The Awesome World of Curling

Every winter Olympics people start getting excited, throwing around names like Shaun White, Julia Mancuso, Bode Miller or Shani Davis.  We talk about the crazy half pipes being built, the intense skating competition or how nuts you really have to be to jump into the Skeleton event.  But, we never hear names like Scott Baird, Erika Brown or John Shuster or terms like Burning a Rock, Hack or Tee Line.  And, if we did hear those terms we would probably think it was a meeting of ex-cons, not one of the coolest games in all of the Olympics.  Of course, I’m talking about curling.  Curling only seems to be a phenomenon once every four years when the Winter Olympics take place and it only started to be an Olympic sport in 1998.

Every Winter Olympics this sport’s cult following seems to get bigger and bigger, yet none of us really understand what is going on.  We just can’t quite figure out why watching bocce on ice is so fascinating.  I mean, it is literally someone sliding a rock to a bullseye and swiffering around it.

But, here I am, getting all excited when I turn on NBC and see someone concentrating so hard while curling.

So, what is curling?  I mean if we are going to get so involved and so enticed by a sport that makes playing Monopoly seem like MMA, than we better learn more about it. So, here is a short rundown on curling and how it is played:

Terminology:

Just like any other sport, Curling has a language all to itself.  We all have verbiage like RBI, touchdown and double axle ingrained in our minds from growing up, but here is a short list of terminology that you most likely never heard of :

• Burning a rock: A rules infraction when a player touches a stone as it’s traveling down the sheet.
• Button: The very center of the house (bull’s-eye looking thing).
• End: The way a curling game is divided. An end is like a period in hockey. A curling game has either eight or ten ends.
• Gripper and Slider: The two different soles of the mismatched shoes.
• Hammer: The last rock of the end. BOOM!
• Hack: The foothold in the ice you use to push off from when you deliver the stone.
• House: Also known as the rings, or bulls-eye looking thing, at either end of the sheet of ice. It consists of a set of circles, called the 12-foot, 8-foot, 4-foot, and the Button.
• Hurry hard: A directive given to sweepers by the skip or third, to begin sweeping. See team members below
• Rink: A curling team; also the name of a curling facility
• Rock: Also known as a stone, the special granite playing piece that a curler delivers. Regular-sized rocks weigh approximately 44 pounds and nearly all official stones are quarried from the same island off the coast of Scotland.
• Sheet: The frozen playing surface on which the game is played.
• Weight: The amount of force used to deliver a stone.

If you want a more extensive list of terms, check out The World Curling Organization

Players:

Lead: The lead throws the first two rocks of the end (remember like an inning or a period) and sweeps the next six

Second: The second throws the third and fourth stone of the end and sweeps the first two and last four of the end.

Third (AKA mate or vice): throws the fifth and sixth rocks of the end. It is the third’s job to set up the shots that will be thrown by the skip.  The Third also posts the score at the conclusion of the end

Skip: The skip is the captain of the team.  S/he decides the strategy and tells the other players where to throw their shots and when to sweep.  S/he also delivers the last two shots of the end.

Playing the game:

There are two teams of four people.  The goal of the game, over the 8-10 ends, is to try and get one’s stones closer to the target than their opponent.  Each member of the team, as described above, alternate in delivering the stones.  Their teammates sweep the ice in front of the stone to make it go further and straighter all while trying to get their team’s stone to reach it’s intended target.  Besides trying to reach the target, players will also try to knock their opponent’s stones out of the way.

OK- so you want to curl.  Seems easy enough, right?  I mean, I clean my house – I can sweep the ice.  And gliding across the ice?  I may not be as graceful at first, but it should be a piece of cake, right?  Think again.  The stamina it takes to constantly sweep the ice vigorously and glide across takes work.

Curling is an anaerobic sport.  Sweeping the ice so vigorously takes serious stamina and then calming the sweep to deliver the stone takes control.  Conditioning is key.

Remember when I was discussing a graceful – or lack there of if I were doing it – delivery?  Well that takes serious leg strength.  Curlers leg muscles – quads specifically – help deliver the perfect throw.  Staying in that position over and over throughout the game (2-3 hours), takes serious training.  However, more important for curlers who play consistently is making sure to workout both sides of your body because curling can really rely on one leg.  Stretching is also key, think about staying in a deep lunge position on and off consistently for a few hours.  Ouch!  I am begging for my foam roller just thinking about it!

So, there you have it, curling.  Do you curl?  Want to try curling?  We want to see it.  Make sure to tag us on Facebook, Instagram or Tweet us pictures of you trying this totally awesome sport (we even want to see pics of you watching, because I mean you’re basically there doing it, right?).

 Blog written by: Julia Dalton-Brush  @ourfitjourney IG: Juliadaltonbrush