The Calgary Sun

Friday, March 7, 1997

The Shoe Fits!

You have probably never heard of Lino DiIorio. You are not alone. Most people, curlers included, wouldn't know a Lino Di Iorio from an Oreo cookie. Ed Werenich didn't.  But if he should win the Labatt Brier, you'll hear Werenich talk a lot about him.Who knows, maybe some day Di Iorio will be curling's equivalent of `Zamboni', part of the sports vernacular.

So who's Di Iorio? He's a fella from Richmond Hill, Ont., whose apparent modification to the curling slide may change the game. In fact, it may have saved Werenich's. "Besides synthetic brooms, it might be one of the most influential things ever in curling," proclaims the Wrench.

It's called the BalancePlus Slider, and it evolved thanks to Di Iorio's decision in 1994, at age 47, to take up curling.

He discovered the game looks a lot easier than it is, especially when you keep coming out of the hack weaving like a drunk.  "I wanted to learn curling fairly quickly, and at the rate I was going it was going to take me about 30 years,"  Di Iorio says.

He figured there had to be a better way so he mulled it over, did some tinkering and came up with a thicker than normal slider with a shallow hole in it under the ball of the foot.

The hole is the key.

Di Iorio, who owns a degree in physics and math, says most curlers slide on just the ball of the foot, Because of the hole, that part of the slider doesn't come into contact with the ice.

"So as you plant your foot, the weight is distributed towards the edge of the foot," says Di Iorio. More sliding surface on the ice, ergo a steadier delivery. Di Iorio had no idea what he'd stumbled upon.

"I used it myself for about six weeks without telling anybody. I didn't know if it was against the rules," he laughs.
After encouragement from other club curlers, he approached two-time world champ Werenich, whose troubles with the wobbles were threatening to turn him into Unsteady Eddie. "He wasn't too enthusiastic, but he was good enough to make time for me," Di Iorio says.  Werenich was floored.

"It was almost instantaneous," he recalls of the improvement. "I said, you gotta make this thing!" "About five years before," adds Werenich, "I'd fooled around with a concave slider, so I knew he was on the right track. But I didn't have the skill to manufacture it." Di Iorio did. He works in a family business making aluminum sliding patio doors. Word spread quickly, especially down east. DiIorio uses much thicker teflon than usual - from 1/8 to 1/4 inch, compared to 1/32 for your ordinary store-bought slider. Ideal for the slower ice surfaces in Eastern Canada. Women and seniors, who sometimes have trouble generating drive, benefit even more than guys like Werenich. "Now it's just a matter of making the shot, instead of worrying about getting the slide," Di Iorio says. And it's easier on the knee too. Di Iorio says seven teams, including the finalists - Sandra Schmirler and Alison Goring - used at at the Scott Tournament of Hearts. He expects five teams will in the Brier. And business? They now have a contract with Brooks, turning court shoes into curling shoes. "It's nice," offers Di Iorio. "What can you say? It's gone from what some perceived as a gimmick, to a real useful tool. That feels good."