That Time I Tried Curling. And Why You Should, Too

Unless you live in Scotland, Canada, or the northern part of the United States, your first introduction to the sport of curling was probably through watching it being played during a broadcast of the Winter Olympics. However, some may consider curling to be a novelty, a sport not worthy of Olympic status. Despite the fact that curling doesn’t get the respect it deserves — my oldest grandson calls it “janitor hockey” — it is indeed a sport, and one you should definitely try.

Recently, my sister invited us to visit her in Minnesota. We batted about suggestions for things us to do while we were there. When she proposed taking curling lessons, I jumped at the chance.

Our curling lesson and subsequent game took place at the Dakota Curling Club just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Head about 230 miles north of Minneapolis and you’ll find yourself in Bemidji, Minnesota, “The Curling Capital of the USA”.)

I’ve always thought curling was interesting. Players sliding a rock down a prepared ice surface looked like a simple enough part of the game, but what’s with all the sweeping? Why were they doing it? Which leads to the most basic question: “What is curling?”

Curling’s 450+ year history

The sport gets the name “curling” from the path a rock or stone can take when “thrown” by a skilled player. The curved path is called a curl.

The history of curling can be traced all the way back to 16^th century Scotland. Back then, it was played outdoors on frozen ponds and lochs. Sweeping was done to brush snow out of the path of the stones as they were thrown. Today sweeping is done to affect the speed and trajectory of the thrown stone.

Eventually, the game made its way across Northern Europe, over to Canada, the United States, and even to New Zealand. Nowadays we have refrigeration and can play the game year-round on indoor as well as outdoor rinks.

While the sport has its origins in Scotland, the most popular place in the world for curling is Canada. In fact, the oldest active sports club in North America is the Royal Montreal Curling Club. It was established in 1807.

Though the game has been around for more than 400 years, the International Curling Federation (now World Curling) wasn’t created until 1966. Curling did not become an officially recognized Olympic sport until it was added to the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. The Winter Olympics now also feature mixed gender teams, and the Paralympic Winter Games include wheelchair curling.

What is curling? How is it played?

The rules of curling are many, but like most sports, they are very easy to learn once you start watching — or better yet, playing.

At first glance, the game looks like a cross between shuffleboard and bowling. It is played on an ice rink called a sheet. Other curling terms you need to become familiar with include center line, tee line, back line, hog line, hack line, hack, stone (rock), skip, sweep, and end. It may seem overwhelming at first, but you will pick them up quickly as you go.

I am still learning the scoring rules, but simply put, at the end of each “end” (like an inning in baseball), the winning team scores a point for each stone that stops closer to the “button” or “tee” or “target” (similar to a bullseye on a dart board) than the opponent’s closest stone. At the end of the game (or match), you guessed it, the team with the most points wins.

During our game, because my son’s team scored first in the previous end, my team got to throw the final stone, called the “hammer”, in the next one. I admit, I took no small amount of pleasure in being the one to throw the hammer. (I learned later how very important the hammer is in a game. Check out the video in the Chess on Ice section below to see what I mean.)

Curling is good exercise

You throw or deliver a stone down the ice from a lunge position. Lunging to deliver the stone builds flexibility. Getting into the lunge position helps improve your balance and stability. So does standing up from the lunge position — ideally without the numerous, comical pratfalls we became all too familiar with during our lesson. Because you will be dropping down into a lunge position many times during each game, you’ll need to wear stretchy or loose-fitting pants that will allow you to get into that lunge position. If you have mobility issues, check with the venue. They may have equipment that will allow you to join in the fun.

You will also need a fair amount of arm strength to properly deliver the stone. If not, again, check with the venue. You may be able to use a specially-designed stick to help you throw the stone.

Sweeping requires the most effort. In some situations, you can actually work up a sweat. Our instructor did by sweeping furiously to help my shot become a winning shot.

I mentioned balance earlier. Seeing the players in the lunge position as they slide across the ice and throw the stone, it looks easy… until you actually get on the ice and try it. Having good balance will help avoid those pratfalls I told you about.

Most of the time you will be sliding the stones across the ice. Occasionally you may need to pick one up. You should know that they weigh 17–20 kg (38–44 lbs.). Mind your hands and fingers around the stones, especially when one is in motion. Our instructor made sure we were aware of this during the safety briefing. You may get a little workout by lifting the stones, but getting your hand smashed between them is not anyone’s idea of fun.

Though the professionals make it look effortless, curling is more physically challenging than it appears. But don’t let that stop you from trying it.

Chess On Ice – A game of precision and strategy

As you learn the basics and start playing the game, you’ll begin to see where the strategy part comes in. Good placement of the stones is crucial for your team to score; and to prevent the other team from scoring. That is why curling is also called Chess on Ice.

We learned the opposing team doesn’t have to stand by helplessly on the sidelines as the opposing team’s stone nears the button. Once a stone crosses the tee line (the line that runs the width of the sheet through the button), your team can start sweeping to make an opponent’s stone slide further away from the button.

Once you begin playing a game, you will start to see how important teamwork becomes. The skipper or “skip” (team leader) needs to know the strengths and weaknesses of each team member to be able to win the chess match. The skip needs to be able to utilize those qualities to know how and where to position team members, as well as how and where to aim and throw the stone.

Knock your opponent’s stones out of the way? Place your stone in the way? Throw for points? Sacrifice your stone so a team member can score more points? Sweep? Don’t sweep? Sweep hard (HARD, HARD, HARD!)? These are just some of the strategic elements of chess on ice.

In the second end, we employed a bit of strategy by intentionally aiming one of our stones so as to knock our opponent’s stone out of the house (the concentric circles marking the scoring area) (See? “Take it to the house” is not just football parlance.) As skip, I directed my sister to aim at such a stone. And it worked; she delivered a great curling shot, bumping one of the opposing stones out of scoring contention.

Our two-end game resulted in a 1-1 tie. I took great pride in not only scoring a winning shot, but also in having the stone that landed closest to the button. Some good-natured trash-talking may or may not have occurred. (Note: As curling is a very sportsmanlike and friendly sport, trash-talking is frowned upon. In fact, the winning team often buys drinks for the losing team.)

To get an idea of how this all works, the video below shows clips of some of the best curling shots:

Find a curling club near you

If after watching or trying curling you find yourself enjoying it, you’re in good company. Curling has been experiencing a surge in popularity since the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The growth in interest in the sport can be seen not only in the United States where 185 clubs host 23,000 participants, but in Asia as well. There’s even been a resurgence in Scotland, where the game originated. It has truly become a worldwide sport.

After returning home, I looked at the USA Curling website and was pleasantly surprised to find out there is a curling club about 90 minutes from my home. In Canada, visit the Curling Canada website. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, do a search for similar sites around the world to find a curling club or bonspiel (tournament) near you. How popular is curling? Even if you live in Nigeria, you’ll find the Nigeria Curling Federation.

Ready to try curling? Let’s go!

7 Fun facts about curling

Did you know:

• The sheet the game is played on is not smooth; it is pebbled. This is the result of water droplets that have been sprayed and frozen on the surface of the rink or sheet
• Curling stones are made from granite quarried from only two places in the world: Scotland and Wales
• Curling is one of the oldest team sports in the world
• Curling is also called The Roaring Game because of the sound the stone makes as it slides across the pebbled ice
• The curling stones seem to defy physics as they rotate or curl after being thrown
• Players wear two different types of shoes: A slider for sliding along the sheet before delivering the stone, and a gripper for pushing out of the starting area. Sweepers also wear a gripper shoe
• Former NFL tight end and Super Bowl champion Vernon Davis is a huge fan of and advocate for the sport. So much so that Davis has been honorary captain of the US Curling Team at the last three Winter Olympics dating from the 2010 games in Vancouver