What is Curling?

The Basics

Curling is played on a sheet of ice with granite stones weighing 42 pounds each. There are four players on a team who take turns delivering (sliding) the stones down the ice.  The game is divided into segments called ends where 16 stones (8 by each team) are slid down the sheet. The goal of the game in each end is to have your team's stones closest to the center of the house (target) at the far end of the sheet. There are different types of shots to accomplish this and they are explained below. 

At the completion of an end, the team with stones closest to the center of the house scores points.  One point is scored for each stone closer to the center than any of the opponent's stones.  Only one team can score in an end.  Stones must be touching the rings of the house to be eligible for scoring.  A typical game lasts eight or ten ends, depending upon the facility where you play.

The Curling Sheet

 
The ice playing surface is called a sheet and is 138 feet long by 15 feet wide. The main features of the sheet are the house (target), the hack (foothold), the hog line and the tee line.

The house is the scoring area consisting of three concentric rings 4, 8 and 12 feet in diameter.  The hack is the foothold where one delivers or throws the stone.  A player delivering a stone must release it before reaching the near hog line.  A stone must completely cross the far hog line to be in play.  The tee line crosses the house at its midpoint.  The spot where the tee line crosses the center of the house is called the button.

The ice surface is not smooth but has a textured surface called pebble, which is formed by sprinkling water droplets over the ice.  The pebbled surface allows the stone to glide with just the right amount of friction. 

The Curling Stone

The curling stone originated in Scotland from large chunks of rock bowled across the ice, none having any particular size or shape. They evolved into what are now matched sets of uniformly made stones, each weighing about 42 pounds. They are all made of pure granite and are amazingly hard. The best stones come from a single quarry on an island off the coast of Scotland.  Due to manufacturing and shipping being quite expensive, sets of curling stones are owned by the club and not by individuals.

The stone is concave on both the upper and lower surfaces.  The surface of the stone that actually touches the ice is a narrow circular band about 1/2 inch wide.  This allows the stone to go farther, more accurately, and to curl more than would be possible with a flat surface.  A handle, usually on a circular plastic disc, is bolted onto the stone.

It's Called "Curling" Because...

A player delivering a stone gives it a slight spin upon release.  The ideal amount of spin will cause the stone to make no more than three complete rotations as it travels the length of the ice.  The spin allows the stone to travel in a curved path as it approaches the house.  The curved path is called the curl.  How much a stone curls depends on the amount of spin, the speed of the stone and the ice conditions.  The faster the stone is traveling, the less it will curl.  Remarkably, more spin does not equal more curl!  

The Team

A curling team is sometimes called a rink and consists of four players.  The skip is the team captain.  He/she sets the overall strategy, calls for specific shots, interprets the ice conditions and throws his/her team's last two rocks in each end.  A skip should be adept at all types of shots as well as making lemonade from his/her teammates' lemons.  The vice-skip, or third, holds the broom while the skip delivers his/her stones, assists the skip in reading the ice conditions and throws rocks number five and six.  The second throws stones number three and four and should be a powerful sweeper.  The lead throws his/her team's first two rocks in each end, setting the tone for how the end will play out.

Types of Shots

Some basic types of curling shots are draw, takeout, raise and guard.  Each is useful in different situations.  When to use each shot becomes evident as you learn the strategy of the game.  Here is an explanation of the terms:

Draw: A stone delivered with just the right amount of speed to stop by itself in the house.
Takeout: A faster shot intended to knock an opponent's stone out of scoring position.
Raise: A more advanced shot designed to bump one's own team's stone into scoring position.
Guard: A stone delivered to the front of the house to protect a stone that's already in scoring position. 

Sweeping

Sweeping in front of a moving stone can affect the path of the stone and is an integral part of the game.  Players who are not taking their turns delivering must be ready to sweep their teammates' stones upon the skip's command.  Friction from sweeping warms up the ice immediately in front of the stone.  Warmer ice produces less "pull" on the stone, causing the stone to travel farther and straighter than it would otherwise.  A pair of good sweepers can not only add several feet to a stone's distance but can also straighten a stone's path.

 

Equipment

Personal curling equipment is very simple and inexpensive.  A broom can be a short-haired brush or cloth-covered pad costing as little as $40.  For footwear, a pair of clean, non-slip athletic shoes will suffice.  A removable slider, about $20, can be worn over one sole.  Specialized insulated shoes are available that incorporate a gripper sole and a sliding sole.  Clothing should keep you warm on the ice but allow flexibility and room for movement.  Jeans are not recommended. Stones are owned by the club and remain at the curling venue.

A Brief History of Curling

The oldest artifacts from the ice sport of curling are stones, today extant but unknown, which prehistoric people slid toward a target along frozen rivers or lakes. These people may also have used primitive brooms to clear snow from the path of their sliding stones.

In 1565, Holland’s Peter Breugel painted "Hunters in the Snow" and another work depicting scenes resembling modern curling. Breugel’s paintings support the premise held by some that curling originated in continental Europe.

The Scots, however, are the undisputed developers and formalizers of the modern game. By 1638 curling was considered, with golf and archery (in M. H. Adamson’s poem The Muses Threnodie), to be a usual recreational pastime. After a huge growth spurt in the 19th century, curling was played by thousands in nearly every Scottish parish.

Between the 16th and 20th centuries, Scotland’s climate warmed, and today the lochs rarely freeze. The climate change hindered curlers, who played outdoors on natural ice until the 20th century. Nonetheless the Scots had, by the mid-1800s, formalized curling’s rules of play and equipment and had established the "mother club" of curlers worldwide, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. The RCCC is today the national governing body of curling in Scotland, with 20,000 active members now playing indoors on refrigerated ice.

The game of curling spread throughout the world through the efforts of thousands of Scottish soldiers and émigrés. In North America, curling’s origins likely date to the late 1700s. The first documented record is the founding of the Montreal Curling Club in 1807.

In 1832, the Orchard Lake Curling Club, near Detroit, became the first curling club in the United States, organized at the home of Dr. Robert Burns. The Orchard Lake group curled on Lake St. Clair. The oldest continuously operating curling club in the United States is the Milwaukee, Wisconsin club, founded in 1845. The Scottish founders’ roster included such names as Murray, Ferguson, Dunlop, Gunyon, Findlay, Kinney, McFarland and McFadyen.

Since the mid-1800s, curling has spread and thrived in northern states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota, and also in the Great Lakes, New England and mid-Atlantic states. There are dedicated pockets of curling activity in other states, including Alaska, Washington, California, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and North Carolina. In all, there are active curling clubs in 26 states in the nation.

In the United States today, there are over 15,000 curlers in over 135 clubs, most of which own their ice facility. While many U.S. curlers have Scottish roots, modern curling club membership rosters tend to reflect an ethnic cross-section of their communities, which are preponderantly small-town rural. The largest curling club in the USA is the St. Paul, Minnesota, club, with over 700 members.

The United States Curling Association (founded 1958) governs curling in the USA. Like that other Scottish sport, golf, curling is both a recreational and an athletic pastime, marked by a strong code of fair play and courtesy (The Spirit of Curling). The USCA is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the World Curling Federation, and has 131 member clubs in 11 regions. Curling debuted as a medal sport in the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Japan. About 1.5 million people from ages eight to 80 in over 33 countries curl.

The above information is from the USCA History of Curling