A few notes about the zone system and judging weight The ten-zone system was popularized by the Canadian Champion team of David Nedohin and Randy Ferbey from Alberta. Since it is the sweepers' responsibility to judge the weight of the stone, this system simplifies the communication with the skip. When the delivering stone is released, the sweepers will each shout out which zone they believe the rock will reach, repeating it along the way. Good sweepers can very accurately judge their zones, and sweep accordingly. Sweepers can increase their accuracy at judging zones by using a stopwatch and split-timing a delivery. Split-timing involves measuring the time a stone takes to travel between two points during delivery. Most players will measure from the back line to the hog line, resulting in times ranging from 3 to 4.5 seconds. Depending on a players delivery, the ice conditions and how many examples have been taken, the sweepers can very accurately reinforce their judgement based on this time.

©2012