Curling: A slip sliding good time!

I went for a Curling Open House yesterday held by the Long Island Curling Club at the Newbridge Arena in Bellmore. I learned some details about the game, got some of my guesses from watching the Olympics confirmed, and even got on the ice to try my hand at it.

So what I now know about Curling (a combo from researching the game and last night):

First it's origin is in Scotland dating back to medieval times. Apparently when an old pond was drained a curling stone was found in it with the year 1511 etched into it and that is the oldest existing stone.
Because I love art here are two works by the Flemish Artist Peter Bruegel the Elder showing people curling :-)

The Hunter's in the Snow

Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap

The equipment:

The stones are between 38-44 lbs and official stones are made in Scotland. This is not something a person usually buys for themselves rather the stones are the property of the club. The bottom of the stone is convex and then in the middle is concave so that there is actually only a small ring that is in contact with the ice.
The brooms used to be corn cob brooms but are now more like brushes with a sponge like fabric at one end. You use the broom to make the stone go further and curl more. As I learned last night a good sweep can add 8-12 feet to a throw.
Now for throwing the stone you need to slide across the ice. So Curling shoes have two different soles. One sole is rubber and this is for the dominant leg that you will be kicking off with from the hack. The other sole is made of teflon (cause you haven't been on ice until you have been on ice and teflon). This is on the foot that you will be sliding on when you throw the stone.
The hack is where you throw the stone from on the ice. It is just a metal support where you basically set up like you would before a race with your dominate foot against the hack. You hold the stone in your dominate hand (in front of the foot in the hack). Now yesterday I was holding onto a pvc support in my left hand but normally I think you would be holding your broom.

The Curling Sheet

Curling ice is not smooth ice like on the street or even in a hockey rink. After the ice has been smoothed it is sprayed to create a pebbling effect on the ice (tiny water droplets freeze making it feel like gravel).

The playing field is called a Curling sheet it is a long rectangle with a house (three circles) painted at either end. Starting from right to left on this picture:
HA: the hack is where the person throwing the stone starts and it sits 12 feet behind the house.
BL: The backline marks the end of the house which is made up of three circles 12 foot diameter, 8 foot diameter and four foot diameter. At the center of the circles is the button.
TL and CL: The Tee Line and Center Line divide the house into quarters. The button is at the meeting point between these lines (direct center). I think the point of this is like the circles in that they help tell which stones are closest to the button.
FGZ: I don't know? Hey I'm learning here :-)
HOL: There are two Hog Lines drawn on the ice (one for each side) which are 21 feet from the button.

Rules of the game

My understanding here is still very basic (and details can be wrong). Each team has four players (Lead, Second, Vise and Skip). The game is played in Ends (like innings). Each team throws eight stones in an end. The Lead throws two, the Second throws two, the Vise throws two and then the Skip throws the last two stones. Team members alternate between throwing and sweeping, except the Skip who (as they said last night) is like the quarterback. The Skip stands by the button directing where the stones should be thrown. Now when you throw you need to let go off the stone before you cross the closer Hog Line and the stone needs to get past the further Hog Line.
You score by getting your stone closest to the button. Only one team scores per end and you get as many points as you have stones closer to the button then the other team. So if you have three stones in the house but only two are closer to the button then the opposing team you score two.
Now when I was listening to the announcers during the Olympics they kept referring to the Hammer. I guessed this meant the last stone in the End and I was right. At another point in one of the final games they said the Skip had to decide if she wanted to do something (I forget what) and risk losing the Hammer. I didn't understand that at all. I learned last night that if the team with the Hammer scores then they lose the Hammer. If the other team scores or if no one scores then they keep the Hammer. So that was the choice. As the young man put it last night (I'm sorry I forget his name) they had to choose if one point would be worth losing the Hammer.

So last night we went into a room with the equipment and got an explanation of a little history and the basics about the equipment. Of course the first thing I did was pick up one of the rocks and yeah they are heavy :-) After that we moved on to the next station where we got a brief explanation of the Curling Sheet and some tips about falling on ice. Then it was time to step onto the ice. First we learned about how it feels to stand on teflon on ice. True to how it sounds it is a slip sliding good time. Then we learned how to position ourselves on the hack and to push off with the stone in our hand (but we held it instead of throwing it) and slide on the teflon sole. The first time I tried this I think I slide about ten feet before I tumbled to the side like a baby learning to crawl. (Yeah that is the best way I can describe it and I am not ashamed). Next we got a few tries at sliding and throwing (really letting go) the stone. We were told to hold on lightly to the stone and that as we start to slow the stone will pull away and we need to just let it go. Then we got to try sweeping. Now there are two people sweeping. One is closer to the stone and one is further and touching the stone will get it disqualified. When holding the broom one hand (dominate hand) is toward the bottom and your other hand is toward the top of the handle. This was difficult. You have to run along the stone not touching it while looking forward so that you don't trip on any other stones in play and sweeping. Sweeping is hard and a good cardio workout. I can see how one can easily be sore after sweeping for an entire game/tournament.

It was a lot of information for an hour of time and well worth ten dollars.

That about sums up everything I know about Curling except for one more thing: I want to know more! Immediately after the Open House was over I signed up (what turned out to be the last spot) for the 2 hour Learn How to Curl on April 5th. Now I hope to get more time on the ice and learn a little bit of technique and maybe an idea of strategy. The Long Island Curling Club has several articles and videos on their site which I will definitely watch before the fifth so I go into this ready to learn.