Gerald Chick Interview (Brink Vault)

Another unique 'vault' interview today from 2014 as we chat to an Australian curler (yes they exist) in Gerald Chick about the sport in this country and the likelihood that Australia can ever field a team in the Olympics moving forward.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.

BEN WATERWORTH: It is Off The Podium, an Olympics Podcast, and you're back with us here, and excited to once again get that vault open wide and bring you a classic interview from our parents' show, The Brinks' history of speaking to Olympic athletes, people involved in the Olympics, and just people that just like the Olympics. And today's special one again. This person actually isn't an Olympian, but involved in the sport that is curling, an Olympic sport. His name is Gerald Chick, and if you listened to our Catherine Skinner interview recently, you would have heard us talk a little bit about curling. And I made reference to the fact that I had interviewed somebody from curling before in the Brinks' history. And this is that interview I speak of Gerald Chick. And again, not necessarily an Olympian, and Australia has never had a representative in curling or a team in curling at any Olympics. And I still think this is a fascinating chat though that we need to hear because curling, again, this is my sport, people. This is a sport that I will represent Australia in the Olympics one day. I'm gonna be part of that historic first curling team one day, apparently. I don't know when, but I'll try and make it happen. But Gerald Chick is a guy involved in curling in Australia, and Colin and any Canadian listening to this curling is second only to ice hockey, is the greatest thing ever that they do in life. And so they'll be intrigued as much as you are right now, wherever you're listening, to hear about Australia and curling, two things that really don't go together. And let's find out how they can go together by speaking to Gerald.

BEN WATERWORTH: Gerald Chick is an ex-pat Canadian who has gone on to be one of the most successful curlers in this country, and is one of only 200 people who play the sport in Australia. I spoke to Gerald about the sport of curling in this country, as well as his predictions for the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics. Gerald, welcome to the Brinkin Edge Radio.

GERALD CHICK: Hello, Ben, how are you today?

BEN WATERWORTH: I am doing very well, very well. I'm very intrigued by the sport of curling, as I'm sure a lot of our listeners are at the moment given the Winter Olympics are on. Now, how did you personally get involved in the sport of curling?

GERALD CHICK: Well, you could probably tell by my accent. I grew up in Canada, in the city of Winnipeg, which is a big curling capital over there. And I started playing this sport in high school when I was a student.

BEN WATERWORTH: Fantastic. So what brought about the move to Australia? And I guess when you came here, did you expect to find that curling was played all the way down under?

GERALD CHICK: I was very surprised to find curling when I moved here. I came over about 25 years ago to take a job here and I've stayed ever since. The fact that I live in Melbourne and there was some curling competitions happening here at the time was a big factor in being able to stay and enjoy my early time in this country.

BEN WATERWORTH: So how do you go about finding that there's curling? Do you just head down to your local ice rink and ask the question and you're told, or did somebody sort of connect you to a curler or a curling club?

GERALD CHICK: I was given a connection before I moved to Australia.

BEN WATERWORTH: Right.

GERALD CHICK: From someone who knew people over here. There's not a lot of curling in Australia. So it's really easy to find those people around there. If you look for curling, you find that the few of us who do it.

BEN WATERWORTH: Did you find that the most people who were involved in the sport here were ex-pat Canadians or sort of ex-pat Americans, people from overseas? I mean, were there many actual Australian born people playing the sport?

GERALD CHICK: Oh, we have a good mix of people from all parts of the world. We have quite a number of people who grew up in Australia and never tried the sport till they tried it with us. A lot of them have seen it on TV now with the Winter Olympics. That's great for getting exposure for the game, and people can see how exciting it really can be.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I guess the question that a lot of people would no doubt ask you, Gerald, is what actually is curling? Can you explain it? I mean, for some of our listeners who might not be fully aware of what the sport is, how would you explain the sport of curling?

GERALD CHICK: Well, we can do it a couple of ways. I often tell people it's a lot like playing lawn bowls on ice. The game is very similar. There's some different types of skills involved. If you want to be twee about it, you can say it's a game of throwing rocks at houses.

BEN WATERWORTH: That's a good way of explaining it.

GERALD CHICK: Yes, the target circles that we use on the curling ice are called the house. And of course, those big stone things that we slide along the ice are, well, we call them rocks because they're made of rock.

BEN WATERWORTH: Which obviously makes logical sense. I've also heard it be described as kind of chess on ice because there's obviously a lot of strategy involved in it. I mean, do you feel like it's chess on ice essentially?

GERALD CHICK: I don't think I could stand up to Magnus Carlsen in that regard, but yes, there's a lot of strategy involved. There's a lot of thinking about the way you do things. I suppose there is a huge element of precision in the game, and because of that, you have to be very careful of what you do or what you plan to do because there are lots of ways for anyone to make shots in the game that can really change things around.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I mean, talking about the rocks and the ones that you see sort of being slid down the ice, I mean, these aren't just pieces of rock that you find outside, are they? I mean, these are specially made granite stones that sort of have to meet certain requirements, aren't they? And they're quite rare in a way, aren't they? Because they're sourced from Scotland, I believe. They're actually specifically sourced.

GERALD CHICK: There's a little island off the coast of Scotland with a quarry on it. It's called Aelsa Craig, and that's the primary source of most curling rocks in the world. They weigh about 20 kilograms each, and they're all very finely owned. You probably have to pay between $1,000 and $2,000 for a pair of them.

BEN WATERWORTH: Wow. See, there you go.

GERALD CHICK: Not something that I've got in my cupboard at home, actually.

BEN WATERWORTH: So it's not like you can just sort of rock up to the ice rink on a Wednesday evening or something and bring your own rocks or stones, can you?

GERALD CHICK: No, no. We're very fortunate. We have a new ice rink that you're probably aware of here in Melbourne called the Ice House in Docklands. And when they built and set up the place, they were nice enough to purchase and supply us with a full set of curling stones that we use for our club play there on Monday night.

BEN WATERWORTH: Fantastic. So what are the size requirements of a curling rink? Is it sort of designated by the World Curling Federation that they have to meet certain measurements, or can it kind of be played to a certain extent on any size ice rink?

GERALD CHICK: Well, you could probably play on any size ice rink, but if you want to play properly, the lanes have to be a certain length and the markings have to be certain sizes, which are all set out. But you can fit those into a number of different ice rinks if you're putting them on top of an ice rink, a skating rink as we do in Melbourne. If you go out and build a purpose-built ice rink, like many other countries in the world have, then you build it according to the world standards.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I ask that question because here in Tasmania, we've actually only got the one ice rink in the entire state, and it's a very small ice rink. They do play ice hockey on it, but obviously they have to sort of bend the rules around the size of the rink compared to what it's played internationally. So I'm just thinking, should anybody bring some curling stones down south this way, Gerald? There might be some sort of modified game of curling we could play down here.

GERALD CHICK: Oh, I'm sure we could manage to put something onto any ice rink like that.

BEN WATERWORTH: It would be very interesting. Is there much of an uptake of the sport in most states? I mean, is curling played in every state in Australia, maybe with the exception of Tasmania?

GERALD CHICK: No, Tasmania is not the odd one out here. We really have three active clubs in Australia. There's one in Melbourne, one in Sydney, and one in Brisbane, pretty much. Totalling, perhaps, about 150, 200 people that play the game in the country.

BEN WATERWORTH: Wow, so a very select number of people in the country. Does that make it hard to recruit people into the sport? And if you do try and recruit people, what sort of angle do you take to try and get them to try the sport out?

GERALD CHICK: We just think that if people are willing to come out and try the sport, they'll see how much fun it is, and they'll want to take it up. Our main barrier to people taking it up is lack of access to facilities, really. All of these places only have limited access to ice rinks in their cities to play and to get people to come out.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, with obviously the equipment we were talking about, the stones, and people obviously would be aware of curling, you have the brooms as well. I mean, am I calling that correctly, Gerald? Are they called brooms? Do they have a specific name?

GERALD CHICK: No, we call them brooms too.

BEN WATERWORTH: Now, are these specially made brooms? Can you just go down to Kmart and grab a regular broom and use one of them?

GERALD CHICK: No, they are specially made brooms. Nowadays, in fact, people use a variety of different ways of brushing the ice. The idea is to have something that sort of warms up the ice as you brush it with the friction and kind of melts and polishes the ice in front of the stones as they run down, and that makes them go a little bit further and makes them go a little bit straighter as they go down the ice. So I tell people that when you let go of a ball in long balls, really you don't have any more control over it. But in curling, you can control it all the way down the ice until it reaches the target. And that's what contributes to the high degree of precision in the sport that I mentioned earlier is that control while it's going down the ice.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, in the Olympics, curling is done with four people on a team, and I believe there is also doubles curling. So I assume in a four-person Olympic curling team that you would have designated roles, so you would have somebody who would push the stone down the ice and then you'd have designated sweepers?

GERALD CHICK: Pretty much, yes. There's always one person throwing and two people sweeping. But the person who's throwing rotates around in the same way that a four-person team in long balls or others rotates around. So everyone gets a throw.

BEN WATERWORTH: Is there kind of a specific role on each team? Like, will you have a person on a team who is a better sweeper, so to speak, who is a more powerful thrower? I mean, is there kind of any strategy involved in the members of the team in that way?

GERALD CHICK: Yeah, the positions tend to get specialised. So people who throw first or second have different specialties than the people who throw third and fourth in the rotation.

BEN WATERWORTH: So what's your specialty?

GERALD CHICK: My specialty? Well, I'm presently a team captain or a skip. So I tend to throw last, and I'm making all the strategy calls and calling the shots in the game.

BEN WATERWORTH: Right. So it sort of comes down to your shoulders in on how you go into each matchup, really?

GERALD CHICK: Pretty much. And it's important, therefore, to know what sort of strategy you want to take in the game and how you want to play things and have the experience to know what works and what doesn't.

BEN WATERWORTH: Is there different strategies, say, I mean, around the world, do different countries play in a different way? Does Australia kind of have a main strategy or maybe a style that we sort of are known for in the international world?

GERALD CHICK: Our teams that have been going to international competitions have been playing their own particular style. You have to adjust your game to the skills of your people and what they can do. Some countries and some teams play a very clinical, precise game. Others play sort of a risky strategy game. I think probably the Australian curling team that has been going overseas with us has been playing sort of a Leighton Hewitt style of curling in a way, a very gutsy, slug it out kind of hang in there kind of curling.

BEN WATERWORTH: I like that. That works very well, I think. And for the Australian team itself, never qualified for the Olympics, narrowly missed out for Vancouver, I believe by half a point. I mean, how far away do you feel Australia are from qualifying maybe for the 2018 Olympics?

GERALD CHICK: It's hard to be optimistic, really, because we are sorely lacking in facilities for our athletes to train in Australia, wherever they are. The fact that we've managed to come so close is a supposed testament to the innate skills of all the people who have been competing for Australia over the years.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I'm sure it would spur on the country a little bit, knowing that New Zealand managed to make an appearance back in Turin. So, you know, does that kind of spur on the Aussies a little bit that we can't have New Zealand having an appearance in the sport over us?

GERALD CHICK: No, I think we're a little bit jealous of them, and they have several ice rinks specifically made for curling that they can train on as well. We actually hold our national championships over in New Zealand because they have better facilities than us.

BEN WATERWORTH: So it's kind of like when we like to steal people from New Zealand away to claim them as Australians, we could start doing that with their curling facilities perhaps.

GERALD CHICK: That would be nice if you've got a big enough helicopter.

BEN WATERWORTH: What's your tip, I suppose, for the Sochi Games? Canada obviously have won the last two gold medals in the men's tournament and two silver medals prior to that. Canada, the team to beat once again for 2014?

GERALD CHICK: Canada is always in there as a top contender in both men's and women's curling because the depth of their competition domestically is just so great. They have the majority of the talent and the challenge for us, but there are a number of other countries who, even though they don't have a lot of top competition players, they have several good teams, and I wouldn't count out some of the other countries like Scotland or even Norway as contenders.

BEN WATERWORTH: It's going to be very interesting, and I really hope that Channel 10, as we know, is showing the Winter Olympics here in Australia. I really hope that they show a lot more of the sport than perhaps we've seen over the last few Olympics, because it really is a unique sport, Gerald, that I think more people should get to see and get a chance to sit down and watch.

GERALD CHICK: I think so. It's fun to watch. It's even more fun to play.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I'll tell you one thing. If I make it up there, I really want to give it a try, because it certainly does look a lot of fun. And if people want more information on the sport here in Australia, they can head to curling.org.au. There's a lot of information there on the sport. You can find out if you do happen to live in New South Wales, Victoria or Queensland, where you can play it. And for our Hobart listeners, look, you know, Gerald, we can ship a stone or two down here and give it a go on our Glenorchy ice skating rink. How does that sound?

GERALD CHICK: I think we could try something like that.

BEN WATERWORTH: It would be very interesting indeed. Gerald, best of luck for all the competitions that come your way. Enjoy watching the Olympics, and I appreciate your time here at the Brink and Edge Radio today, mate.

GERALD CHICK: Thanks, Ben. Can't wait for some of that Olympic curling.

BEN WATERWORTH: Fascinating stuff, I'm just going to start training, I'm going to start pushing heavy things down my hallway and sweeping it, and then that will begin my quest for Olympic glory. I mean, again, as long as I'm part of that team, we make the Olympics, even if we get thrashed like 18-year-old, however you score in curling, I'm going to be completely honest with you, I watch it, I don't understand it. Maybe I need to understand it a little bit first before I actually try and compete it. But I'm going to be there, and that's my life goal, to be an Olympic athlete in the sport of curling. Your life goal is to go to iTunes and subscribe and rate us and give us feedback. If that seriously is your life goal, and seriously you're awesome, if not, then hey, you've probably got a better life. But also like us on Facebook, and we appreciate any support that we can get. Seriously, we need it. We're out of here. Thank you for tuning in to Off The Podium, and we'll speak to you next time, wherever you like to apparently listen to our voices.