Whoever hits the Daube shifts the target for everyone. When it pays off tactically, what the rules say about the new position and how to assess it.
The Daube is the movable target in ice stock sport, and it may be moved. Moving the Daube means: you hit the Daube with your stock so that it moves nearer to one of your stocks. The honest answer to "Is that allowed?": yes, as long as it happens through a valid attempt. The IFI rules regulate exactly what then applies.
The core: if the Daube is changed in its position within the target area by an action valid under the rules, it remains in this new position, which is also decisive for scoring [1]. If after a valid attempt the Daube temporarily leaves the target area and reaches it again, it likewise remains in its resting end position, applicable only if no neighbouring field or obstacle was touched [1].
The textbook of the Austrian Stock Sport Federation confirms the basis: in a measure attempt you may well touch the Daube or other stocks, but you do not have the aim of removing them from the target area [2].
The Daube is a target you can move yourself. Tactically powerful, technically delicate under the rules.
Entry criteria (practice standard):
Milestone: You explain to your coach what happens to the Daube when it leaves the target area.
Moving the Daube pays off when your stocks lie on one side and the opponent has best position on the other. The textbook describes for team sport the basic idea of covering the Daube with the first attempt to force the opponent into a harder stock attempt [2]. Whoever shifts the Daube changes the task for everyone.
Milestone: In an end you recognise in which direction the Daube would have to move for your stocks to lie better.
The target is the Daube itself, a smaller target than a stock (rubber ring of 12 cm diameter, 4.5 cm height [3]). You practise first on a large target zone, then smaller. The textbook advises: with beginners you can place several target stocks side by side and shrink the target until the Daube is the target; each hit scores a point [2].
Milestone: You hit the Daube in 3 of 5 attempts without shooting it out of the target area.
After a valid attempt with Daube movement the new position is scored. An attempt into the target area without the Daube being in it, however, is invalid [1]. And: if a player changes a Daube or a stock outside a valid attempt, his team clears its stocks from the target area and the opponents play the end alone to its conclusion [1].
Milestone: You name three cases in which an attempt or the position becomes invalid.
When in doubt, you measure, with a tape or measuring device. Tapes with a magnet and optical measuring devices are not allowed [1]. Whoever changes a stock or the Daube while measuring loses every further measurement comparison [1].
Milestone: You measure only with permitted means and change nothing while measuring.
There is no particular injury risk here, but a rules risk. Misconduct when changing positions costs the end, not points: if your team clears its stocks from the field, the opponent plays the end alone to its conclusion [1].
Train moving the Daube as a mini match: place two of your own stocks and two opposing ones in a situation and play how you shift the Daube so more of your stocks lie nearer. Write down how many stock points you get each time (at most 4). That is practice, not a study finding.
Yes, in a valid attempt. If the position of the Daube in the target area changes through a valid action, it stays in the new position and counts for scoring [1].
It is laid on the centre cross. If a stock stands there, it is pushed aside until the Daube lies [1]. If it temporarily leaves and comes back in, it stays in its resting end position [1].
Every stock lying nearer the Daube after the end than the best opposing stock counts one point, at most four per end [1].
Shortest distance between stock and Daube, with suitable measuring devices. Tapes with a magnet and optical measuring devices are not allowed [1].
Rather not. The textbook advises beginners to consolidate measure and stock attempts first [2]. Moving the Daube presupposes both.
Target Competition Round 4: Combining Deflecting and Bringing