Curling

Now that I have your attention, lets talk Skip Strategy 101. If you had the chance to read our last Curling Headline ‘Skipping for Beginners,’ written by the world’s best athlete Rachel Caputo, you’re now a Skip all-star. If you haven’t read it, take a minute to do so. I’ll wait…

… Great! Now let’s build on that with the basics to a Skip’s strategy and some tips. Remember, as the Skip, you’re calling the game, determining the pace, and you’re responsible for knowing your team/the ice well enough to get’r done.

If you are just beginning to curl you might have heard about the Skip. A Skip is like the team captain. It is the job of the Skip to tell the players where to throw their shots and when to sweep. They also deliver the last two shots of the end. They are the team leaders and provide strategic direction. Basically, they call the shots.

First I should start with what a Spin-o-rama is. If you don’t already have the pleasure of knowing and seeing a Curling Spin-o-rama with your owns eyes, it is when you launch out of the hack, spin 360 degrees, then throw your rock at the very end of the rotation. It's amazing, ridiculous, and something that every curler should try at some point.

If these terms are unfamiliar to you then flip to our other headline, What the Hack? Curling Terminology, to get more familiar with curling terms.

The ESSC’s bi-annual Curling FunSpiels are without a question the most fun weekends of the year. HOOOW FUN ARE THEY? They are so fun, we literally renamed them to ‘FunSpiel’ (rather than BonSpiel) because ‘fun’ needed to be in the title.

Anytime we have a new player out in either our Curling Leagues or FunSpiels they sometimes ask “what’s the point of sweeping?” Well, I'm here to help!

Forget everything you know about how to count. I’m serious. Keeping score in Curling is so illogical, it’s almost logical. I say almost because I’m not an avid Curler and although I’m sure it makes sense to the pros, it still doesn’t make sense to your Average Jane like myself. Call me ignorant, call me dumb. Perhaps I am. Perhaps it’s the pitcher of beer I had before I went down to play. But I’m writing this now so that I can take the brunt of the name-calling and you can pretend you were smart enough to figure it out from the get-go and show off to your friends.

Next to Hockey, Curling in Canada has become a national religion; many suspect that its popularity grew as a byproduct of both the cold climate and the Canadian propensity for drinking beer. Whatever the reason, Curling has a rich history in Canada (and Alberta specifically) and like any sport, Curling has developed a language of its own.

Whether you are a veteran player or are new to the game, we want you to actually know what it means to ‘hurry hard,’ so here are a few of the most common Curling terms and what they mean.

What sport do hairdressers love?...Curling! Thank you, I’ll be here all week. The phrase “four curlers walked into a bar” is used more frequently to describe a common situation than to start a joke. Curling is a social sport. Sure, you want to impress your opponents on the ice, but you also want to impress them at the bar after. Nothing breaks the ice better than a good joke. Here’s a few you can try out after your next game:

Q: Why should you get your husband into curling?
A: It’s the only way to get him to sweep the house!

Let’s be honest here. Everyone is constantly in pursuit of the same thing in life. We all strive to attain the same goal and solve the seemingly unsolvable question: how do I get free beer?

Thankfully, we may have solved this timeless riddle! Introducing the Doubles Board:

If you’ve ever been Curling, you have probably heard a lot of chatter about the ice. “Get your knees off the ice!” “If you fall down get up as fast as you can!” “Don’t chip the ice!” Well, as nagging as these demands can seem, they are pretty important. Here’s why: