In the House with Yannick Schwaller and Glen Howard

[MUSIC] Okay, there we go. Hi again, everybody. It's Jungle Jim Jerome coming out with another episode of Inside Curling. We got a couple of great guests again, Kevin Way to go. You're in Steinbeck, Kev. You're with, you're at some sort of haunted house out in the country that you're staying on with, who you staying with Mike Harris. There's three of you. Mike Harris and Falsie. And Rob Falsie, we'll tell you what the crew, this force net crew are staying in Winnipeg. It's a Boda. I don't know, 45 minute or an hour commute out of Winnipeg. That's, and so Mike actually set up this, the Airbnb in the country just outside of Steinbeck. And it's a heck of a good spot. And so yeah, we're having a little bit of fun here. We played some cards last night and Falsie's bad at cards. Mike's very good at cards. But otherwise, yeah, we're really good here for sure. How are you at cards? Well, I was in the middle. So I won some loss, some Falsie is bad. What is a card game for the three guy? What do you play fish? What do you play? 31 or? Glenn, you ever heard of 9-5-2 in all your travels? A bird of 9-5-2. That's all we're playing. 9-5-2. So if you deal, you have to get 9 tricks. Right. This second guy has to get 5, which is a tough position to be in. And then the two spots where he can make some hay before you deal. And then you have to give cards back and forth and so on. But it's a trick game. 9-5-2. Hey Howard, okay. This is the three bald guys. We're laughing at each other. We'll interview. We got Yanik Schwallers joining us. Yanik thanks a lot. Glenn, how old are we getting when Kevin is breaking down his evening of playing 9-5-2? 10 o'clock at night before bed. Jimmy, at least he's not talking about pepperball. Right? Yeah, so that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Life's over. That, of course, is the one and only one of the most decorated crewers of all time is Glenn Howard who joins us. And he is the coach of Yanik Schwallers team from Switzerland. They're at the players championship in Steinbeck, Manitoba. Boy, I was just saying, that's really good of sports. And that to have the crew so handy to the ring. A hour away, we got to be able to. It's a less along commute. It's not easy. And you never know in this time of year, in January, about the role you're going to be like, luckily, we've hit Manitoba on a nice kind of calm weather time, which is great. But yeah, it is. It's not perfect to be that far away. So Mike actually rigged up the Airbnb. Here's we're only a couple of minutes to the ring. So that is really good because we can for sure, we can definitely be there. Which is important. So, Glennie, I want to get to something right away because I think this is the most interesting hilarious stat I've seen. So you've won the world's four times. Yes. You won your first one, 87, when you're last one in 2012, 17 provincial titles. Yes. 20 briar appearances. So who are the other three with? Where were you? What other ring? I'm doing the math here. 17. I think there was a couple of wild cards in there. Okay. You sort of played in or had a hand at to me because we did a had a good year. The wild cards, I still not quite sure how it works, but I think that's what it was. Jimmy. Okay. So you're from Penetanguishing, okay? Midland, Midland, Penetanguishing. So Kevin, listen to this. He wins four world championships. By the time 2012, he wins his fourth. I don't know what you have to do to get into the Penetanguishing Hall of Fame, the sports Hall of Fame. So you know when he got inducted, Kevin? No. After, after his four world championships, what do you got to pitch a no hitter in the World Series to get into that Hall of Fame? You won the 87th world, the world's, you win another three by 2012. And the guys on the board of the penetanguishing sports hall of fangol, not a chance. He's not ready. Okay. And the tough league out there, Jimmy. Holy man, what are they doing? How many hours are there there? How many hours are there that are winning world championships in 20 provincial titles? Two or three. Over the prior 20 times. If we started to, if we started to add up everything, Glenn, you've been a coach now for a while. And Yannick, thanks for joining us. You guys are of course at the, at the players in, in Steinbeck. Tell us how it's all going. Yeah. We're in a great spot right now. Everybody's feeling good out there, executing and having a lot of fun just in the group. Also the coaches do a decent job. So that helps. Yeah, not bad. Yeah. Speaking of, speaking of good, you've been to the world's representing your country four years in a row. Two times, two times to the world mixed. You're on your way to the Olympics. But what point do you go, okay, we're pretty good. I wonder what Glenn Howard would do in this situation. Is that how did it, how did you come to picking the recent inductee into the penitanguishing sports hall of fame as your coach? Yeah, after the, after the, a point disappointing world championship in a thousand, our home world championship actually, which we did not qualify for playoffs. We thought we will need something. Not that Howard, our other coach is doing a bad job at all. No, he's great as well. It's just a broad, in another puzzle, I would say, a little spark as well. And again, like you said, he has won so many things and he knows how to win a world championship. So we thought who better to bring in that than Glenn. I mean, semi-final or in the final, he will for sure find the right words. And he was definitely top of the list. And yeah, we were kind of happy when Chelsea carried team broke apart a bit and the window opens, a window opens. And we, we slid into his DM, I guess, yeah. Did he say yes right away or did he say, I don't know, I'll think about it and get back to you. What, what, what was his response? My A was a hard bargain. We met, we met at the Grand Slam in Guelph. He wasn't our coach yet. We had a good talk. And yeah, I guess he bought into the project. We were able to sell ourselves. And I hope we haven't disappointed it so far. Now you're good, you're good so far. Does that all make sense, Clint? Is that how it all added up? Yeah, Yannick nailed it for sure. I think when I went down to Guelph, I think I was being interviewed more than my choice. So I think I had to come up with the right words to make sure that they wanted me. But it's been an absolute blast and a pleasure to be a part of this team so far. My first event was going to the Worlds with them last year in Moussa. Yeah. Got a good taste of how they are. And of course, I've known, I've known all these guys for quite a while. Just to see how good they really were was at Worlds. And then we've built since then, but till today, obviously, we're culminating at the Olympics in a month from now. But it's been an absolute blast and a pleasure to be a part of this team for sure. You and I were texting to each other earlier today. And I just think the team, I'm going to talk, I'll ask you about this in a bit, Yannick. But it seems to me that the confidence level, the swagger, whatever you want to call it, the team is quite different now than a year ago. What do you see different, Glenn? Because I like what I see. What do you see in the whole team? And probably more than anywhere, just at Benoit. So it's funny. I obviously have known the guys for years, but I didn't pay that much attention up until being a part of the team. So I didn't have a lot to compare to. But I guess what the best thing I can say is I'm really, really, both Harvard and I'm really, really happy to where the team is right now. I do see a little spark in the eye. I see a confident walk. I see incredible, incredible shot making. The team dynamics is fantastic. The whole package right now is exactly where I envisioned it to be. At this point, couldn't be happier. And obviously, this is what I want to see going into Italy. And yeah, to say Benoit, Benoit's got a little glint in his eye right now. He's making a ton of shots and I think he's having a ton of fun. I think all of us realize that if you had to enjoy yourself, you have to have a ton of fun out there. That's always been a kind of a key to my career. And I think Harvard's as well. And the boys are bought into that. But I think they're having a blast. And we are as well. Hey, Yonick. One thing that I think Benoit, maybe fortunately, unfortunately, whatever, was sort of famous for was shooting his incredible shooting. But missing maybe the kind of a shot here there were in the crowd, you go, what the heck? How did that happen? He just misses one sort out of the blue that he just wouldn't have expected. But I haven't seen much of that in the last while. What do you think, Yonick? I just. He's tough, eh? He's tough. Jesus, he's just not missing much at all. Yeah. What's going on, I guess, with your. I can say, Skipper. I always say that the guy who throws the last two is a Skipper. I always say that. But with Benoit anyway. Glenn Colespo for Skipper. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's interesting. You nail it there, I guess. So first of all, he has had good runs in the past too, for sure. But he looks very confident right now. I really do think he worked on getting those little misses out. Like if there's an easy flat double or like a two-thirds double comfortable angle, it's close to each other. Like you don't see them miss him, he missed them anymore. Whereas sometimes you got away or I don't know. But now he's locked in right now. We for sure, we worked on all different aspects in the team. We tried to grow so much in every different like line calling, charging, growing into me as a skip, growing into my role. And we tried to perfect everything. So of course this was a topic too. And I guess it's everything is getting going on to the ice well now. It's got to be a little bit tough. Now I've never, I've had some like over the years had really strong sweepers. But I don't think anybody's been like a Pablo La Shot. Ever, maybe ever. Very unique athlete. Line call has got to be a little tough for the guy like that. Because if you call it too soon, you're dead. Because he's so powerful and can make the rock dance fairly fast. I guess how do you deal with a guy like like that? It's a positive. It's a positive. But geez, if you call it too soon, the shot can be gone. So I guess how do you, I guess the growth? How do you handle the having Pablo the shot by the stone? Yeah, it's the line calling is so important there. He can also sweep on every side. He can sweep, he can switch on a peel weight even and has an impact on a peel weight. So it's, it's, it's very, very good. So what that means for me is like to have patients become, don't try to switch three times. And that's something that's, of course, we have to learn and have to learn. It's also, it depends on the ice at the European championship, for example. He was insanely effective. Like you had to wait so much longer than at all the other events that we were playing, that we played the season, which we needed a time to time to adapt, right? But no, I mean, Glenn sometimes he holds the broom in practice for us and sees what he can do. And yeah, he overcooked the couple. Well, yeah, he overcooked them so fast. Like, but hey, Glenn, I want to ask, I just don't want to forget this. And I know this is maybe just a little out of turn as far as, yeah, as far as the segue going on the show, but the rule, the rule, world curling just put out. And it's a bit vague right now. Or, or still, but I think because we're talking about Pablo the shot, I think it's important we talk about this because he's one of the reasons they're putting it in play. I guess first, Glenn, how do you interpret what world curling just put out as far as what you can and can't do with the brush during the, especially for everybody for you, especially, Yonick involved for the Olympic Games. Well, it's funny because it was presented to us that it was, it was brought into place yesterday or today. It was this so called ditching. I think they call it where there's this one strong swipe of the forward motion. You pick the broom up and you do another forward swipe one at a time. When you read the actual rule, it comes out there was a whole bunch more jargon in there that it almost sounded like they were trying to touch on two or three different things. We were all a little bit confused by it, so I think we think that the whole premise is about this ditching. I'm all for, I think everybody I talked to want this ditching gone. And I guess the premise behind it was to slow the rock down. We're hoping that this is not what we want to see in the game of curling to purposely and tentatively to intentionally, I guess, to try and slow the rock down. We don't want that. It was within the rules. People teams were doing it, but it sounds like everybody we talked to are in favor of getting rid of it. This is what Ivan interpreted it. I don't, there's some other jargon in there that I think was a little bit unnecessary that got it created a little bit of confusion. We're still trying to filter through it, but we think the main purpose is to get rid of this one swipe ditching to slow the rock down. I want to get rid of it. Yeah, sorry. So for the lay person, I don't understand how applying the brush to the ice in any way can slow a rock down. Explain the science of that Glenn to us that the jury's out on this too, Jimmy, like that. We're still learning about this sweeping in the last, you know, basically eight, nine years. It's, you know, since berm gate. Yes, it's one of these things that if you do it really, I'm going to throw it out there really, really strong forward stroke that maybe creates grooves in the ice because of the friction of the pad that causes the rock to grab these grooves and, and bite maybe and slow down a bit creates more friction under the rock. And a little bit that's the best I come up with. And if you do this one real sharp stroke, it's hard to do a whole bunch of them because you know, you've got to keep your balance in that. You can really get a lot of pressure on that head and maybe create that friction to create these, these grooves or or or cuts or whatever you want to call it. And then pull the rock down and I guess I'm not sure we're ready for the look isn't great for our sport, I think. I'm a traditionalist, Kevin, I'm sure you probably hate it as well. It's the look isn't great, but it was within the rules. There was no rule around it. So now we're curling his commot and say, OK, let's get rid of this. And I think it's a good move. Hey, on it. On you're talking about the ice being at Europeans, where public could, you know, make a rock dance more than on some other surfaces. Do you think that this ditching technique that Glenn is talking about, could it be more effective on certain surfaces than others also? Yes, yeah, I think so. I think you would need a bit of frost to do that to kind of create more, more differences in the path where the storm is on. I also think sometimes with a with a big carf, maybe you carve the rock into into a new into a new path into a frosty path and then it can die. It can die more to them. It usually would another arena or other clubs. So yeah, it's really dependable on which ice you are at how much frost you got on and how the water, how the water is really. Also, which I love, I love, love this part is that they have the new handles. They have the new handles coming in the Olympic Games. Has there been an event yet your team has played with the new handles? Yes, where'd you play with the Europeans? We just played the Europeans. How many Euros had them? Good. And now did were there many people called online? We talked about it today. I know I know of maybe four or five that were because of the electronic handles, the red light went off. I know about that many. I don't know the official number. It looked, we got the person. They looked like they worked very, very well. I'm a big, I'm a big fan of them as long as they are 100% work perfectly and it looked like they did. They're might it. We even sort of tested them. It was like even a maybe a bit of a leeway on the hog line. They gave you a little bit of a benefit of it. If you had a red light, you definitely were a via you violated the hog line rule. So it was if, you know, if everything goes the way it should, they're going to work perfectly at the Olympics. Gee, what a good thing. Hey, oh, go ahead, Yonic. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I heard I heard they even have sensors in the handles, which would allow to detect a double touch on the granite. That's some guys do a lot of guys do that actually. What's that? A double touch on the granite. Like if you if you release and you kind of underneath, you give it a little shove. If you saw it, you're short or a bit to the side, a little tip on the on the rock to the side. Oh, wow, not the handle twice, not the handle. No, this already could detect it. That's fine too. But that's allowed actually in, but you are not allowed to touch the the granite, the granite at all. I know I wouldn't have made a shot. I did that. I did that forever. I was. Are you wait a minute? Wait a minute. Time on. Just go to no. No, what you're saying, Yonic, what you're saying is letting it go and then grabbing the stone and dealing with it a little bit. You can't do that. Like they would catch that. If you're handle handle is fine before the hog line handle you grab the back of the stone like I used to do. You can't do that. No, that's not okay. No, but it would it would it would it would catch you. That's burning a rock. Yeah, but it doesn't right now. It doesn't right now. But I think it the sensors, the sensors would be good enough or what I'm hearing is that handles would be good enough to sense that but it's not activated. Yeah. Hey, the Olympic committees here. They're taking Kevin's gold back. I was I was thinking where was this technology 25 years ago? I would have one more. It sounds like it's double hitting a putt. It's something you're double. Let the rock go people. So so Glenn. Right here's a question. An exam for you. Of all the curlers though of all the ones that you would have played against who let go of the handle and grab the back of the stone. The most to direct rock toss up between you Brad Gouche and John Morris. Why don't you guys just. a little harder. Don't tie it. I've never done it in my life. I'm not saying I don't think I've never saw you do it. Nope. I'm not not and I remember. But it will you do it. I don't know how you pull it off. I'm crying a little bit you guys. Like, good God. It's so funny because I can't believe you on it said that. That's funny. We heard this. We heard this. Yes. Oh, that's great. Glennie, you've been around a long time. You've been curling since the early or the late 60s when you were five or six years old. You win your first one there when you're 25, I guess you're born in 60. 20. Yeah. Something like. Or yeah, 20 something. Got 24, 25. Yeah. You're now going to rack up a bunch of credits as a coach, for sure. You're a sought after guy. Was there like when I when I was watching curling when your brother was the skip and Ontario, whenever that is, that's way back. Were there coaches then, Glenn? And and and why is the coaching? So so you curled when there was no coaches? If you had a coach, what have that made much difference back in your day? Funny. So we had I've never really had a coach per se. We've had like Scotty Taylor, who was part of Bow's Plus. He was like almost he was our coach, but more of a manager, more than anything. Right. I didn't know we didn't really have coaches back then. Very I can't think of like any, you know, my whole career. We just sort of brought a fifth person. We brought Scotty was like our like said, our manager. I think what I you know, I'm learning every day in this game, Jimmy. And I'm not too like I'm not too proud to say it like I it's the game's changing by the minute. And I think the coaching part of it is is fantastic. I think it's it's definitely helping the sport. I think it's definitely helping the players. I'm loving I'm loving the fact that they're allowing the coaches a little bit more say during a game now, which I think is cool. I'm not just saying that because I'm coaching, but I think I think it's a great I think if we had them back when we play, we would have been even better. I I'm a big firm believer of that. Some of the he has the styles and the stuff that I've learned over the over time. I wish I'd known some of this stuff back in the day. Janik, would you ever play a game without a coach? Yeah, we did. Yeah, the cycle even, it's only that cycle that we have a coach all the season where we have a coach all the time on us. No, I think the real benefit is we we work so hard. We try to gain every percentage we have. And if you if you're only by the players, sometimes that outside perspective is missing, like if you're going if you're going down the road, maybe it could happen right now, right? We haven't we have won the last time and we go into that one and maybe we're a bit too on a high and not humble enough. And that's where where a coach can check you, you know, and then put you on the right spot and on the right track again. Last week on our show, Gleny, we were talking about the growing of the game, which is always a topic, de jour, sort of thing. Curling seems to for whatever reason to suffer from this constant criticism about rule changing and all sorts of other stuff and for whatever reason. And I said, if you want the sport to grow, you better start to pour in some cash into the prize money. And half half tongue in cheek. And then and the other half for me is, you know, I was reading a piece this week where one of these new pro events is going to have only a couple hundred grand total in prize money. So what we'll wait to see what happens. What do you think Glen, the game needs to get like the players are elite high performance professional athletes on all level of athletics. And yet it does it seem to be stalling Gleny or do we have to do something to move it along? Jim Jim, you nailed it to start of the conversation. We need money in the game. I've said, Evan said this for as long as we've played the game, you can't make any money. Curling, you can't. It's just to like the my biggest fear is you're looking at one of the faces. One of them arguably one of the best colors on the planet right now is Yannick's wall or I want him to curl for another 25 years. If it doesn't make for Yannick's wall or financially, he can't do it. So there's so much sacrifice that these players have to do. The product right now is it's the highest it's ever been. I as a curling fan, I don't want to see this lost. We have to get monies into the game. But there's a new the Rockleads coming in. This is this is the start of the first row league. This is I think the best chance for curling to get to the next level. The we're going to showcase the athletes more. It's going to be show the personalities and the players. The quality is going to be amazing. And the curlers are going to get paid now a little bit of cash in their pocket. So I think it's just it's what needs to happen to get the curling curling to the next level. What do you say, Yannick? Yeah, I agree. I agree with all of that. I also think though what the slams are trying to do right now with speeding the game up and and putting in the no blank rule helps to get a different perspective of what maybe the crowd wants. I was in all Christmas. I was with two bodies in a bar. They have no curling background. They just watch me watch me curl and they said the European championship for them. It felt a bit almost like a funeral in comparison to their grand slams. It's so it's so it's so much cooler to watch them because it's faster. Every end something is going on. It's more offensive. So they they liked that way more. And I think we have to look into that side as well. Like the guys that have nothing to do with curling. What do they want to see and to me that opened my eyes a bit too. Well, that's going to be fascinating to see all of all of that come around. There's a lot of changes going on right now. Kind of all at the same time. But you know, I think you're right, Glenn. There's after you you've got the slams finishing up this week at the players, which is a bit weird to have the players in January because we've had it April for so long. But then in April, you've got the Rock League starting. So that's kind of a that's that's totally different. But in between, you know, the whole curling sport world shuts down for a month because this huge Olympic Games thing that sort of takes over the whole sporting world, especially curling. I guess the thought here, Glenn, I love to hear your thoughts on on the growth potential this time, maybe more than ever because we've never had growth in curling as big in Asia as we have the last couple of years. And of course, the we had tsunami. I don't know if you saw the the podcast where we had tsunami, you sheet on and she was talking about the massive numbers of Japanese sports fan, the watch curling during the Olympic Games and talking about the growth potential here to do with this the the Olympics as curling is growing so much in certain areas of the world. And and we're curling's positioned and then now with this slams being moved a bit in the Rock League starting. I'd love to hear your over the top view because you and I've talked about all kinds of things and curling over the last 20, 30 years. Your thoughts on that. I think it's the potential is exponential with with the Asian it called the Asian invasion or the Asian influx with with the the you know, Korea, China, Japan with the interest in those countries to be as high as I hear it is. That is obviously a market that we have to tap into and I think that's where this Rock League is going to eventually go. They're going to look at at those markets because the potential is incredible. So if you get huge audiences watching the product then there's can be a bunch of advertising. The curlers can be get more more recognized. More money is going to get into the sport. It's going to take off. As you know, we've been stagged. I really stagged it in Canada for I don't know how many years. We have a little bit of a little blurb obviously in the United States when when Shusty won the the the gold medal. I think that brought out a incredible amount of interest in the United States. That is somebody I think we need as well to get that market going. But to your point, the other countries it's flourishing in other countries. It's just we need the numbers and I think the Asian market is the biggest one where I think we have to tap into and I think obviously the quality of the of the curlers in Asia amazing. And I think that's probably really a good thing that we have that many good teams across the world now. It's it's I see this guy's the limit. Like if I was a canate you know if I was running curling Canada or like if you're like a like Warren Hansen forever or one of these guys you know have been involved in the game for so long and Canada owned that game. Okay Glenn when you would want Canada owned this sport. I would be pissed off that all of a sudden you look up today and 11 of the top 14 teams in the women's curling are not from North America right they're from Asia. Well because guys like Glenn Howard goes in coaches. I know. So I yeah that's what Havard thinks. No. You know you know Havard always appreciates the Canadian coaches coming over. Yeah there's well there you go. So you're draining the pool the talent pool but first I'd be pissed off but then in a serious side of okay. What what are they doing that we're not anymore? How did they get so good so fast it took Canada 200 years you know. They're basically full-time curlers and working their tail off day in and day out and they've just brought their their product to the next level. A lot of the Canadians aren't doing that, and it's for various reasons. And some of it is, it's hard to make a living. And this is something that I think curling candidates are going to have to have a hard look at, moving forward. What they want to do, we've got an incredible deep pool of players, but we're not staying current, relevant, almost. You look at across the world, these teams are just absolutely magnificent, and they've worked their tail off. It's that full-time job, and it's showing that it's a full-time job. We don't have a ton of Canadian curlers that it's a full-time job. Maybe that's what it has to come to. It seems to be working in all these other European and Asian countries, for sure. Case in point, you're looking at one of them right now with Yannick. Yeah, Yannick, I want to ask you about your schedule here. This is your last event. Before you head over for the mixed doubles and of course, for a person in the Olympics. What's your schedule look like between now and then? Because you are one of these teams that have just improved so much, so fast, you're very young, in my opinion, you're still very young. And what's it look like? Over the next couple of weeks before you, you guys take off for the mixed doubles, Olympics. Yeah, so I'm actually heading next week to Tallinn for a mixed doubles tournament. The last one was my wife. Before the Olympics, yeah, we will have practice, of course. But everything is kind of mapped out now. So prior me, my wife, we're going to have a little pre-camp, but we're going to do it at the same place where the team is practicing at, so I can do a bit like half-half. And we can also do practice games against maybe Berneu and Sven, or Berneu and Papa. We'll just go for a little bit more, but we'll do it in a little bit more. So we'll do a little bit more. So we're going to do a little bit more practice. And then we'll do a little bit more practice. So for now, let's go to the next one. Which is a week out of Olympics. It's only a six-hour drive for us. Yeah, we can have a plan. We hope it works. And we'll see in the first game at the Olympics. I didn't realize you still had an event to play in mixed doubles. I did not know that. I'm kind of glad to hear that because that's quite a void. It's quite a void between Sunday of this week when the four-person game is done. To the start of the Olympics, Glenn, from a coaches standpoint. That's quite a few days before the first game of the Olympics from the end of this event. For the rest of your team, like obviously no problem for Yannick and Breyer because they're busy playing in the mixed doubles. But you've got to get the rest of your team making sure they're ready. Is that a concern at all for you? That's quite a few days. Not really. I think because that's just the way it is, Kevin. It's that it's, you know, I guess we could, we might look at doing a challenge game against the team here or there, but we know that's what we have going in. We have done so many meetings as a group to talk about all the possibilities, the pros, the cons, the negatives, the sort of thing, what we could expect. We haven't left any stone on turn part in the fight. We are in a position that we're ready for everything. We've had a really busy year. I don't really think, these guys, I don't think need any more competition. So I'm completely fine with it. But so we all, we'll address a lot of that at the pre-camp. We'll do some games, the sort of thing and get ready. But it is what it is. So it's, you know, you deal with it. You don't worry about it. You just deal with what cards you're dealt with. And I'm completely okay with it. It's really confident where the boys are now, so I have no worries at all. Well, I've never seen, I've never seen this team curl this good. Whatever. Like, no, no, I'm with you Glenn. Well, that's what I sent you a note today on that exact thing going holy cow. Like the boys are on fire right now. So that's just, and the, I guess I want to just ask you because you've got, you've got both going. You're doing mixed doubles and four person. The part that excites you the most when you go to try to get some sleep at night, which has got to be tough right now because like Christmas coming here in a few days, what's the part that excites you the most? Yes. So it's two things. First, just to go there with my wife and the team. Like we worked four years so hard to go. First, you have to qualify. Switzerland for it. And also then you have to qualify yourself from the country. It's been a long road and the project got so big, right? And it's so cool for everyone to go and happy just to go as a group. And then the second thing is, yeah, I think I was like 13 years old. I had my first curtain practice and I said, I want to go to the Olympics and yeah, now I'm going. It's unreal. So it's, it's cool. I'm looking forward to it. Before you go, you heard the conversation a few minutes ago and Glenn was, you know, beautifully outspoken about what needs to happen with curling and the growth of it. He said it's stagnant in Canada. We have the advantage, of course, of doing a podcast that's based in Canada and Kevin gets us the best curlers, including yourself. A lot of the talk from the curlers in Canada about the growth of the game is, is, is kind of negative that they're saying we need a place at the table. We've got to get inside curling Canada. We've got to talk about more money. We got to talk about cresting and sponsorship. It seems to be a mess sometimes in Canada. And as Glenn says, you know, the sport isn't going to grow unless you allow these people to be able to curl for full time, which means paying them full time. Are you set up in Switzerland, Yannick, to be able to curl the rest of your life full time? Not really. Like tough. I would say Switzerland is so small and also the association in comparison, you know, our, we are very dependable of what the WCF and curling Canada is handing us as a package, you know, curling as a product, what they're handing us. We can market with in Switzerland as well, but we are not on the under the impression that we are changing anything special in Switzerland regarding curling for ourselves. It's too, we are too small to have too, too big of an influence. But yeah, no, we're having a, we're having good sponsors. It's okay. But of course, if we do not have a good year in price money, it's tough. We are very dependable to be in the top five and having results. Otherwise, yeah, the ours, our what we take out of curling is much, much lower. And then, yeah, we are, but on me, we are family fathers. The others are having plans, plans with, in the future for sure as well. So, yeah, we, we will need some, we will need a continuation with that for sure, which is never given. So I just think, curling as a package, as a product has to be interesting enough. So a growth can be, can be secured in the future again. What made you so smart? Flan and Kevin were that smart when they were growing up. Listening to Glen since one year. So I'm, yeah, yeah. Before that statement, it was good to put the dynamics together. No, there you go. Exactly. It's the same in any country, that language right there. Yeah, we get, we get it. We get it for sure. Yeah, there you go. Is there a big pressure, Yannick? Do you feel pressure from the Swiss association that you are on the, on the world level? You know, you're not just winning in your own country or you're one of the best in the, in the world. What's it like back home? I heard what you just said about expectations and things. Are they high from you? Is there a big pressure? Yeah. There's always expectation from different parts. Whether it be family, fans, the association, Swiss Olympic or even us, our expectations. I think it's a talk we had to cope with expectations. We really try to be in ourselves and go for ourselves there, but also just try to do good for Switzerland, like being proud to wear, yeah, to wear that flag. But we're, expectations will always be there. We can't change that. But what we can control is our performance, try to become, try to be in the moment. Yeah. But yeah, it's easy to say that now. Maybe in three weeks it will catch up, but that's, that's what the, what's the, what's the best thing you've learned from Glenn? Believe what you see, he always says. No, it's not the best thing, but it's the first thing that comes to mind. Like if ice changes, if there was a scrap with rocks, if I, if I have an intuition about a track, he always goes, believe what you see. So you trust, like trust the broom and believe your intuition, put the broom down and trust it and throw it that way with full intention. You got to pay a guy a bunch of cash to give you four words. Well, the other guy always says normally is enough. So that's not true. Glenn, there's no stop in this team, is that you're, we'll give you the the final word here, this best you've seen in a long time. Jimmy, I'm just really, really pleased to what I've seen in just whole year, the way we built up moving into, winning the slam a couple of days ago, where we're playing already this week. I just love where this team is right now. Who knows? I don't have a crystal ball to find out what's gonna happen in February, but I know these boys are gonna be prepared and ready to go and they're gonna give it 150%. And that's all I can ask is a coach. They're not gonna let me down from an effort perspective and that's all I can ask. And I'm super excited just to see where this journey takes all of us. - Yeah, right on. Yeah, and congratulations. I always get a rush. I always sort of get tingled when I'm talking to a guy who's on his way to the Olympics. I get it, man. I saw Kevin in 2010. I was in the building when he won. And it's just an exceptional, exceptional thing to accomplish and well done and all the best to you, man. Appreciate you coming on and taking the time. Don't wonder, Kevin, how's GDR? Are you losing any sleep? Well, we're keeping them up, Kevin. These late night podcasts, they're right up my alley. (laughing) Glenny, good luck to you, man. Thanks a million for coming on you guys. Appreciate you. - Thanks, Kevin. - Hey, thanks, you guys. - Cheers. Thank you guys. (upbeat music) (bells chiming) (bells chiming) - I'll tell you what, Kevin, there they go. They call him one of the most decorated curlers in the world. Glen Howard, in case you didn't hear it at the beginning, four time world champion, 20 provincial titles. Obviously, Bryers. Yeah, crazy stuff. Crazy stuff. - Crazy stuff. - Yannick, man, does that guy ever sound smart to me? Well spoken, thoughtful. I threw a tough one out of there about, can you curl forever if you curl in Switzerland? And God, he handled it like a juggler. It was beautiful. - He's quite a competitor on the ice. He's got fire. He's got, well, so is his wife, Bryers. So yeah, they're gonna be a tough pair in the mixed doubles. And of course, Ben Juan, Yannick, Miguel, Sven McEl and Pablo LeChotte. That's a tough team. And Glen has really got them going on all cylinders. And I really, I did ask Glen earlier today, just texting with them. And I congratulated him like, holy cow, that's the best I've ever seen them play. Especially Ben Juan, he's on a different level. So they have a great chance getting on podium, I think, in the four person curling in here, here and at the players. Yannick right now is leading the pack. They're undefeated, along with Ross, White and Mauet. So the two Scottish guys and Waddle. - Poor organizers in Steinbeck, the worst nightmare would be the Canadian team starting on to. - Especially, especially Jacob's, 'cause you're wanting them, you know, they're wanting to have a really good flow going in the Olympics. So the crowds are really good here. But everybody knew that, everybody knew that going into Manitoba. You're gonna have good crowds. This is curling country. Kevin, I got a question for you. Are you, if you were on a four man team, going to the Olympics? And your skip, obviously I'm referring to Schwaller, okay, one of the members of your team is curling in the mixed doubles, which starts a full 10 days, I think, before the regular curling or a week. Would you be a fan of that, Kevin's saying, this is great, he's gonna get the curl way ahead of the, before the four man starts? Or would you be a fan of that, or would you say, ah, that's a drag, that's gonna be too much? - Well, but if you look at the other teams, if you're gonna get the men's, you've got Italy, Mujonor, who's throws third on the Italy four man team, him and Stefania Constantini, who's skip of the women's team in Italy, they're playing in the mixed doubles. Look at Scotland, Bruce Mauet, and Jennifer Dodds, they're playing Canada. Of course you got Brett Clawnt and Joss and Peter, but Brett, he's in Sweden, Rhonda Vronto, and then look at Switzerland and so on, down the list. So yeah, a lot of teams are doing it, so in my opinion, if you're lucky enough to have somebody like Yonik Schuall, or if you've got a Gretzky, let's just use, that's a great name. So if you got something like a Gretzky, why wouldn't you want that person playing every possible discipline you could try to get on the podium? Why not? If you're lucky enough to have somebody like that, great. - Well, they do it in skiing, right? You're downhill GS, Slalom, Jyne Slalom, Super G, everything Yonik. So, yeah, speed skating, you know, they can win a pile of medals, so you bet. Hold it. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold it. - Kev, you got your big event coming up. I think we're off air when I told Glenn Howard, I want him to come out and be my partner, Falsie let me down. Falsie let me down last year, okay, in the stick curling. You're doing it again, it was-- - That's what Falsie says, that he let you down. I think that's how he put it. - I asked Falsie, I said, "Are you coming out again?" It's a big pause. Well, Jim, I forgot hip and knee, I don't know, maybe, okay. I could tell he was disappointed in my performance. - You're doing it again, though, Kev, it was highly successful last year, and you're rolling out out again this year. - Yeah, so showdown at the Savo Jimmy. We've got the stick, of course, your event, April 17 to 19, and actually entries are open, and you just go to the Savo Community Sports Center, the website, go to curling, and then you can just register that way. Tons of curling stick teams are already in, as you can imagine. But I have a spot save for you, Jim, don't worry. That's April 17 to 19. The triple starts right after that on the 20th, goes to the 24th of April. That triple was a fantastic event last year that Laura won. - Yes, Laura walked through that. - Yeah, we saw the fight. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're sitting together. - Anyway, and then we have the U25 mixed doubles, and that's April 30th to May 3rd, and then the World Junior Mix doubles curling championship, which was an unbelievable success last year. The Monday, the fourth of May, I'm sure the fourth is a Monday, that's the practice day, and then the fifth to the 10th is the World Championship. So all those events, basically back to back to back to back, presented by Volvo cars of Edmonton, and the title sponsor of the World Junior Mix doubles curling championship is our friends at Booster Juice. - Sure, Dale. - Great sponsors, looking forward to it. I do have some big news coming up in the next few weeks as far as the titles of each event. - Okay. - But we'll do that as they, as everything is done, finalize with all that. We've got a lot of time here between now and April, but it's fast and furious, especially the stick guys, my goodness. Every day. - Set down people, they all want my ass. - Oh man. - Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They all want to play, yeah. - I know that. (laughing) They look at the schedule. They hope they're in Jerome's pool. Yeah, they got the sure victory. Yeah. The practice round is Monday, May 4th, Kev. May the May 4th. - May the, yeah. - And the club I got a punch in here. - I got a punt, I got a punt. May the 4th be with you. - Oh, that's really good. - You know, you've read, you must have invented that. - No, I didn't. - Yeah, I borrowed that. - That is from me honestly. - What do you do now, pal? You're here till, you're there till Sunday. You've got, go back to Edmonton on Monday and then get ready. 'Cause yeah, we'll not be in Italy. NBC, we're calling the games from NBC Studios and Connecticut. Same as last Olympics for Beijing. I'm so be there for pretty much a month. - Which is so fun. - That's love it. Great crew. - Cool. - Yeah, and then when that's done, then we're into Women's and Men's World Championships. So not a lot of rest and then of course, the World Junior Mixed Doubles Championship as well. So tons of World Championships, World Curling, and we are the official podcast as you mentioned earlier. So lots of stuff between the Olympics and the World's, unfortunately I can't do the World Mixed Doubles adult because it's right before the World Junior Mixed Doubles. So there's just no way of being able to be part of that, which is really unfortunate. 'Cause I love, as you know, I love Mixed Doubles Curling. - I know you do. I know you do. I know who loves all of it, Kevin, is, God, I'm getting good at this, is Gold Line. - They do, they do, they do, they do, they do. Yeah, hey, I just saw a picture actually of Team Mauet, they were in Calgary at the Gold Line store in Calgary. - Oh, cool. - It was great. - Beautiful store in Calgary. Yeah, if you're in Calgary, head over to the Gold Line shop over there. Fantastic. But yeah, I just saw a picture. They were visiting there on the way through. And so yeah, when it comes to Gold Line, it doesn't matter, and in Calgary, certainly the case as well, it doesn't matter if you're a beginner or a stick curler, you're gonna have the swagger shoes. Folds you, just tell me, he just got a brand new pair of swagger's. Same shoes that you use for stick, or the shannooks, if you're just getting into it, a beginner or intermediate curler, or if you're the best in the business like Bruce Mauet, Gold Line, Choice Champions, Jim. - And of course I'm a champion. Showed it on out the Savile. What's the website again, Kevin? Where did they go? - Well, you go to the Savile Community Sports Center website, and then just make sure that you go to curling. Obviously, 'cause there's tennis, there's all kinds of things that you want. - That would make sense. - Just scroll down from the top of the page, you see all the choices, pick curling, and then it just says events. And you just go there and you'll see it register and away you go. But yeah, it's been fast and furious, especially a stick. Oh my goodness, that thing's gonna be full. - Good deal. - Right away. - Pump, oh man. Yeah. Anyway, Rob Crapes, we run it together. He's in charge of our city sports at the Salvel and the National Training Center. I mean, I've got to get together because we got to figure out what the maximum amount of teams is we can actually have. We'll stick. Yeah, you know, because we're going to be full pre-quick. Don't overlook me. Okay. Be in fear, people. You will have a spot. Be very afraid. No, probably dodge. You know, but I know that. But we'll see who we can get to curl with you. Happy New Year, everybody. Thanks for staying in tune to Inside Curling. We've been doing a long time and of course you can't do it unless you have people listening. So you are the first people we want to thank on our list for 2025 and going ahead in 2026. Thank you to Goldline, thank you to Volvo and Booster Juice and every other supporter that we've had in the show. Particularly, we're curling. We're the official podcast of World Curling and we really appreciate their trust in us to bringing the great curling news. Kevin, Happy New Year to you, my friend. You've got nothing but work from here till June. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's fun. It is fun. Olympic years or nothing like it. There's nothing more while it's exciting. God, it's exciting to do all those curling games. But yeah, it's a lot of travel and we're all over the place. But wouldn't change it for nothing, Jimmy. If you're a curling fan, tune in tune in this week to SportsNet for all the finals. Semifinals, finals, playoffs are Saturday, Sunday, but Jimmy will make sure that we let everybody know our schedule as far as during the Olympics too, what we're going to do with inside curling. Last Olympics, we did 22 shows in 22 days. That was a lot. So we'll see if we're going to be able to do that again. Well, but we did and it was highly successful. So we will figure that out. We got some pretty big news on the horizon too with inside curling, which we will let that cat out of the bag probably next week. And then we'll have a bit of an idea of the schedule, probably in two weeks time of exactly what we're doing at the Olympics with inside curling. So very exciting stuff. So lots, lots ahead to tell everybody. We are the number one curling podcast in the world just as we're all curling. And thank you, Kevin, for all the work you do. I know what it's like trying to get guests. I've done podcasts and radio shows for a long time and it is frustrating to get guests and you've been unbelievable, Kevin, with everyone you've lined up from start to finish man. It's been just great. And great work with me, Kevin. It was great year last year and looking forward to doing it again, my friend for another year. Okay, partner. It was awesome. It was pretty darn easy to get guests when you have people like Glenn Howard and Yannick Schwaller, you can phone. Yeah, yeah. Top show. Thank you, Mason. Thank you, Mike, our producers. And thank you for listening. We'll talk to you next week after the event is done back. See you later, Kevin. Take it easy. Thanks, Jimmy. Thanks, everybody.