Taking a break from practice in Edmonton this week, Kevin Martin admitted he didn't watch the final in last week's world women's curling championship.
For the first time, a team from outside North America or Europe won the title as China's Bingyu Wang led her team to top spot.
Even though he didn't see the contest, Martin wasn't surprised at the outcome, acknowledging that the Chinese women have been good for some time. But the significance of the win wasn't lost on him.
"It's kind of scary looking into the crystal ball and thinking what's going to happen 10 years down the road," the skip of the Canadian champions said.
Indeed. As Martin prepares to defend the world men's curling championship in Moncton today, he is aware that the curling world is changing. The win by the Chinese is just one example of the sport's recent global reach.
In February, a team from Brazil challenged the United States for a spot in the world championship. While the Americans handled them easily, it marked the first time a team from South America had appeared on the curling landscape.
And the lineup of teams in Moncton has a few outside the regular parade of rock-throwing countries, a group that includes Japan and the Czech Republic.
Despite this international growth, Martin said that compared to his first trip to the world final in 1991, he is more familiar with his opponents, not less.
"Back in '91, I didn't know anyone," he said. "Now with the [World Curling]Tour growing so much, we play most of these teams on a regular basis. I'd say we've played half of them already this year."
Many of the international teams spend a part or all of the winter training in Canada. Most have Canadian coaches and are funded by their governments, which eye Olympic medals. That's allowed them to improve quickly and also forced Canadians and others to work harder to keep up. The Chinese women, for example, train eight hours a day, six days a week, and that allowed them to go from never seeing a curling rock to global champs in 10 years.
"Canada is still doing fine," Martin said, "but gone are the days when we were able to keep winning without much effort."
The Canadian rink - completed by John Morris, Ben Hebert and Marc Kennedy - can attest to that. It will play about 125 games this year. When they're not competing, they're training with two on-ice sessions and one gym workout every day.
Martin compared what's happening in the sport to what hockey went through some time ago.
"We were always the best at hockey, and then the Europeans came in and we saw what they could do, how they trained and it was a wake-up call," he said. "That's what's happening in curling, and it's really good for the sport. It's making everyone better."
Martin, 42, and his team in Edmonton will be attempting to win a second consecutive world title. The foursome is playing exceptionally well heading into the event; it was undefeated at the Tim Hortons Brier last month and will attempt to become the first team to post perfect records at both the Canadian and world championships.
His main competition is expected to come from Scotland's David Murdoch, the 2006 world champ and runner-up last year. Norway's Thomas Ulsrud, John Shuster of the United States, Pacific champion Fengchun Wang of China and Switzerland's Ralph Stockli - who is coached by Russ Howard - could also challenge.
Also in the field are Andy Kapp of Germany, who is playing in his 11th world final, Jiri Snitil of the Czech Republic, Ulrik Schmidt of Denmark, Kalle Kiiskinen of Finland, France's Thomas Dufour, and Yusuke Morozumi of Japan.