I went curling with Nancy, Ashley & Therese on Friday night.  Not curling {like twisting my hair with my fingers} but Curling ~ the Olympic sport of strategically pushing a 43 pound granite rock down a sheet of ice towards the target.  Even though the Waltham Curling Club in Triumph, Illinois was over an hour away, we had the opportunity to learn the basics of curling for free and we couldn’t pass that up!

The Waltham Curling Club has been in existence since 1884, the current facility was built in 1940.  Two volunteer club members met us there to teach us all they could in 2 1/2 hours.  I think they have both been curling since birth, so they were very passionate about their sport and loved teaching us!

Here’s the “book” definition of curling:

Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area which is segmented into four rings…Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called “rocks”, across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a circular target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the center of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones.

A game may consist of ten or eight ends. The curler can induce a curved path by causing the stone to slowly turn as it slides, and the path of the rock may be further influenced by two sweepers with brooms who accompany it as it slides down the sheet, using the brooms to alter the state of the ice in front of the stone. A great deal of strategy and teamwork goes into choosing the ideal path and placement of a stone for each situation, and the skills of the curlers determine how close to the desired result the stone will achieve. This gives curling its nickname of “Chess On Ice”. {source}

We had so much fun! Here are a few things I learned about curling:

1. Yes, it’s a sheet of ice but it’s not as slippery as an ice rink.  The ice is specially prepared with a pebble-like appearance which has a lot to do with how the stone “curls” {rotates} as it slides down the ice.

2. Despite what I said in #1, you can still slip & fall! It is ice!

3. Curling is harder than it looks.  I have plenty of sore muscles & a few bruises to prove it!

4. Strategy is the name of the game! It makes so much sense why it’s called “Chess on Ice”.

5. Sometimes you cross an item off your bucket list without even knowing it was on your list in the first place.

Here are a few pictures from the night.  Forgive the blurriness of some of the pictures ~ we were standing on ice when we took them!

Curling Viewing Gallery

Waltham Curling Club

We were told the one who’s stone was the furthest away from the center had to buy a pitcher. We lost track of who was supposed to buy!

Learning the basics of curling

Ashley was immediately a pro!

Look at her form & how far she went!

Proud smile!

This is Therese! I know it’s blurry but look at her form!!

Nancy sliding her stone perfectly!

I’m ready…or at least I think I am!

…and I’m down! I think this would be classified as the stone furthest away from the center! I mean I did make it in the circle but just at the wrong end ~ and normally you are supposed to let go of the stone!

Such a good time with new friends!

We played 2 rounds that night.  Our team won 2-1 but just by a few centimeters!  As I said before there is so much strategy involved in playing this game and that’s the part where my brain gets mushy.  There are people out there {like my husband} who LOVE the strategy part of a game.  I would definitely go curling again & work on the skills of curling but I would need to rely on others to figure out the strategy part.

Here’s a video of our team in action ~ Ashley is delivering the stone down the curling sheet, Nancy and I are the sweepers, Therese is at the far end {with the instructor} telling us when to sweep.  One thing we learned as sweepers ~ watch out for the other stones that are already in the house {the circular target}.

Who’s coming with us next time??