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Curling

Learn More About The Sport

Curling was approved as an Olympic medal sport in July of 1992.


	Learn About Curling

"The main gist of the sport is to get more of your rocks closest to the center of what we call a house, or what looks like a bull's eye or a target, on the ice, than your opponent," said Brian Dudt, of Philadelphia Curling Club.

Although it's most popular in Canada, the sport is catching on, with as many as 15,000 American curlers in 27 states. "I think you have the strategy of chess, but the shot making of darts or billiards and then you also have some physical exercise with sweeping," Dudt said.

Sweeping is what you'll see the players do in front of their stones after they are thrown. It creates a thin layer of water to help the stone go farther on the 146-foot sheet of ice.

Four people make up a team, each throwing two stones alternating with their opponent. A game lasts about two hours and includes 10 rounds, or ends. The captain is called the skip and sets the strategy.

"The skip will be in the back in the house directing play determining what kind of shot and a lot of it will depend on what the opponent does," Dudt said.

"To me, the most fascinating part of the game is the strategy. You're planning ahead, often called chess on ice. So take some time, watch the game and I think you're gonna love it," said Peggy Hatch, of the U.S. Curling Association.

The stones weigh 42 pounds and what the shooter has to do is take the stone, twist the wrist and release. The stone then spins or curls, hence the name of the sport.

The ice curlers use is not like ice skaters use. It's hand-finished by spraying heated water onto the ice to form the slightly bumpy surface needed to make the stone curl.