This is a two-part series!
John Benton is a longtime American competitive curler, administrator and coach. He also owns a company called "Cold Granite Curling" that provides training for individuals and teams. His approach to the delivery is called the "Release Point Method" (RPM). In Part 1, we introduce RPM, talk about the three "planes," and discover why he felt the need to create this set of delivery principles.
NOTE: It's helpful if you can download the RPM Handbook PDF in advance to follow the conversation.
Release Point Method (RPM) Handbook link
https://bit.ly/3c6lwim
Some of the topics we discuss include:
* Two coaches that influenced his thinking about the delivery (4:03)
* Why looking at the delivery from a side view led to a breakthrough in his thinking (6:02)
* What is the "Release Point" (8:57) and why we should practice it off the ice (11:47)
* The "Glide Plane" (13:05)
* The "Line Plane" (16:48)
* The "Support Plane" aka "balance" (20:40)
* How to get kids to work on their "Support Plane" (24:05)
Links to the resources mentioned in this episode:
Cold Granite Curling Web site
https://www.coldgranite.com/
Release Point Method (RPM) Handbook link
https://bit.ly/3c6lwim
"Curling - The Slide Demo.mpg" YouTube video from Continental Cup 2012
https://youtu.be/y8OQkNk8WpY
Pro-Slide Delivery Aid by Reid Carruthers - Hardline Web site
https://hardlinecurling.com/en/pro-slide-by-reid-carruthers
Four Seasons Curling Club (Blaine, MN, USA) Web site
https://www.fourseasonscurlingclub.com/
Curler Outreach Program Web site
https://curleroutreach.org/
John's e-mail address: jbcurler@gmail.com
Follow our podcast on Twitter: @kidscurling
Glenn Gabriel is an NCCP-certified curling coach who lives in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. He has been the coordinator of the Little Rocks (U12) program at East York Curling Club in Toronto since 2011. If you have a question or feedback on the podcast, send us an e-mail at coachingkidscurling@gmail.com
The intro and outro music is "Golden Sunrise (Instrumental Version)"
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_Woodward/The_Wake_1790/JoshWoodward-TheWake-NoVox-10-GoldenSunrise
By Josh Woodward
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_Woodward
Licensed under CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/