Falling into a career in curling

by Bob Weeks

Toronto - Call him the accidental curler.  Or accidental curling coach, or retail owner/operator or shoe builder or inventor or..

You could go on and on when describing the many curling tangents into which Scott Taylor has moved himself.  And it's all rather remarkable considering he had never even thrown a rock as recently as 20 years ago.

Taylor is the guy behind Curling Depot, the retail curling store operating in Barrie, Ont.  But he's also a partner in BalancePlus, the company the produces the slider with the hole in the middle of it.  And he's managed to find time to become one of the most successful curling coaches in the land, leading teams to national and international championships.

"It all happened a bit by accident," admitted Taylor.  "I'd never really curled before we moved to Barrie in '84.  My wife had played a little in high school and we joined the club for social reasons.  Then we began helping out with the novice clinics."

It was while teaching one of those clinics that Taylor stumbled into what would become his first curling-related business.

"I was organizing a clinic and I went to our local curling store and asked the guy if they would be able to supply equipment like they had done for years before.  He told me he was going out of business"

While initially disappointed at not having the utensils for his new curlers, Taylor was also intrigued, and made some calls and did some research to determine if there was a viable business in selling curling supplies.

Shortly thereafter, he started up Curling Depot, now a regular stop - both in person and on line - for those looking for high-quality curling equipment.

But Taylor's growing passion for the game didn't end there.  He parlayed his initial success in teaching newcomers to the game into more serious coaching, helping out Ryan Werenich's junior team, which eventually led all the way to the Canada Winter Games Gold.

"I spent five years with them and when they graduated from the junior ranks, I thought that was going to be it," Taylor recalled.  "But in their last year at the 1998 Ontario junior, we lost to John Morris and that summer, John called me up and asked if I'd be interested in coaching his team."

That lasted another five years and again, took Taylor far and wide as he kept pace with the highly successful Morris team.

Taylor equated his coaching duties with both rinks as more of a general manager.  He takes care of many of the tiresome off-ice duties that can distract a team from its play.

"Let's face it," admitted Taylor.  "At the level a player like John is at, I'm not going to go out and tell him he should be throwing a specific shot."

As well, with high-profile curling parents such as Ryan Werenich's father Ed, and Morris' father Earle, strategy was already well known.

But Taylor can do everything else from booking plane tickets to putting the team in touch with specialists such as nutritionists and sports psychologists.

It was early in his coaching career, that Taylor had a chance meeting with another individual who would push him even further into the curling business.

"One day, when I was coaching Ryan, I asked him if he wanted to go and throw rocks.  He said he couldn't because he and his dad were going to meet a guy who had a new idea about a slider.  I ended up tagging along."

The man in question was Lino Di Iorio, the founder of BalancePlus.

After showing his now famous slider, Di Iorio asked Taylor if he'd be willing to sell it in his store. Taylor answered positively, starting a long-lasting relationship that has grown to the point where the Barrie entrepreneur is now a partner in the company.

In fact, BalancePlus now operates out of a Barrie location that also includes Taylor's Curling Depot store.

BalancePlus has expanded from producing just sliders to shoes and Taylor foresees further growth into other areas, providing the products are right for the brand.

"We still want to continue to improve the shoe, to keep fine-tuning it," he stated.  "But I can see us broadening the business in the future."

Taylor has also joined up with Di Iorio in another area - that of high-performance development.  Utilizing his coaching
experience, Taylor has helped Di Iorio refine his gaggle of high-tech training aids and the two now work with many of the world's top teams.

"[Di Iorio's] techniques have continued to evolve in a very, very positive way," stated Taylor "I think his engineering background and the fact he didn't start curling until later in life helped him look at the game from a different perspective."

Taylor, who came up through the CCA's training programs, and Di Iorio bounce ideas back and forth on how to improve all aspects of their program, which is geared towards elite players.  They currently work with many curling federations from outside Canada as well as top Canadian teams such as reigning world champion Colleen Jones.

Coaching, retailing, designing, training and even playing - Scott Taylor is truly a curling renaissance man.