Winnipeg Free Press
October 23, 2003 Winnipeg
Free Press
Curlers
hope success is in the stars.Calgary
women look for edge from astrology.
WHILE
most curling teams focus on reading the ice, the Heather Rankin
team from Calgary also reads the stars.
Well, actually the
team's manager, Chrysta Lewis, an astro-psychologist, handles
the star-studying for skip Rankin, third Denise Kinghorn-Frey,
second Heather Bedard and lead Cori Bartel, who are in Winnipeg
for the JVC Women's Classic, which began yesterday and concludes
Sunday at the Fort Rouge Curling Club.
The Rankin team is one
of 32 teams competing in the JVC Women's Classic, the second
of three Manitoba events that count toward the Canada Cup standings,
but it's safe to say Team Rankin is the only team here traveling
with their own astrology advisor who prepares their charts.
"It's
different, that's for sure, but we're going our own path," laughed
Rankin, 33, who formed this team last April after taking last
season off from competitive curling. "It's not like we sit there
with telescopes looking at the sky. The astrology part has to
do with team building. This (astrology) just gives you another
view of things to work on from a personal-growth standpoint.
It's been bang-on so far but no matter what, you are learning
something about yourself."
She said there's been no end to the
ribbing the team has had to put up with but they're taking it
in stride because they've got a bigger plan.
"Our friends, partners,
family, they all think we're bonkers," said
Rankin, who competed in the 2001 Olympic trials with her former
team, which included Kinghorn-Frey. "It's just kind of fun. It's
something unique."
The Rankin team is pulling together to chase
the ultimate goals of a berth in the 2005 Olympic trials and
qualification for the 2006 Olympics. A win here at the JVC Women's
Classic would be a step in the right direction.
The JVC Women's
Classic is one of the richest Women's Curling Tour events in
terms of purse money - $50,000 is up for grabs - and
the winner here will earn a berth in the $100,000 JVC Skins Game
Dec. 13 - 14 in St. Thomas , Ont.
The other three Skins teams
are Colleen Jones, the four-time Canadian and former world champion
from Nova Scotia , American Debbie McCormick, who is the current
world champion, and Canada Cup winner Sherry Middaugh of Ontario
.
Rankin said Lewis, who doesn't curl but handles team business
such as travel arrangements, joined the team when it formed last
spring and did their birth charts.
"She was able to tell us a
lot about the relationships between each member of the team," said
Rankin, noting that the birth charts reveal individual characteristics
according to where the planets were when someone was born.
"A
big positive is that we have not gone through the stormy times
that new teams usually go through. Now is that because we're
lucky or because we've put more focus on communication?"
Rankin
said a good example of Lewis' astro-psychology in action came
a few weeks ago when "mercury was in retrograde," which
happens about every three months, making communication more difficult.
The team members took care to articulate what they were feeling.
Lewis, who has nearly completed the astro-psychology course she
is taking from Australia over the Internet, said astro-psychology "combines
the practises of astrology and psychology for a more complete
understanding of an individual's psyche."
How it applies to curling
is relative to interaction between members. The shots and sweeping
is where technical support from Calgary 's National Training
Centre comes in.
"People will often find fault with what they
don't understand, " Lewis,
27, said. "The girls are all really open-minded and up for trying
something new. It's strengthened their bond and team dynamic,
they're more open and honest with communication. The masks are
off. A lot of curling teams play together years and years trying
to discover that dynamic."
Rankin also finds the astrology aspect
provides a convenient scapegoat to lighten things up. "You can
blame it. If you miss your last shot, you can say, "hey,
the sun is too close to the earth right now!" she laughed. "But
really, we've been working very hard on the technical aspects
and execution part of our game."
Ashley Prest
