Gushue’s hip to curling concerns
REPLACEMENT: World champion could be headed down Martin’s path toward surgery
CALGARY — Kevin Martin paid a visit Monday afternoon to his friendly neighbourhood orthopedic surgeon in Edmonton to discuss having his right hip replaced.
The 2010 Olympic gold medallist and world curling champion is paying the price for four decades of launching himself out of the hack.
“It’s just worn out — bone scraping on bone,” Martin said before travelling to Calgary to work as a commentator for Sportsnet at the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup. “I’m super healthy except that I’m 50 years old and my hip is about 120.
“It’s just curling. This is the exact same thing that Brad Gushue is dealing with.”
Hip trouble is hardly the only thing in common between Martin, widely considered one of the best curlers in history, and Gushue, the reigning Brier and world champion. Both are known for their impeccable workout regimens. Both are known for logging countless hours of practice.
Both are perfectionists of sorts, who ooze confidence and intimidate the opposition by their very presence on the pebbled ice.
And Gushue, like Martin, will hardly be shocked if he finds himself queuing up at age 50 for a new hip made of stainless steel, titanium, chromium or cobalt.
“It really just boils down to throwing too many rocks,” Gushue said Tuesday after practising with his Newfoundland and Labrador foursome at Calgary’s WinSport Arena, where the event runs through Sunday. “It just takes a toll. It’s not a natural position that we get into and to do that 100 times a day for 23 years, it adds up.
“Curlers are very much like pitchers. For pitchers, it’s knee and shoulder injuries. For curlers, it’s knees and hips.”
Gushue’s left hip and groin simply quit on him last year after more than two decades of sliding out of the hack. The overuse affliction — Gushue says his body just suddenly shouted “no” — sidelined the 36-year-old skip for eight months until his triumphant return this winter punctuated by a Brier victory in his hometown of St. John’s, N.L., and world title in Edmonton.
“Boy, he played well when he got back,” Martin said. “In my mind, he’s the best curler in the world right now. He’s No. 1.
“In my mind, Brad has worked harder than any current player. That’s why he is having hip trouble already. I was the same. I practised more than anybody else.”
Martin retired three years ago at age 47. Gushue, 36, is arguably the top curler of his generation.
Together, they give credence to the theory that hard work does indeed pay off.
“Growing up, you would hear stories about Kevin,” Gushue said. “There are literally thousands of 13-year-olds across the country who will throw 100 rocks a day. But not many of them continue to do it when they become 18, 19, 20, 25 or 30. That’s the difference.
“I model myself after Kevin and his work ethic. I’ve seen the success he had by working as hard as he did. I really try to do the same thing.”
Up until this season, Gushue made a point of throwing close to 100 rocks a day, virtually every day. Now he is in conservation mode given the mileage on his personal chassis.
“I’m like a pitcher on a pitch count,” he said. “I have a certain amount that I can throw every day and then I have to protect myself from myself.”
Gushue needs to protect himself from himself given the stakes of the season ahead. Together with rinkmates Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker, Gushue is pre-qualified for the 2017 Roar of the Rings Dec. 2-10 in Ottawa. On the line: The right to represent Canada in men’s curling at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Looking back, Gushue figures no amount of stress at the upcoming trials could match the load his team successfully shouldered at the Brier in St. John’s.
“I’ve never felt that much pressure before in my whole career,” he said. “To come out on top blows my mind. I have played 14 Briers and it would have been much easier to win any of the others with all the obstacles we had in front of us.
“The crowd — that wave of emotion we had — really carried us. I’ve never felt so tired after an event. I just wanted to crawl in a ball and stay in bed for a week.”
“It really just boils down to throwing too many rocks. It just takes a toll. It’s not a natural position ... ” — Brad Gushue