There is a very real desire to protect what you have in any sport. 

Imagine being up 3-1 with the hammer after four ends, playing pre-retirement Niklas Edin. You want to protect that lead against one of the best to ever take the ice. 

There’s a real desire to change how you play. To stop trying to win and begin playing not to lose.

The England men’s football (futebol) team has not won the World Cup since 1966. Everyone desperately wanted them to win. Fans, pundits, the English press, me, my family, and the players on the pitch.

In the semifinal of the World Cup, England battled Lionel Messi, the best player ever. In the first half, they held Messi to 35 touches, and he was in the middle of the pitch getting fouled and harried.

Then England scored. Here’s where they were up 3-1 with hammer. We can quibble with the equivalent score, but England was in control of the game.

At all levels of every sport, there is a moment where you want to protect a lead. Because you’re ahead.

Against Nik Edin, or Brad Gushue, or Matt Dunstone. I’ve watched and commented on games where a team is battling a name-brand squd and winning. I’ve seen teams on curling club ice, where the rocks are unknown, get early leads. And then I’ve watched them play to not lose.

In order to play to not lose, you need systems, sense, and coaching. That can stop you from being afraid to lose. If you’re wondering, England hired a German manager who promised to instil systems and instructions to never play to not lose.

If I were coaching the team up 3-1 with hammer against Edin, I would tell them to keep it on the front foot. He has to take chances and get aggressive, but you don’t. Make his aggression uncomfortable, but try to avoid situations where you are uncomfortable.

That doesn’t mean Edin won’t grind his way back. The top teams never take their foot off the pedal. They are on the front foot at all times, even when they have a lead.

Still, control is control until it isn’t. “You are in a great situation,” I would counsel. “Make their life hard.”

The secret to all sports is to make life hard for your opponent, and keep the game easy for you. This is the secret to both club curling and top-level curling. If you’re throwing guards at skip rocks, and they are throwing 20-foot runners, then you’re in great shape. Unless that 20-foot runner is for a crooked number, then you’re not.

After they scored, England didn’t make life hard. Lionel Messi touched the ball 72 times in the second half. He created. England sat in like a bunch of scared players who didn’t want to lose.

When you play to not lose, you are making life more comfortable for the other team. You’re putting pressure on yourself to stop something and easing the pressure on them to do something.

If you’re playing Edin or Messi, and you give them space and hope, then you run the risk of losing the game you are trying so hard not to lose.