“I think I saw it on the Olympics once?” “Oh yeah! Isn’t that the sweepy sport?” “Don’t you use ice skates for it?”
If you’re a curler, chances are you’ve heard these comments and so many more like them. But chances are you haven’t, and so far you have absolutely no idea what this article is going to be about-so I’m here to break the ice. ( HAH ) This article will be a brief overview/generalization of the sport, so bear with me!
First off, the scoring system is weird, and the names for everything curling related make about zero sense except for the stabilizer-which obviously stabilizes something.
The players, of which there are four, can play any of the four positions. The Skip-stands at the opposite end of the sheet of ice and calls for specific shots within the target in the ice, otherwise known as the “house”. The lead is the first player to throw two rocks, second throws the next two rocks, third throws two rocks and then heads down to where the skip is to hold the broom in place while the skip proceeds to throw their two rocks. A third has also been known to be called vice.
The brooms-those lightsaber looking poles that could easily take somebody out when there’s nice slick ice beneath your feet. Brooms-back in the day curlers originally used legitimate brooms, straw, wood the whole deal, but now the brooms we use can only be described as carbon fiber poles with a synthetic oval head used for “sweeping”
How do you score? Be the rock. Just kidding, use the rock! Don’t be the rock. The rock is simple enough to understand, big, heavy, stays on the ice and just gets moved back and forth.
So how do you move the rock then? Kick it? Sit on it? Lay next to it and talk about your feelings? All of the above and more. The proper term for the maneuver used to “move” the rock is a Slide out-involves a little more complexity than a therapy session with the rock on ice. A curler needs to remain balanced enough to lunge out onto the ice, propel a rock in front of them and use either a stabilizer, broom, or their own sheer Olympic godliness to prevent them from falling over
But we have to use the brooms for more than just balancing which brings us to sweeping- what does it do? Sweeping involves using the carbon fiber poles to clear the ice in front of a rock depending on the skip’s call. Depending on the turn called for the thrower the position of a broom relative to a rock can influence the speed of the rock’s turn and general direction. General rule of thumb-sweeping a rock keeps the rock in a relatively straight line and decreases the friction between the rock and the ice and therefore “speeds” it up. This can be helpful or awful depending on the shot and what action is taken by the sweepers based on their judgement of how fast the rock is traveling.
Why curling is so important: it’s a social sport, 100%. Curlers choose to curl for a lot of reasons, but the most popular is the social aspect involved. In high school teams are entirely student led, with the coaches only available on time outs. Those teams bond within each other, and with the opponents as well. True curling includes sharing a meal with the opponent after the match, regardless of who won or lost. And, to be true to the sport-curling is known for having a decent amount of drinking involved. Which I suppose is another reason to go out on ice with shoes that help you slide around more, right?
I’ve had the most incredible four years of curling, my team has brought me through incredible wins, crazy comeback stories and plenty of losses. My friends, my opponents, coaches and curling elders have supported me and cheered through the seasons. It's difficult to say exactly where curling has influenced my life, because in all honesty it's everywhere! I even chose my current university partially due to the fact that there was a curling club less than 20 minutes away from campus. I’ll leave you with this thought: I wouldn’t be where I am today without my friends from curling, specifically my skip from last year and for them I will always be grateful. So if you have the chance, google your local curling club and get involved!
