Team sport played on ice
This article is about the sport.
For other uses, see Curling (disambiguation)
Not to be confused with hurling
Curling ♣ is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented ♣ into four concentric circles.
It is related to bowls, boules and shuffleboard.
Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding heavy, ♣ polished granite stones, also called rocks, across the ice curling sheet toward the house, a circular target marked on the ♣ ice.
[2] Each team has eight stones, with each player throwing two.
The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a ♣ game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each ♣ end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones once.
A game usually consists of eight or ♣ ten ends.
The player can induce a curved path, described as curl, by causing the stone to slowly rotate as it ♣ slides.
The path of the rock may be further influenced by two sweepers with brooms or brushes, who accompany it as ♣ it slides down the sheet and sweep the ice in front of the stone.
"Sweeping a rock" decreases the friction, which ♣ makes the stone travel a straighter path (with less curl) and a longer distance.
A great deal of strategy and teamwork ♣ go into choosing the ideal path and placement of a stone for each situation, and the skills of the curlers ♣ determine the degree to which the stone will achieve the desired result.
History [ edit ]
Detail from a reproduction of Winter ♣ Landscape with a Bird Trap (Bruegel, 1565)
Evidence that curling existed in Scotland in the early 16th century includes a curling ♣ stone inscribed with the date 1511 found (along with another bearing the date 1551) when an old pond was drained ♣ at Dunblane, Scotland.
[3] The world's oldest curling stone and the world's oldest football are now kept in the same museum ♣ (the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum) in Stirling.
[4] The first written reference to a contest using stones on ice ♣ coming from the records of Paisley Abbey, Renfrewshire, in February 1541.
[5] Two paintings, "Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap" and ♣ "The Hunters in the Snow" (both dated 1565) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, depict Flemish peasants curling, albeit without brooms; ♣ Scotland and the Low Countries had strong trading and cultural links during this period, which is also evident in the ♣ history of golf.[6]
A curling match at Eglinton Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland in 1860.
The curling house is located to the left of ♣ the picture.
The word curling first appears in print in 1620 in Perth, Scotland, in the preface and the verses of ♣ a poem by Henry Adamson.
[7][8] The sport was (and still is, in Scotland and Scottish-settled regions like southern New Zealand) ♣ also known as "the roaring game" because of the sound the stones make while traveling over the pebble (droplets of ♣ water applied to the playing surface).
[9] The verbal noun curling is formed from the Scots (and English) verb curl,[10] which ♣ describes the motion of the stone.
Group of people curling on a lake in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, c.1897
Kilsyth Curling Club ♣ claims to be the first club in the world, having been formally constituted in 1716;[11] it is still in existence ♣ today.
[12] Kilsyth also claims the oldest purpose-built curling pond in the world at Colzium, in the form of a low ♣ dam creating a shallow pool some 100 by 250 metres (330 by 820 ft) in size.
The International Olympic Committee recognises ♣ the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (founded as the Grand Caledonian Curling Club in 1838) as developing the first official rules ♣ for the sport.[13]
Men curling in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1909
In the early history of curling, the playing stones were simply ♣ flat-bottomed stones from rivers or fields, which lacked a handle and were of inconsistent size, shape, and smoothness.
[14][15] Some early ♣ stones had holes for a finger and the thumb, akin to ten-pin bowling balls.
[16] Unlike today, the thrower had little ♣ control over the 'curl' or velocity and relied more on luck than on precision, skill, and strategy.
The sport was often ♣ played on frozen rivers although purpose-built ponds were later created in many Scottish towns.
[17] For example, the Scottish poet David ♣ Gray describes whisky-drinking curlers on the Luggie Water at Kirkintilloch.[18][19]
In Darvel, East Ayrshire, the weavers relaxed by playing curling matches ♣ using the heavy stone weights from the looms' warp beams, fitted with a detachable handle for the purpose.
[21] Central Canadian ♣ curlers often used 'irons' rather than stones until the early 1900s; Canada is the only country known to have done ♣ so, while others experimented with wood or ice-filled tins.[22]
Outdoor curling was very popular in Scotland between the 16th and 19th ♣ centuries because the climate provided good ice conditions every winter.
Scotland is home to the international governing body for curling, the ♣ World Curling Federation in Perth, which originated as a committee of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, the mother club of ♣ curling.
In the 19th century several private railway stations in the United Kingdom were built to serve curlers attending bonspiels, such ♣ as those at Aboyne, Carsbreck, and Drummuir.[23]
Curling at the Huntsville Curling Club, 1960
Today, the sport is most firmly established in ♣ Canada, having been taken there by Scottish emigrants.
The Royal Montreal Curling Club, the oldest established sports club still active in ♣ North America,[24] was established in 1807.
The first curling club in the United States was established in 1830, and the sport ♣ was introduced to Switzerland and Sweden before the end of the 19th century, also by Scots.
Today, curling is played all ♣ over Europe and has spread to Brazil, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Korea.[25]
The first world championship for curling was ♣ limited to men and was known as the Scotch Cup, held in Falkirk and Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1959.
The first world ♣ title was won by the Canadian team from Regina, Saskatchewan, skipped by Ernie Richardson.
(The skip is the team member who ♣ calls the shots; see below.)
Curling was one of the first sports that was popular with women and girls.
[26]Olympics [ edit ♣ ]
Curling at the Youth Olympic Games 2012Curling pictogram
Curling has been a medal sport in the Winter Olympic Games since the ♣ 1998 Winter Olympics.
It currently includes men's, women's, and mixed doubles tournaments (the mixed doubles event was held for the first ♣ time in 2018).[27]
In February 2002, the International Olympic Committee retroactively decided that the curling competition from the 1924 Winter Olympics ♣ (originally called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver, or International Winter Sports Week) would be considered official Olympic events and no longer ♣ be considered demonstration events.
Thus, the first Olympic medals in curling, which at the time was played outdoors, were awarded for ♣ the 1924 Winter Games, with the gold medal won by Great Britain, two silver medals by Sweden, and the bronze ♣ by France.
A demonstration tournament was also held during the 1932 Winter Olympic Games between four teams from Canada and four ♣ teams from the United States, with Canada winning 12 games to 4.[28][29]
Since the sport's official addition in the 1998 Olympics, ♣ Canada has dominated the sport with their men's teams winning gold in 2006, 2010, and 2014, and silver in 1998 ♣ and 2002.
The women's team won gold in 1998 and 2014, a silver in 2010, and a bronze in 2002 and ♣ 2006.
The mixed doubles team won gold in 2018.
Equipment [ edit ]
The playing area in curling is shown here.
Stones must land ♣ between the hog line (bottom of photo) and the back line (behind the rings) and may not contact boards or ♣ out lines (on the sides) at any time during travel.
Curling sheet [ edit ]
Detail of the curling sheet.
The 12-foot circle ♣ covers the backline.
The playing surface or curling sheet is defined by the World Curling Federation Rules of Curling.
[30] It is ♣ a rectangular area of ice, carefully prepared to be as flat and level as possible, 146 to 150 feet (45 ♣ to 46 m) in length by 14.5 to 16.5 feet (4.4 to 5.0 m) in width.
The shorter borders of the ♣ sheet are called the backboards.
A target, the house, is centred on the intersection of the centre line, drawn lengthwise down ♣ the centre of the sheet and the tee line, drawn 16 feet (4.
9 m) from, and parallel to, the backboard.
These ♣ lines divide the house into quarters.
The house consists of a centre circle (the button) and three concentric rings, of diameters ♣ 4, 8, and 12 feet, formed by painting or laying a coloured vinyl sheet under the ice and are usually ♣ distinguished by colour.
A stone must at least touch the outer ring in order to score (see Scoring below); otherwise, the ♣ rings are merely a visual aid for aiming and judging which stone is closer to the button.
Two hog lines are ♣ drawn 37 feet (11 m) from, and parallel to, the backboard.
The hacks, which give the thrower something to push against ♣ when making the throw, are fixed 12 feet (3.
7 m) behind each button.
On indoor rinks, there are usually two fixed ♣ hacks, rubber-lined holes, one on each side of the centre line, with the inside edge no more than 3 inches ♣ (76 mm) from the centre line and the front edge on the hack line.
A single moveable hack may also be ♣ used.
The ice may be natural but is usually frozen by a refrigeration plant pumping a brine solution through numerous pipes ♣ fixed lengthwise at the bottom of a shallow pan of water.
Most curling clubs have an ice maker whose main job ♣ is to care for the ice.
At the major curling championships, ice maintenance is extremely important.
Large events, such as national/international championships, ♣ are typically held in an arena that presents a challenge to the ice maker, who must constantly monitor and adjust ♣ the ice and air temperatures as well as air humidity levels to ensure a consistent playing surface.
It is common for ♣ each sheet of ice to have multiple sensors embedded in order to monitor surface temperature, as well as probes set ♣ up in the seating area (to monitor humidity) and in the compressor room (to monitor brine supply and return temperatures).
The ♣ surface of the ice is maintained at a temperature of around 23 °F (−5 °C).[31]
A key part of the preparation ♣ of the playing surface is the spraying of water droplets onto the ice, which form pebble on freezing.
The pebbled ice ♣ surface resembles an orange peel, and the stone moves on top of the pebbled ice.
[32] The pebble, along with the ♣ concave bottom of the stone, decreases the friction between the stone and the ice, allowing the stone to travel farther.
[33] ♣ As the stone moves over the pebble, any rotation of the stone causes it to curl, or travel along a ♣ curved path.
The amount of curl (commonly referred to as the feet of curl) can change during a game as the ♣ pebble wears; the ice maker must monitor this and be prepared to scrape and re-pebble the surface prior to each ♣ game.[34]
A curling sheet, with dimensions in feet (1' = 1 ft = 0.3 m).
CL: Centreline • HOL: Hogline • TL: ♣ Teeline • BL: Backline • HA: Hackline with Hacks • FGZ: Free Guard Zone
Curling stone [ edit ]
The curling stone ♣ (also sometimes called a rock in North America) is made of granite and is specified by the World Curling Federation, ♣ which requires a weight between 17.24 and 19.96 kilograms (38.0 and 44.
0 lb), a maximum circumference of 914 millimetres (36.
0 ♣ in), and a minimum height of 114.3 millimetres (4.5 in).
[30] The only part of the stone in contact with the ♣ ice is the running surface, a narrow, flat annulus or ring, 6.4 to 12.7 millimetres (0.25 to 0.
50 in) wide ♣ and about 130 millimetres (5.
1 in) in diameter; the sides of the stone bulge convex down to the ring, with ♣ the inside of the ring hollowed concave to clear the ice.
This concave bottom was first proposed by J.S.
Russell of Toronto, ♣ Ontario, Canada sometime after 1870, and was subsequently adopted by Scottish stone manufacturer Andrew Kay.[22]
The curling stone or rock is ♣ made of granite An old-style curling stone
The granite for the stones comes from two sources: Ailsa Craig, an island off ♣ the Ayrshire coast of Scotland, and the Trefor Granite Quarry, North of the Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd in Wales.
These locations provide ♣ four variations in colour known as Ailsa Craig Common Green, Ailsa Craig Blue Hone, Blue Trefor and Red Trefor.[35]
Blue Hone ♣ has very low water absorption, which prevents the action of repeatedly freezing water from eroding the stone.
[36] Ailsa Craig Common ♣ Green is a lesser quality granite than Blue Hone.
In the past, most curling stones were made from Blue Hone, but ♣ the island is now a wildlife reserve, and the quarry is restricted by environmental conditions that exclude blasting.
Kays of Scotland ♣ has been making curling stones in Mauchline, Ayrshire, since 1851 and has the exclusive rights to the Ailsa Craig granite, ♣ granted by the Marquess of Ailsa, whose family has owned the island since 1560.
According to the 1881 Census, Andrew Kay ♣ employed 30 people in his curling stone factory in Mauchline.
[37] The last harvest of Ailsa Craig granite by Kays took ♣ place in 2013, after a hiatus of 11 years; 2,000 tons were harvested, sufficient to fill anticipated orders through at ♣ least 2020.
Kays have been involved in providing curling stones for the Winter Olympics since Chamonix in 1924 and has been ♣ the exclusive manufacturer of curling stones for the Olympics since the 2006 Winter Olympics.[38][39]
Trefor granite comes from the Yr Eifl ♣ or Trefor Granite Quarry in the village of Trefor on the north coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales ♣ and has produced granite since 1850.
Trefor granite comes in shades of pink, blue, and grey.
[40] The quarry supplies curling stone ♣ granite exclusively to the Canada Curling Stone Company, which has been producing stones since 1992 and supplied the stones for ♣ the 2002 Winter Olympics.
A handle is attached by a bolt running vertically through a hole in the centre of the ♣ stone.
The handle allows the stone to be gripped and rotated upon release; on properly prepared ice the rotation will bend ♣ (curl) the path of the stone in the direction in which the front edge of the stone is turning, especially ♣ as the stone slows.
Handles are coloured to identify each team, two popular colours in major tournaments being red and yellow.
In ♣ competition, an electronic handle known as the Eye on the Hog may be fitted to detect hog line violations.
This electronically ♣ detects whether the thrower's hand is in contact with the handle as it passes the hog line and indicates a ♣ violation by lights at the base of the handle (see delivery below).
The eye on the hog eliminates human error and ♣ the need for hog line officials.
It is mandatory in high-level national and international competition, but its cost, around US$650 each, ♣ currently puts it beyond the reach of most curling clubs.
Curling broom [ edit ]Curling broom
The curling broom, or brush, is ♣ used to sweep the ice surface in the path of the stone (see sweeping) and is also often used as ♣ a balancing aid during delivery of the stone.
Prior to the 1950s, most curling brooms were made of corn strands and ♣ were similar to household brooms of the day.
In 1958, Fern Marchessault of Montreal inverted the corn straw in the centre ♣ of the broom.
This style of corn broom was referred to as the Blackjack.[41]
Artificial brooms made from human-made fabrics rather than ♣ corn, such as the Rink Rat, also became common later during this time period.
Prior to the late sixties, Scottish curling ♣ brushes were used primarily by some of the Scots, as well as by recreational and elderly curlers, as a substitute ♣ for corn brooms, since the technique was easier to learn.
In the late sixties, competitive curlers from Calgary, Alberta, such as ♣ John Mayer, Bruce Stewart, and, later, the world junior championship teams skipped by Paul Gowsell, proved that the curling brush ♣ could be just as (or more) effective without all the blisters common to corn broom use.
[41] During that time period, ♣ there was much debate in competitive curling circles as to which sweeping device was more effective: brush or broom.
Eventually, the ♣ brush won out with the majority of curlers making the switch to the less costly and more efficient brush.
Today, brushes ♣ have replaced traditional corn brooms at every level of curling; it is rare now to see a curler using a ♣ corn broom on a regular basis.
Curling brushes may have fabric, hog hair, or horsehair heads.
Modern curling brush handles are usually ♣ hollow tubes made of fibreglass or carbon fibre instead of a solid length of wooden dowel.
These hollow tube handles are ♣ lighter and stronger than wooden handles, allowing faster sweeping and also enabling more downward force to be applied to the ♣ broom head with reduced shaft flex.
Following the "broomgate" controversy, these mustard-yellow broom-heads are the only legal broom-heads certified by the ♣ World Curling Federation for competitive play.
New "directional fabric" brooms were introduced in 2014.
Dubbed the "broomgate" controversy, they were able to ♣ better navigate the path of a curling stone than existing brooms.
Players were worried that these brooms would alter the fundamentals ♣ of the sport by reducing the level of skill required, accusing them of giving players an unfair advantage, and at ♣ least thirty-four elite teams signed a statement pledging not to use them.
[42][43] The new brooms were temporarily banned by the ♣ World Curling Federation and Curling Canada[44] for the 2015–2016 season.
As a result of the "broomgate" controversy, as of 2016, only ♣ one standardized brush head is approved by the World Curling Federation for competitive play.[45]Shoes [ edit ]
Curling shoes, showing a ♣ slider sole
Curling shoes are similar to ordinary athletic shoes except for special soles; the slider shoe (usually known as a ♣ "slider") is designed for the sliding foot and the "gripper shoe" (usually known as a gripper) for the foot that ♣ kicks off from the hack.
The slider is designed to slide and typically has a Teflon sole.
It is worn by the ♣ thrower during delivery from the hack and by sweepers or the skip to glide down the ice when sweeping or ♣ otherwise traveling down the sheet quickly.
Stainless steel and "red brick" sliders with lateral blocks of PVC on the sole are ♣ also available as alternatives to Teflon.
Most shoes have a full-sole sliding surface, but some shoes have a sliding surface covering ♣ only the outline of the shoe and other enhancements with the full-sole slider.
Some shoes have small disc sliders covering the ♣ front and heel portions or only the front portion of the foot, which allow more flexibility in the sliding foot ♣ for curlers playing with tuck deliveries.
[46] When a player is not throwing, the player's slider shoe can be temporarily rendered ♣ non-slippery by using a slip-on gripper.
Ordinary athletic shoes may be converted to sliders by using a step-on or slip-on Teflon ♣ slider or by applying electrical or gaffer tape directly to the sole or over a piece of cardboard.
This arrangement often ♣ suits casual or beginning players.
The gripper is worn by the thrower on the foot that kicks off from the hack ♣ during delivery and is designed to grip the ice.
It may have a normal athletic shoe sole or a special layer ♣ of rubbery material applied to the sole of a thickness to match the sliding shoe.
The toe of the hack foot ♣ shoe may also have a rubberised coating on the top surface or a flap that hangs over the toe to ♣ reduce wear on the top of the shoe as it drags on the ice behind the thrower.
Other equipment [ edit ♣ ]
Other types of equipment include:
Curling pants, made to be stretchy to accommodate the curling delivery.
A stopwatch to time the stones ♣ over a fixed distance to calculate their speed.
Stopwatches can be attached either to clothing or the broom.
Curling gloves and mittens, ♣ to keep the hands warm and improve grip on the broom.
Gameplay [ edit ]
At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Mark Nichols ♣ from Team Canada delivers a stone while his teammates look on, ready to begin sweeping.
The curler uses his broom to ♣ help keep his balance during delivery.
The purpose of a game is to score points by getting stones closer to the ♣ house centre, or the "button", than the other team's stones.
[47] Players from either team alternate in taking shots from the ♣ far side of the sheet.
An end is complete when all eight rocks from each team have been delivered, a total ♣ of sixteen stones.
If the teams are tied at the end of regulation, often extra ends are played to break the ♣ tie.
The winner is the team with the highest score after all ends have been completed (see Scoring below).
A game may ♣ be conceded if winning the game is infeasible.
International competitive games are generally ten ends, so most of the national championships ♣ that send a representative to the World Championships or Olympics also play ten ends.
However, there is a movement on the ♣ World Curling Tour to make the games only eight ends.
[48] Most tournaments on that tour are eight ends, as are ♣ the vast majority of recreational games.
In international competition, each side is given 73 minutes to complete all of its throws.
Each ♣ team is also allowed two minute-long timeouts per 10-end game.
If extra ends are required, each team is allowed 10 minutes ♣ of playing time to complete its throws and one added 60-second timeout for each extra end.
However, the "thinking time" system, ♣ in which the delivering team's game timer stops as soon as the shooter's rock crosses the t-line during the delivery, ♣ is becoming more popular, especially in Canada.
This system allows each team 38 minutes per 10 ends, or 30 minutes per ♣ 8 ends, to make strategic and tactical decisions, with 4 minutes and 30 seconds an end for extra ends.
[49] The ♣ "thinking time" system was implemented after it was recognized that using shots which take more time for the stones to ♣ come to rest was being penalized in terms of the time the teams had available compared to teams which primarily ♣ use hits which require far less time per shot.
Delivery [ edit ]
The process of sliding a stone down the sheet ♣ is known as the delivery or throw.
Players, with the exception of the skip, take turns throwing and sweeping; when one ♣ player (e.g.
, the lead) throws, the players not delivering (the second and third) sweep (see Sweeping, below).
When the skip throws, ♣ the vice-skip takes their role.
The skip, or the captain of the team, determines the desired stone placement and the required ♣ weight, turn, and line that will allow the stone to stop there.
The placement will be influenced by the tactics at ♣ this point in the game, which may involve taking out, blocking, or tapping another stone.
The weight of the stone is ♣ its velocity, which depends on the leg drive of the delivery rather than the arm.
of the stone is its velocity, ♣ which depends on the leg drive of the delivery rather than the arm.
The turn or curl is the rotation of ♣ the stone, which gives it a curved trajectory.
or is the rotation of the stone, which gives it a curved trajectory.
The ♣ line is the direction of the throw ignoring the effect of the turn.
The skip may communicate the weight, turn, line, ♣ and other tactics by calling or tapping a broom on the ice.
In the case of a takeout, guard, or a ♣ tap, the skip will indicate the stones involved.
Before delivery, the running surface of the stone is wiped clean and the ♣ path across the ice swept with the broom if necessary, since any dirt on the bottom of a stone or ♣ in its path can alter the trajectory and ruin the shot.
Intrusion by a foreign object is called a pick-up or ♣ pick.
Players must push out of the hack to deliver their stones.
95% of hacks in use around the world are Marco ♣ Hacks, which were invented in the 1980s by Marco Ferraro.[50]
Outdoor curling on Stormont Loch.
[51] The stone is delivered from an ♣ iron crampit[52] rather than the hack used indoors
The thrower starts from the hack.
The thrower's gripper shoe (with the non-slippery sole) ♣ is positioned against one of the hacks; for a right-handed curler the right foot is placed against the left hack ♣ and vice versa for a left-hander.
The thrower, now in the hack, lines the body up with shoulders square to the ♣ skip's broom at the far end for line.
The stone is placed in front of the foot now in the hack.
Rising ♣ slightly from the hack, the thrower pulls the stone back (some older curlers may actually raise the stone in this ♣ backward movement) then lunges smoothly out from the hack pushing the stone ahead while the slider foot is moved in ♣ front of the gripper foot, which trails behind.
The thrust from this lunge determines the weight, and hence the distance the ♣ stone will travel.
Balance may be assisted by a broom held in the free hand with the back of the broom ♣ down so that it slides.
One older writer suggests the player keep "a basilisk glance" at the mark.[53]
There are two common ♣ types of delivery currently, the typical flat-foot delivery and the Manitoba tuck delivery where the curler slides on the front ♣ ball of their foot.[54]
When the player releases the stone, a rotation (called the turn) is imparted by a slight clockwise ♣ or counter-clockwise twist of the handle from around the two or ten o'clock position to the twelve o'clock on release.
A ♣ typical rate of turn is about 2+1⁄2 rotations before coming to a rest.
The stone must be released before its front ♣ edge crosses the near hog line.
In major tournaments, the "Eye on the Hog" sensor is commonly used to enforce this ♣ rule.
The sensor is in the handle of the stone and will indicate whether the stone was released before the near ♣ hog line.
The lights on the stone handle will either light up green, indicating that the stone has been legally thrown, ♣ or red, in which case the illegally thrown stone will be immediately pulled from play instead of waiting for the ♣ stone to come to rest.
The stone must clear the far hog line or else be removed from play (hogged); an ♣ exception is made if a stone fails to come to rest beyond the far hog line after rebounding from a ♣ stone in play just past the hog line.
Sweeping [ edit ]
The skip of Team Sweden joins the front end in ♣ sweeping a stone into the house at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver
After the stone is delivered, its trajectory is ♣ influenced by the two sweepers under instruction from the skip.
Sweeping is done for several reasons: to make the stone travel ♣ farther, to decrease the amount of curl, and to clean debris from the stone's path.
[55] Sweeping is able to make ♣ the stone travel farther and straighter by slightly melting the ice under the brooms, thus decreasing the friction as the ♣ stone travels across that part of the ice.
The stones curl more as they slow down, so sweeping early in travel ♣ tends to increase distance as well as straighten the path, and sweeping after sideways motion is established can increase the ♣ sideways distance.
One of the basic technical aspects of curling is knowing when to sweep.
When the ice in front of the ♣ stone is swept a stone will usually travel both farther and straighter, and in some situations one of those is ♣ not desirable.
For example, a stone may be traveling too fast (said to have too much weight) but require sweeping to ♣ prevent curling into another stone.
The team must decide which is better: getting by the other stone but traveling too far, ♣ or hitting the stone.
Much of the yelling that goes on during a curling game is the skip and sweepers exchanging ♣ information about the stone's line and weight and deciding whether to sweep.
The skip evaluates the path of the stone and ♣ calls to the sweepers to sweep as necessary to maintain the intended track.
The sweepers themselves are responsible for judging the ♣ weight of the stone, ensuring that the length of travel is correct and communicating the weight of the stone back ♣ to the skip.
Many teams use a number system to communicate in which of 10 zones the sweepers estimate the stone ♣ will stop.
Some sweepers use stopwatches to time the stone from the back line or tee line to the nearest hog ♣ line to aid in estimating how far the stone will travel.
Usually, the two sweepers will be on opposite sides of ♣ the stone's path, although depending on which side the sweepers' strengths lie this may not always be the case.
Speed and ♣ pressure are vital to sweeping.
In gripping the broom, one hand should be one third of the way from the top ♣ (non-brush end) of the handle while the other hand should be one third of the way from the head of ♣ the broom.
The angle of the broom to the ice should be such that the most force possible can be exerted ♣ on the ice.
[56] The precise amount of pressure may vary from relatively light brushing ("just cleaning" - to ensure debris ♣ will not alter the stone's path) to maximum-pressure scrubbing.
Sweeping is allowed anywhere on the ice up to the tee line; ♣ once the leading edge of a stone crosses the tee line only one player may sweep it.
Additionally, if a stone ♣ is behind the tee line one player from the opposing team is allowed to sweep it.
This is the only case ♣ that a stone may be swept by an opposing team member.
In international rules, this player must be the skip, but ♣ if the skip is throwing, then the sweeping player must be the third.
Burning a stone [ edit ]
Occasionally, players may ♣ accidentally touch a stone with their broom or a body part.
This is often referred to as burning a stone.
Players touching ♣ a stone in such a manner are expected to call their own infraction as a matter of good sportsmanship.
Touching a ♣ stationary stone when no stones are in motion (there is no delivery in progress) is not an infraction as long ♣ as the stone is struck in such a manner that its position is not altered, and this is a common ♣ way for the skip to indicate a stone that is to be taken out.
When a stone is touched when stones ♣ are in play, the remedies vary.
[30] between leaving the stones as they end up after the touch, replacing the stones ♣ as they would have been if no stone were touched, or removal of the touched stone from play.
In non-officiated league ♣ play, the skip of the non-offending team has the final say on where the stones are placed after the infraction.
Types ♣ of shots [ edit ]
Two ways to get the button with the last stone: a draw on the left (outturn ♣ for right-handed delivery), and a hit and roll on the right.
Many different types of shots are used to carefully place ♣ stones for strategic or tactical reasons; they fall into three fundamental categories as follows:
Guards are thrown in front of the ♣ house in the free guard zone, usually to protect a stone or to make the opposing team's shot difficult.
Guard shots ♣ include the centre-guard, on the centreline, and the corner-guards to the left or right sides of the centre line.
See Free ♣ Guard Zone below.
Draws are thrown only to reach the house.
Draw shots include raise, come-around, and freeze shots.
Takeouts are intended to ♣ remove stones from play and include the peel, hit-and-roll, and double shots.
For a more complete listing, see Glossary of curling ♣ terms.
Free guard zone [ edit ]
The free guard zone is the area of the curling sheet between the hog line ♣ and tee line, excluding the house.
Until five stones have been played (three from the side without hammer and two from ♣ the side with hammer), stones in the free guard zone may not be removed by an opponent's stone, although they ♣ can be moved within the playing area.
If a stone in the free guard zone is knocked out of play, it ♣ is placed back in the position it was in before the shot was thrown and the opponent's stone is removed ♣ from play.
This rule is known as the five-rock rule or the free guard zone rule (previous versions of the free ♣ guard zone rule only limited removing guards from play in the first three or four rocks).[57]
This rule, a relatively recent ♣ addition to curling, was added in response to a strategy by teams of gaining a lead in the game and ♣ then peeling all of the opponents' stones (knocking them out of play at an angle that caused the shooter's stone ♣ to also roll out of play, leaving no stones on the ice).
By knocking all stones out the opponents could at ♣ best score one point, if they had the last stone of the end (called the hammer).
If the team peeling the ♣ rocks had the hammer they could peel rock after rock which would blank the end (leave the end scoreless), keeping ♣ the last rock advantage for another end.
This strategy had developed (mostly in Canada) as ice-makers had become skilled at creating ♣ a predictable ice surface and newer brushes allowed greater control over the rock.
While a sound strategy, this made for an ♣ unexciting game.
Observers at the time noted that if two teams equally skilled in the peel game faced each other on ♣ good ice, the outcome of the game would be predictable from who won the coin flip to have last rock ♣ (or had earned it in the schedule) at the beginning of the game.
The 1990 Brier (Canadian men's championship) was considered ♣ by many curling fans as boring to watch because of the amount of peeling and the quick adoption of the ♣ free guard zone rule the following year reflected how disliked this aspect of the game had become.
The free guard zone ♣ rule was originally called the Modified Moncton Rule and was developed from a suggestion made by Russ Howard for the ♣ Moncton 100 cashspiel in Moncton, New Brunswick, in January 1990.
"Howard's Rule" (later known as the Moncton Rule), used for the ♣ tournament and based on a practice drill his team used, had the first four rocks in play unable to be ♣ removed no matter where they were at any time during the end.
This method of play was altered by restricting the ♣ area in which a stone was protected to the free guard zone only for the first four rocks thrown and ♣ adopted as a four-rock free guard zone rule for international competition shortly after.
Canada kept to the traditional rules until a ♣ three-rock free guard zone rule was adopted for the 1993–94 season.
After several years of having the three-rock rule used for ♣ the Canadian championships and the winners then having to adjust to the four-rock rule in the World Championships, the Canadian ♣ Curling Association adopted the four-rock free guard zone in the 2002–2003 season.
One strategy that has been developed by curlers in ♣ response to the free guard zone (Kevin Martin from Alberta is one of the best examples) is the "tick" game, ♣ where a shot is made attempting to knock (tick) the guard to the side, far enough that it is difficult ♣ or impossible to use but still remaining in play while the shot itself goes out of play.
The effect is functionally ♣ identical to peeling the guard but significantly harder, as a shot that hits the guard too hard (knocking it out ♣ of play) results in its being replaced, while not hitting it hard enough can result in it still being tactically ♣ useful for the opposition.
There is also a greater chance that the shot will miss the guard entirely because of the ♣ greater accuracy required to make the shot.
Because of the difficulty of making this type of shot, only the best teams ♣ will normally attempt it, and it does not dominate the game the way the peel formerly did.
Steve Gould from Manitoba ♣ popularized ticks played across the face of the guard stone.
These are easier to make because they impart less speed on ♣ the object stone, therefore increasing the chance that it remains in play even if a bigger chunk of it is ♣ hit.
With the tick shot reducing the effectiveness of the four-rock rule, the Grand Slam of Curling series of bonspiels adopted ♣ a five-rock rule in 2014.
[58] In 2017, the five-rock rule was adopted by the World Curling Federation and member organizations ♣ for official play, beginning in the 2018–19 season.
[59][60]Hammer [ edit ]
The last rock in an end is called the hammer, ♣ and throwing the hammer gives a team a tactical advantage.
Before the game, teams typically decide who gets the hammer in ♣ the first end either by chance (such as a coin toss), by a "draw-to-the-button" contest, where a representative of each ♣ team shoots to see who gets closer to the centre of the rings, or, particularly in tournament settings like the ♣ Winter Olympics, by a comparison of each team's win–loss record.
In all subsequent ends, the team that did not score in ♣ the preceding end gets to throw second, thus having the hammer.
In the event that neither team scores, called a blanked ♣ end, the hammer remains with the same team.
Naturally, it is easier to score points with the hammer than without; the ♣ team with the hammer generally tries to score two or more points.
If only one point is possible, the skip may ♣ try to avoid scoring at all in order to retain the hammer the next end, giving the team another chance ♣ to use the hammer advantage to try to score two points.
Scoring without the hammer is commonly referred to as stealing, ♣ or a steal, and is much more difficult.
Strategy [ edit ]
Diagram of the play area in curling, showing the four-foot ♣ zone, corner guard, and centre line guard
Curling is a game of strategy, tactics, and skill.
The strategy depends on the team's ♣ skill, the opponent's skill, the conditions of the ice, the score of the game, how many ends remain and whether ♣ the team has last-stone advantage (the hammer).
A team may play an end aggressively or defensively.
Aggressive playing will put a lot ♣ of stones in play by throwing mostly draws; this makes for an exciting game and although risky the rewards can ♣ be great.
Defensive playing will throw a lot of hits preventing a lot of stones in play; this tends to be ♣ less exciting and less risky.
A good drawing team will usually opt to play aggressively, while a good hitting team will ♣ opt to play defensively.
If a team does not have the hammer in an end, it will opt to try to ♣ clog up the four-foot zone in the house to deny the opposing team access to the button.
This can be done ♣ by throwing "centre line" guards in front of the house on the centre line, which can be tapped into the ♣ house later or drawn around.
If a team has the hammer, they will try to keep this four-foot zone free so ♣ that they have access to the button area at all times.
A team with the hammer may throw a corner guard ♣ as their first stone of an end placed in front of the house but outside the four-foot zone to utilize ♣ the free guard zone.
Corner guards are key for a team to score two points in an end, because they can ♣ either draw around it later or hit and roll behind it, making the opposing team's shot to remove it more ♣ difficult.
Ideally, the strategy in an end for a team with the hammer is to score two points or more.
Scoring one ♣ point is often a wasted opportunity, as they will then lose last-stone advantage for the next end.
If a team cannot ♣ score two points, they will often attempt to "blank an end" by removing any leftover opposition stones and rolling out; ♣ or, if there are no opposition stones, just throwing the stone through the house so that no team scores any ♣ points, and the team with the hammer can try again the next end to score two or more with it.
Generally, ♣ a team without the hammer would want to either force the team with the hammer to only one point, so ♣ that they can get the hammer back, or "steal" the end by scoring one or more points of their own.[61]
Large ♣ leads are often defended by displacing the opponent's stones to reduce their opportunity to score multiple points.
However, a comfortably leading ♣ team that leaves their own stones in play becomes vulnerable as the opponent can draw around guard stones, stones in ♣ the house can be "tapped back" if they are in front of the tee line, or "frozen onto" if they ♣ are behind the tee line.
A frozen stone is placed in front of and touching the opponent's stone and is difficult ♣ to remove.
At this point, a team may opt for "peels"; throws with a lot of "weight" that can move opposition ♣ stones out of play.
Conceding a game [ edit ]
It is common at any level for a losing team to terminate ♣ the match before all ends are completed if it believes it no longer has a realistic chance of winning.
Competitive games ♣ end once the losing team has "run out of rocks"-that is, once it has fewer stones in play and available ♣ for play than the number of points needed to tie the game.
Dispute resolution [ edit ]
Measuring which stone is closest ♣ to the centre of the house
Most decisions about rules are left to the skips, although in official tournaments, decisions may ♣ be left to the officials.
However, all scoring disputes are handled by the vice skip.
No players other than the vice skip ♣ from each team should be in the house while score is being determined.
In tournament play, the most frequent circumstance in ♣ which a decision has to be made by someone other than the vice skip is the failure of the vice ♣ skips to agree on which stone is closest to the button.
An independent official (supervisor at Canadian and World championships) then ♣ measures the distances using a specially designed device that pivots at the centre of the button.
When no independent officials are ♣ available, the vice skips measure the distances.
Scoring [ edit ]
A typical curling scoreboard used at clubs, which use a method ♣ of scoring different from the ones used on television
The winner is the team having the highest number of accumulated points ♣ at the completion of ten ends.
Points are scored at the conclusion of each of these ends as follows: when each ♣ team has thrown its eight stones, the team with the stone closest to the button wins that end; the winning ♣ team is then awarded one point for each of its own stones lying closer to the button than the opponent's ♣ closest stone.
Only stones that are in the house are considered in the scoring.
A stone is in the house if it ♣ lies within the 12-foot (3.
7 m) zone or any portion of its edge lies over the edge of the ring.
Since ♣ the bottom of the stone is rounded, a stone just barely in the house will not have any actual contact ♣ with the ring, which will pass under the rounded edge of the stone, but it still counts.
This type of stone ♣ is known as a biter.
It may not be obvious to the eye which of the two rocks is closer to ♣ the button (centre) or if a rock is actually biting or not.
There are specialized devices to make these determinations, but ♣ these cannot be brought out until after an end is completed.
Therefore, a team may make strategic decisions during an end ♣ based on assumptions of rock position that turn out to be incorrect.
The score is marked on a scoreboard, of which ♣ there are two types; the baseball type and the club scoreboard.
The baseball-style scoreboard was created for televised games for audiences ♣ not familiar with the club scoreboard.
The ends are marked by columns 1 through 10 (or 11 for the possibility of ♣ an extra end to break ties) plus an additional column for the total.
Below this are two rows, one for each ♣ team, containing the team's score for that end and their total score in the right-hand column.
The club scoreboard is traditional ♣ and used in most curling clubs.
Scoring on this board only requires the use of (up to) 11 digit cards, whereas ♣ with baseball-type scoring an unknown number of multiples of the digits (especially low digits like 1) may be needed.
The numbered ♣ centre row represents various possible scores, and the numbers placed in the team rows represent the end in which that ♣ team achieved that cumulative score.
If the red team scores three points in the first end (called a three-ender), then a ♣ 1 (indicating the first end) is placed beside the number 3 in the red row.
If they score two more in ♣ the second end, then a 2 will be placed beside the 5 in the red row, indicating that the red ♣ team has five points in total (3+2).
This scoreboard works because only one team can get points in an end.
However, some ♣ confusion may arise if neither team scores points in an end, this is called a blank end.
The blank end numbers ♣ are usually listed in the farthest column on the right in the row of the team that has the hammer ♣ (last rock advantage), or on a special spot for blank ends.
The following example illustrates the difference between the two types.
The ♣ example illustrates the men's final at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Baseball-style scoreboard Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ♣ 9 10 Final Canada 0 2 1 1 0 6 0 0 X X 10 Finland 2 0 0 0 ♣ 1 0 0 1 X X 4
Curling club-style scoreboard Canada 2 3 4 6 Points 1 2 3 4 5 ♣ 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Blank ends Finland 1 5 8 7
Eight points – all ♣ the rocks thrown by one team counting – is the highest score possible in an end, and is known as ♣ an "eight-ender" or "snowman".
Scoring an eight-ender against a competent team is very difficult;[citation needed] in curling, it is the equivalent ♣ of pitching a perfect game in baseball.
Probably the best-known snowman came at the 2006 Players' Championships.
Future (2007) World Champion Kelly ♣ Scott scored eight points in one of her games against 1998 World bronze medalist Cathy King.
[62][63]Culture [ edit ]
The Curlers ♣ (1835) by Sir George Harvey
Competition teams are normally named after the skip, for example, Team Martin after skip Kevin Martin.
Amateur ♣ league players can (and do) creatively name their teams, but when in competition (a bonspiel) the official team will have ♣ a standard name.
Top curling championships are typically played by all-male or all-female teams.
It is known as mixed curling when a ♣ team consists of two men and two women.
For many years, in the absence of world championship or Olympic mixed curling ♣ events, national championships (of which the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship was the most prominent) were the highest-level mixed curling competitions.
However, ♣ a European Mixed Curling Championship was inaugurated in 2005, a World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship was established in 2008, and ♣ the European Mixed Championship was replaced with the World Mixed Curling Championship in 2015.
A mixed tournament was held at the ♣ Olympic level for the first time in 2018, although it was a doubles tournament, not a four-person.
Curling tournaments may use ♣ the Schenkel system for determining the participants in matches.
Curling is played in many countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom (especially ♣ Scotland), the United States, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, and Japan, all of which compete in the world championships.
Curling has ♣ been depicted by many artists including: George Harvey,[64][65] John Levack,[66] The Dutch School,[67] Charles Martin Hardie,[68] John Elliot Maguire,[69] John ♣ McGhie,[70] and John George Brown.[71]
Curling is particularly popular in Canada.
Improvements in ice making and changes in the rules to increase ♣ scoring and promote complex strategy have increased the already high popularity of the sport in Canada, and large television audiences ♣ watch annual curling telecasts, especially the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (the national championship for women), the Tim Hortons Brier (the ♣ national championship for men), and the women's and men's world championships.
Despite the Canadian province of Manitoba's small population (ranked 5th ♣ of 10 Canadian provinces), Manitoban teams have won the Brier more times than teams from any other province, except for ♣ Alberta.
The Tournament of Hearts and the Brier are contested by provincial and territorial champions, and the world championships by national ♣ champions.
Curling is the provincial sport of Saskatchewan.
From there, Ernie Richardson and his family team dominated Canadian and international curling during ♣ the late 1950s and early 1960s and have been considered to be the best male curlers of all time.
[72] Sandra ♣ Schmirler led her team to the first-ever gold medal in women's curling in the 1998 Winter Olympics.
When she died two ♣ years later from cancer, over 15,000 people attended her funeral, and it was broadcast on national television.
Good sportsmanship [ edit ♣ ]
More so than in many other team sports, good sportsmanship, often referred to as the "Spirit of Curling", is an ♣ integral part of curling.
The Spirit of Curling also leads teams to congratulate their opponents for making a good shot, strong ♣ sweeping, or spectacular form.
Perhaps most importantly, the Spirit of Curling dictates that one never cheers mistakes, misses, or gaffes by ♣ one's opponent (unlike most team sports), and one should not celebrate one's own good shots during the game beyond modest ♣ acknowledgement of the shot such as a head nod, fist bump, or thumbs-up gesture.
Modest congratulation, however, may be exchanged between ♣ winning team members after the match.
On-the-ice celebration is usually reserved for the winners of a major tournament after winning the ♣ final game of the championship.
It is completely unacceptable to attempt to throw opposing players off their game by way of ♣ negative comment, distraction, or heckling.[73]
A match traditionally begins with players shaking hands with and saying "good curling" or "have a ♣ pleasant game" to each member of the opposing team.
It is also traditional in some areas for the winning team to ♣ buy the losing team a drink after the game.
[74] Even at the highest levels of play, players are expected to ♣ call their own fouls.
It is not uncommon for a team to concede a curling match after it believes it no ♣ longer has any hope of winning.
Concession is an honourable act and does not carry the stigma associated with quitting.
It also ♣ allows for more socializing.
To concede a match, members of the losing team offer congratulatory handshakes to the winning team.
Thanks, wishes ♣ of future good luck, and hugs are usually exchanged between the teams.
To continue playing when a team has no realistic ♣ chance of winning can be seen as a breach of etiquette.
Accessibility [ edit ]
Team China at World Wheelchair Curling Championship ♣ in February 2009
Curling has been adapted for wheelchair users and people otherwise unable to throw the stone from the hack.
These ♣ curlers may use a device known as a "delivery stick".
The cue holds on to the handle of the stone and ♣ is then pushed along by the curler.
At the end of delivery, the curler pulls back on the cue, which releases ♣ it from the stone.
[75] The Canadian Curling Association Rules of Curling allows the use of a delivery stick in club ♣ play but does not permit it in championships.
The delivery stick was specifically invented for elderly curlers in Canada in 1999.
In ♣ early 2016 an international initiative started to allow use of the delivery sticks by players over 60 years of age ♣ in World Curling Federation Senior Championships, as well as in any projected Masters (60+) Championship that develops in the future.[76]
Terminology ♣ [ edit ]
For an extensive glossary of terminology, see Glossary of curling
Terms used to describe the game include:
The ice in ♣ the game may be fast (keen) or slow.
If the ice is keen, a rock will travel farther with a given ♣ amount of weight (throwing force) on it.
The speed of the ice is measured in seconds.
One such measure, known as "hog-to-hog" ♣ time, is the speed of the stone and is the time in seconds the rock takes from the moment it ♣ crosses the near hog line until it crosses the far hog line.
If this number is lower, the rock is moving ♣ faster, so again low numbers mean more speed.
The ice in a match will be somewhat consistent and thus this measure ♣ of speed can also be used to measure how far down the ice the rock will travel.
Once it is determined ♣ that a rock taking (for example) 13 seconds to go from hog line to hog line will stop on the ♣ tee line, the curler can know that if the hog-to-hog time is matched by a future stone, that stone will ♣ likely stop at approximately the same location.
As an example, on keen ice, common times might be 16 seconds for guards, ♣ 14 seconds for draws, and 8 seconds for peel weight.
The back line to hog line speed is used principally by ♣ sweepers to get an initial sense of the weight of a stone.
As an example, on keen ice, common times might ♣ be 4.
0 seconds for guards, 3.
8 seconds for draws, 3.
2 for normal hit weight, and 2.
9 seconds for peel weight.
Especially ♣ at the club level, this metric can be misleading, due to amateurs sometimes pushing stones on release, causing the stone ♣ to travel faster than the back-to-hog speed.
Champions and major championships [ edit ]
Notable clubs [ edit ]
In popular culture [ ♣ edit ]See also [ edit ]References [ edit ]
