1999 Brier
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SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
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Master of mind games
Yukon/N.W.T. rink focuses on mental training to visualize winning strategy
In Whitehorse, however, when a youngster pays a visit to Suzanne Bertrand, it's more likely she'll sit them down for a long chat rather than dish out punishment. The same can be said for Bertrand's role as coach for the Yukon/Northwest Territories rink here at the Brier.
Bertrand arrived late Sunday following a stint offering savvy advice at the Canada Winter Games in Corner Brook, Nfld. Her timing couldn't have been better as her squad had fallen to 0-3 after an 11-3 pasting at the hands of Northern Ontario.
The rink was quickly rounded up for a meeting and Bertrand took control of the situation.
"Good or bad we would have done that anyway," said Bertrand, a 51-year-old elementary school educator, counsellor and administrator.
At the time, though, the bad was drastically outweighing the good.
"Frustrations they were having," was a hot topic. "The other one we talked about was what got them off-guard or what was surprising them. We talked a lot about distractions in Whitehorse and we tried to assimilate and tried to do a lot of what-ifs, but it's definitely not like the real thing and none of them have been here before. It's completely different here than it is in a familiar environment."
The hype, the boisterous crowd, the TV cameras and lights - just about everything is bothersome to a team when it's winless and searching for answers.
"She mediated very well," smiled Yukon/Northwest Territories skip Orest Peech, who welcomed Bertrand to the rink just two months ago.
"Mostly what I wanted to do was stress the positive of the three games," Bertrand recalled. "And where do we go now, how do we change this around? We were very structured in our planning - this, this, this and this - and that fell apart a little - partly because I was away."
Unlike most of the other teams assembled for this year's national championship, only Peech and third Paslawski have previous big-event experience and that was at the low-pressure Canadian Mixed finals. Instead, they rely on Bertrand's thorough background.
Since becoming seriously involved in coaching 19 years ago, she's guided her daughter, Michlle Cowan, through three consecutive Canadian Juniors (1980-82) as well as Yukon second Brian Wasnea's step-daughter, Tracy, through two national junior events and the Canada Winter Games.
Her history also includes a handful of appearances at the Arctic Winter Games.
Peech & Co. made the initial approach to get Bertrand onside and once she agreed to the assignment, the recruiters were under her spell. It might be difficult to believe a group of four gruff guys from the land of snow and ice would follow the directions of a petite gal who preached relaxation techniques and visualization, but they've readily accepted her mind games.
"She doesn't get involved in strategy at all - she leaves that up to us as a team," explained Peech. "She does the mental part of the pre-game and post-game.
"It took a little while to get her on board with all the players, but everybody likes her and she's one of the best coaches up in the Yukon so that's the other reason she's there."
As a 19-year-old teacher, Bertrand went north in search of an adventure. Polar bear hunting is one thing. Taking charge of a team that's trying not to get overwhelmed by the rest of the Brier opposition looks just as challenging.
"This team is giving me a neat, new perspective on men. The very big joy of coaching these men is that all of a sudden men are receptive to all this and allow a woman to coach them," Bertrand said. "They're the first men's team that I've seen buy in and really be receptive to mental training. I've tried with my son, Chad Cowan's team, and he was receptive to it but his teammates weren't.
"It's hard to find four men who want to visualize and do imagery and do the breathing and relaxation and really share feelings. Someone will say something and get offended easily, but with the kids they'll tell me more quickly. The adults will keep it to themselves a lot more.
"Because we meet weekly and get them to talk a lot about what they're feeling, what's bugging them, what's a pet peeve, what's a concern - I try to get them to talk about that as openly and as often as possible so it becomes more natural and easier to do."
Virtually the lone female at ice level makes Bertrand unique, but she's personally involved in a very strange situation back home as well. Her ex-husband, Paul Cowan, skipped the Territories at the recent Canadian senior men's bonspiel in Saskatoon. Along for the ride throwing lead rocks was Bertrand's new partner, Gerry Coukell.
It's an extremely small circle of curling fanatics in the Great White North. But what else is there to do on a dark and dreary winter's eve?