Cauldron in Schaffhausen: Amid the noise of the World Cup fans, the Swiss switch to Plan B

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It doesn’t take much to wow this audience! The World Curling Championships in Schaffhausen are sold out every day – and the 1,100 fans are of course particularly noticeable during the Swiss games. The ringing of cowbells, a sea of ​​flags, clapping and cheering accompany the important stones of Skip Yannick Schwaller (29) and his teammates Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel (32), Sven Michel (36) and Pablo Lachat-Couchepin (23). ).

Viewing on Easter Monday at the IWC Arena. Switzerland meets the Netherlands, is clearly the favorite and urgently needs a mandatory win after last weekend’s two defeats. This is also possible with the 8:5. Although not as dominant as secretly hoped because of a three-man house gift to the Dutch team.

Fans do not have a duty of confidentiality as in tennis

How big is the influence of the unusual noise by curling standards in the Schaffhausen boiler? In ice chess, communication between the players is the most important thing; the commands to the windshield wipers can be decisive in the game. Schwaller after the Netherlands victory on the sound question: “It depends on the shot. If it’s relatively easy and all you have to do is hit a rock, the audience doesn’t matter. But if it is a shot that needs to be precise and requires communication, it would of course be easier, like in tennis where it needs to be quiet.

As is known, in tennis there is a duty of confidentiality while the game is being played on the court. But Schwaller still doesn’t want tennis conditions. ‘It’s wonderful like this. It’s a lot of fun to play here.”

The Swiss skip describes his team switching to plan B when the cheering is drowned out by the cheers. “Every wiper with us is very experienced and knows exactly where the stone should go and what it needs.” And Schwaller adds: “It would be much more difficult for inexperienced teams to play here in this atmosphere.”

An extra stand will be installed on Friday evening

But why does Schaffhausen turn out to be a curling stronghold? It seems to have been a smart move to hold the World Cup in a small but packed venue like the IWC Arena, where 3rd division ice hockey is usually played, rather than in a larger but half-empty stadium.

It is clear that after the second victory, Schwaller hopes to be on the ice in the cauldron until the last day of Sunday, even if he waves it off: “We take it one game at a time.” In any case, it will get a bit louder during the final weekend. On Saturday evening, an additional stand for 300 people will be placed on the fourth ice rink, which is no longer needed.

Source : Blick