This afternoon the women’s curling was on the TV. It’s a favorite winter sport in Canada and one I like to watch.
The game is easy to follow and here are a few tips on how the game is played and the terminology.
Getting ready to release the stone.
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Two teams. with four players each, play against each other. There are eight stones for a team. Each player throws two stones during each end. There are ten ends and it usually takes about 2 hrs to complete the game.
You hear shouts coming from the players when the stone leaves their hands - hurry’ and ‘hurry hard.’
Hurry means to sweep as fast as possible in front of the stone while hurry hard means keep aggressively sweeping and apply downward pressure.
Shouts of clean means to keep the broom on the ice with no pressure but make sure nothing is in the way of the stone’s path.
Up until about 20 years ago corn brooms were used to sweep but now most use the hair broom as shown in these photos. The corn brooms were a lot harder on the arms and may blusters can still be caused on the sweeper’s hands from the current brooms.
The curling sheet or playing surface is about 45 meters (148 ft) long and 5 meters (16 ft) wide.
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Curling is one of the world’s oldest team sports. It originated in Scotland by the 16th century and played during the winter on frozen lochs or lakes. The name Curl comes from the action of the stones as they curl into their final destination.
Curling was brought to Canada from Scotland. It has been said the game was first introduced here using melted cannonballs by a Highland Regiment playing the game in Quebec.
You may hear talk of the Hog Line. That’s the heavy dark line on the ice about 21 feet from the house.. The player leaving the house must release the stone from their hand before it crosses the Hog Line. If the hands are still on the stone over the Hog line the shot is taken out of play.
The game is played by each player delivering a heavy granite stone /rock down a long sheet of ice as close to the center of the circle as possible or to knock out the opposition’s stone. It may be a planned move to block or place the stone close to the center, called the button.
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The ice for curling is not smooth like you might think and once the stone has left the hand of the player there will be commands shouted at the two teammates doing the sweeping. If the command is hurry or hurry hard the sweeping will help smooth the ice a bit and guide the stone to go straight and hopeful knock the opposing stone out. Sweeping will stop when they want the stone to curl on the ice.
Curling is a good game to enjoy on a Sublime Sunday , a tag by 
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