Homan fills vacancy by turning to coach from team’s past

Marcel Rocque makes no bones about his coaching technique: he’s an intense, resultsoriented instructor who’s not afraid to be blunt and direct when needed.

His style meshed with Team Homan in the past and the 2017 world champions hope it will work for them this season.

Rocque, a member of the legendary Ferbey Four team in his playing days, has committed to serve as coach of the Homan rink for the 2018-19 campaign.

“They know who I am, I’ve never changed,” Rocque said. “I’m in your face. I’m happy but when things aren’t good, I’m in your face. I’m in your face and demanding.”

The 47-year-old previously worked with skip Rachel Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle before leaving for a two-year coaching stint in China that ended last season.

Rocque succeeds Adam Kingsbury as Team Homan coach. Kingsbury guided the Homan rink to its third Scotties Tournament of Hearts title and an Olympic Trials victory last year.

Kingsbury never curled at an elite level but the PhD candidate in clinical psychology specialized in helping the team with its mental preparation. He recently joined Curling Canada as a mental performance consultant and information/technology manager.

Homan settled for a sixth-place finish at the Pyeongchang Games, but finished the campaign ranked second in Canada behind 2018 world champion Jennifer Jones.

“They’re obviously talented and that talent doesn’t just go away,” Rocque said in a recent interview from Edmonton. “Now it’s a question of how to bring it out again on a consistent basis.”

Team Homan will represent Canada in the first leg of the inaugural Curling World Cup this week in Suzhou, China.

“We want to continue to push ourselves to be the absolute best version of this team and continue to strive to be one of the best teams in the world,” Courtney said. “I think the motivation is high.”

Rocque, who teaches and runs a culinary program at an Edmonton high school, won four national titles and three world crowns as a lead for Randy Ferbey’s team.

“For me personally, he was my inspiration as a young front-end player,” Courtney said. “A lot of what I do is from what I learned from watching him and also working with him.”