Inside the Power Dynamic—and Secret Code!—That Makes the U.S. a Curling Threat

Communication is pivotal in curling. Competitors have to think several shots ahead, and strategy discussions often take place among people 150 feet apart at opposite ends of the rink—all while on the clock. (Teams are limited to 38 minutes of “thinking time” per game.)

So it helps that two of the members of Team Peterson—which has a good chance of earning the U.S.’s first Olympic medal in the women’s competition—speak their own language. Tabitha Peterson, the 32-year-old skip, and her younger sister, Tara, are fluent in something called Iber, which was invented by their mother, Gaye, and her sisters. It involves adding ib after the first consonant sound of each syllable (or just adding ib if…