What Is The Curling Sport?

Tune in to the winter Olympics and you might see a curious sport where players use brooms and propel a large stone across the ice. This sport, known as curling, is a game rooted in history, beginning on the frozen ponds of Scotland. Today, both men and women, young and old, play curling around the globe.

History

Curling is considered one of the world's oldest team sports, thanks to its origins in 16th century Scotland. Curling grew in popularity in cold and icy regions and was incorporated into the Olympic games in 1924. After this, however, curling was performed periodically as a demonstration sport until the 1998 Olympic games in Nagano, Japan, where the sport was returned to men's and women's competitions.

Equipment

Curling involves using specialized equipment. This equipment includes a rock, which is a granite stone that is moved across the ice, and brooms. Two broom types exist: The first is a brush broom that is used by more contemporary curlers and has short bristles made of horse, hog or synthetic hair that make it easier to use over the ice. The second is the straw broom, which is used to create bumps on the ice and closely resembles a household broom or mop with long bristles. Curling players wear specialized shoes made of two different surfaces. The player's sliding foot has smooth Teflon on it while the other foot features grips for the ice. The ice also is an important part of the curling sport: the ice rink has specialized pebbled ice that is 42.07 m long with a target at each end where the curlers move it forward.

Teams

Curling can be played in a number of team configurations. In addition to men's and women's adult teams, junior leagues for those between 15 and 18 years of age also exist. Curling also can be played as a wheelchair sport. In 2008, the first World Curling Championship featured mixed doubles curling, with teams consisting of one female and one male each.

Object

Curling is played on teams of 10 with four players on the ice at a time. The object of the curling game is to move the curling rock across the board, landing it on a series of concentric circles as close to the inner circle as possible. The teams use brooms to sweep the ice, which helps to move the stone close to the circle. The teams play for 10 innings, and the team with the most points at the end of the match -- meaning the team got the most stones closest to the circle -- is declared the winner.