Lawn Bowls ON Ice? (Curling in general)

Member Name: Wease

Product:	Curling in general
Date:	22/02/02 (183 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tres tactical, We got a gold medal in it! yey

Disadvantages: Not many places to try it in the UK

Following tonight’s British victory over Switzerland to claim the nation’s first Winter Olympic gold medal since Torvil and Dean’s magnificent win 18 years ago curling is set to become a much more prominent sport within the British Isles.

The sport, which is believed to have started centuries ago in Scotland, is played by two teams of 4 players, and involves “curling” stones (a circular granite stone weighing nearly 20kg and measuring 36” in circumference and around 4” in height into a specified area. The aim is, after all 16 stones have been played (8 by each team), to have a stone of your team's closest to the centre (known as the tee) of the house (the specified area). Players try and achieve this by: -
a) sending their stones to rest into the house ( a draw,
b) knocking their opponent's stones out of the house (a take out)
c) and by guarding stones with others to prevent a “take out”.
The team with the closest stone to the tee (middle of the house) at the finish of each end (after all 16 stones have been thrown), scores a point (or more if they also have the second closest stone and so on).

I have only played the sport once or twice myself, but having followed the men’s and women’s GB teams over the past few years I’ve become really interested in the sport.

Known as the “roaring game” because of the noise the stones make on the ice (rather than the shouts of the players - I love British captain, Rhona Martin’s, HURRRRRRRRRAAYYYYYY!!) curling is played on an ice surface, this can be a special curling sheet or a well kept ice rink. This should be 138 feet long by approximately 14 feet wide. The ice has to be very thin – 2/3 cm and extremely well kept (one reason why there are few facilities in England/Wales... there aren’t even that many ice rinks to be honest!). The sheet is playable from both ends (starting to
notice the similarity to bowls yet?) and I’ll describe the features of each end for you. At the starting end – where one player “throws” their stone from - there is a line known as a “hack”. The players push off this when throwing their stones. Just after this there is another line called the “hog” line. The players must not handle the stone after it has crossed this line. The stone travels down the sheet (more about this part of the game in a minute), across the hog line at the other end, through (a guard stone will stop here) a zone called the free guard zone (stones stopping here may not be removed) and then approaches a large target, known as the “house”. Stones touching any part of the house act as scoring stones. The middle of the house is divided with another line, this is called the tee line and will come into play in a minute. There is also a centre line and two small lines either side of it which help the player see where the midline is.

Each of the players in the team “curls” two stones alternately with their opponent until all eight have been thrown – one end. The “skip”, or captain always has the last two stones. The final stone of the end is known as the “hammer” and it is often this stone that provides the winning shot. There are between eight and ten ends to a game.

The art is to push off the hack and glide (special shoes consisting of one Teflon sole and one latex sole are worn so that the player can glide with one and push with the other) and then release the stone when you reach the hog line. Two other players then “sweep” the snow with brushes to make it go faster – this reduces the friction and can increase the length by upto 15ft! Brushing slightly to one side can also alter the path of the stone slightly. If it passes the “tee line” (mid-point of the target) a player from the other team may swee
p it (to try and get it to leave the house).

This is a sport which is popular worldwide, with the Canadians leading the following with an estimated 1.2 million curlers. In Britain the sport is common place only in Scotland (at present their is only one centre for curling in England, or should I say Wales, and that is in Chester, although in 18 months a National curling and ice skating centre is due to open in Cambridge). Obviously this severely limits the opportunities to curl!

This game is incredibly tactical... Do we go for “a draw”? Do we produce “a guard”? Can we knock both of the opposition’s stones out of the “house”? How fast do I release this stone?”... and I have to say that gold medal final... which incidentally was decided on the final hammer (Britain took it 4-3) was one of the most nail-biting I have ever seen! Heaven knows how the winning British team (Rhona Martin, Debbie Knox, Fiona MacDonald, Janice Rankin) managed to keep their nerve! My nan is a keen lawn bowler (and sweeper!) and is dying to have a go, and judging from the response the BBC have had to their coverage I do not think she is alone!

Curling is a sport for all ages, and it is only the lack of facilities that let us down in this country. However, if you’re lucky to live north of the border (or fancy a trip) then check out this website....

www.scotcurl.co.uk

Hope I’ve done the sport justice with this review :)

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