CURLING POWERHOUSE READY TO ROCQUE AGAIN
Edmonton-area coach helping Ontario’s Homan rink return to its dominant form
If they had to pick one person who has been the biggest difference maker in what has been a dominant curling season so far, members of Rachel Homan’s Ontario team can easily come to a consensus.
Their choice would be their recently re-hired coach Marcel Rocque, a three-time world champion as a player and a man who has made a significant mark on international curling through his mentoring work.
Rocque, a 47-year-old from Edmonton, doesn’t agree.
“I don’t really know that I’m doing that much for them right now,” Rocque said this weekend at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at Centre 200.
“To be honest, they’re such a strong group of players, it’s just keeping them focused and keeping them comfortable and keeping them in the zone where they need to be to perform.”
It’s not like the Homan team was completely off the rails or anything when Rocque was chosen to replace sports psychologist Adam Kingsbury as coach.
But there was that significant blip last February at the Olympics in South Korea, where the Homan team lost its way and became the first Canadian curling team to finish off the podium at a Winter Games.
It was obvious something was missing in Pyeongchang and Homan’s team — including third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle — believed Rocque could help restore it.
“Huge difference,” Homan said. “He’s really great at all aspects of the game, so it’s great to have him as a curling coach and really push our game to the next level.”
Courtney has a different way of describing Rocque’s effect.
“We know he loves us like we’re his kids, but he’s also very hard on us,” Courtney said. “He expects the highest level of quality and effort out of us . ... He’s one of the best in the game when it comes to coaching.”
The Homan team, which represents the Ottawa Curling Club, entered the Scotties having won five major events this season, never finishing below fourth in any event.
Rocque, an Edmonton-area physical education and languages teacher, made his mark in the curling world as the lead for Randy Ferbey’s Edmonton team, which dominated the men’s national and international scene in the early part of the new millennium. He learned a great deal from Ferbey in those days and began applying it to coaching while the team was still active.
In 2013, he was hired as the coach of China’s national team and wound up leading the men’s team, skipped by Liu Rui, to a 7-2 record at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
China played in the bronze-medal game, but lost 6-4 to Sweden’s Niklas Edin.
That drew the attention of people back home and he was hired as coach of the Homan team for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
He then returned to coaching Chinese teams, working specifically with the mixed doubles program ahead of and during the 2018 Olympics.
He has a one-year contract to work with Team Homan this season and has no idea where the future will take him after that. Both Homan and Courtney are expecting babies this summer and the team’s future is somewhat clouded.
But for now, it is focused heavily on winning a Canadian curling championship this week — Homan has a perfect 4-0 record after beating Quebec 12-2 Monday afternoon — and a world championship.
It should be noted that Homan won the Canadian and world championships in 2017 with Kingsbury as coach, so it’s not like they crumbled without Rocque on board.
His return has been more like a kick in the behind than anything else.
“We brought Marcel back on board and everyone’s really motivated,” Miskew said. “We’re having a lot of fun and when you’re having fun, it makes it a lot easier.”
So what exactly does the coach do for a team that features four of the best curlers on the planet?
“Our approach has been such that they’ve given me a little bit more responsibility and that takes a little bit off them,” said Rocque.
“Whether it’s a little bit of technical input or a little bit of discussion about ice and how to manage that stuff. It takes a lot of those little possible stressors off them and they just need to worry about throwing curling rocks . ... It’s just taking some of the pressure off the team.”