How to play

Curling teams consist of four players called the lead, second, third and skip, who each have two stones to play.

The skips are the team captains and direct their team mates on what shots to play. The skips do this by giving signals to their team mates using their hands and brush.

The teams play alternately, with the leads playing the first two of their team’s stones, the seconds playing the next two, the thirds the next two and the skip plays the last two stones. When sixteen stones have been played this is called an “end” of curling. 

In clubs, matches are played to a time limit of around 2¹/4 hours or until a maximum of ten ends are completed.

The winner is the team with the most points at the end of the match.

Equipment

Curling stones

These weigh 20kg (44lbs) are 29cm (11¹/2 in) across are made of granite are highly polished to help them slide across the ice.  Each ice rink has their own set of stones so don't worry you won't need to carry them around with you.

Curling Brush 

Modern curling brushes are often made of a fibre-glass handle and a synthetic brush pad. In the past they were actually corn brooms with wooden handles.  Again most ice rinks will provide these for those who don't have their own

Curling sticks are used by some wheelchair and less mobile curlers to deliver the stone without bending down.

Curling shoes

These have one shoe with a grippy sole and one with a smooth sliding sole to allow the curlers to slide when they deliver a stone.

There are also sliders available that can be placed over a normal shoe with a good grip such as a pair of trainers, for those without their own shoes.

The Rink

A curling rink:-is 44.5m (146 ft) long is 4.75m (15.5 ft) wide has a target at either end called the house

The houses:­are made up of a 12ft, an 8ft, a 4ft and a 1ft (3.66m, 2.44m, 1.22m & 0.30m) diameter circle; and a generally painted red, white and blue in colour.

The smallest circle in the house is called the “button” or the “pot lid”.

The line in the middle of the rink is called the centre line and is used by the players to line up their shots.

The two lines between the houses are called the hog lines. The players must release the stone before they reach the first hog line and it must cross the far hog line to stay in play and be counted

 

Sweeping

Curlers sweep in front of the stone to melt the ice slightly. This helps the stone to travel further and in a straighter route. Sweeping also helps to clear the path in front of the stone of any debris which could affect the stones curl.

The skip may shout “hurry” or "hurry hard" to tell the sweepers to sweep harder. Sweepers must be careful not to touch the moving stone with their brushes, otherwise it is removed from play.

Photo: WCF/Jim Law

In wheelchair curling there is no sweeping permitted.

For more information on curling please click the link below where you can find an explanation of all aspects of curling for the beginner:

http://rccc.sportfocus.com/rccc/assets/File/pdf/Start_Booklet_Final_1.pdf