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Being able to make the tough shots when they matter most is the quality that separates the best from the rest.

Truly a sport of strategy and finesse, Curling demands that teams work together in order to outmaneuver their opponents and score more points.

Check out your school athletic department to see if they offer a curling program. Or, to find a curling club nearest you, please visit http://www.curling.ca for more information. Most clubs will have junior programs designed specifically to get young athletes like you involved!

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In Curling two teams, each of four curlers, alternate turns with each team member delivering two stones. During an end, similar to a baseball inning, each team delivers eight stones.

A championship match is made up of ten ends. The first player to deliver is called the lead, the next player is called the “second”, next to deliver is the “third” or “vice-skip”, and the final team member is the skip.

The skip or team leader, is positioned at the opposite end of the rink and when the other team members are curling the skip provides directions on where to aim. Once the stone is delivered, the skip also gives instructions to the sweepers on when and how hard to sweep.

At the end’s completion, the team with the stone closest to the button, the middle of the target, scores a point and gets additional points and for every stone that is closer to the button than the opposition’s closest stone. The team with the most points at the conclusion of the 10 ends wins the game.

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Curling was first played in Scotland more than 500 years ago on frozen ponds and marshes. The earliest-known curling stones date back to 1511 and came from the Scottish regions of Stirling and Perth.

Curling began as a demonstration sport at the very first Winter Olympics in 1924, and continued as demonstration sport on and off at following winter games. It wasn’t until the 1998 Nagano Olympics that curling became a full medal sport.

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