the Handle correct, are probably more important that the Weight of the Stone.


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Zuschauer

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Curling Club: Berne, Switzerland
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Re: Skip Hand Signals

« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2011, 10:30:19 AM »

Hi Kay,

Eddie has give a very nice example of hand signals. I don't know if there's any "commonly used signals" in Scotland, but in Switzerland, most Skips / teams will use their own signals.

For example, I normally indicate the length of a draw weight by pointing to it's final resting position. A guard will be indicated the same way, possibly with the help of using fingers (because my team has divided the sheet in 11 different areas and given them names/numbers. For example 1-3 are our guard weights with 1 being just over the hogline and 3 being a thight guard just short of the house).

For take-out weights, we use this:

moving the broom horizontally across the backline indicates a backline-weight, e.g. a shot that just rolls out of play on it's own.

tapping the hack with the broom indicates a hack-weight take-out

placing your flat hand on your stomach indicates a soft-take-out (named "10" because it ideally takes between 10 - 10.5 seconds to pass from hog to hog).

our standard take-out "9" is a flat hand placed on your chest and our heavy weight ("8") is your arm across the chest and touching the outside of your other upper arm.

Quite a bit to take in at first, but actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
But as mentioned earlier on, every skip/team will have a different system (both for indicating weight to be played and for giving feedback on the actual weight of the shot while in motion) and you'll have to ask your respective skip what his system is.

By the way Eddie, did you look for this website?: http://www.curlingbasics.com/


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wee eddie

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Re: Skip Hand Signals

« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2011, 12:26:36 PM »

Thanks Zuschauer, that was the one I'd lost


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Kay_Neine

Lead

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Re: Skip Hand Signals

« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2011, 10:19:52 PM »

thank you gents, lots for me to be getting my teeth into

Really appreciate all the time you put in on this for me


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