WILMINGTON – Curling is often the punchline at the Olympics, overshadowed by the flashy jumps and breakneck slaloming on the slopes. But the sport has a unique history, a special kind of comradery, and – above all else – it is much, much harder than it looks.
“Curling takes an evening to learn, a lifetime to master,” John Wojciechowski, an instructor at Coastal Carolina Curling Club, said.
On “Learn to Curl” nights, Wojciechowski – who goes by John, to save students from mangling his last name – and the club’s other instructors take amateurs through the basics: curlers have to launch themselves, and a 42-pound “rock,” made of Scottish granite, across the ice.
Then, they have to “deliver” the rock, rotating it slightly as they do – the spin imparted to the rock is the sport’s namesake “curl.” The curl helps to land the rock precisely where the curler wants it: closest to the center of the “house,” a bullseye zone about 120 feet away, or sometimes acting a guard, or even knocking the opposing team’s rock out of the way.
None of that is easy, but part of Wojciechowski’s attraction to the sport is how democratic it is.
“It’s a sport of last resort,” Wojciechowski said, half joking. “It takes skill, yes, but there’s no other sport that can accommodate the same range of demographics – we have new curlers in their 20s, we have people trying to sport for the first time in their 70s. Most people aren’t going to playing football or basketball in their later years. Anyone can do this.”
Wojciechowski gestured to a line that snaked around snack bar at the ice rink, down a hall way and outside. People were lined up to give curling a shot.
No points for style
Watching curling on television doesn’t really give you a sense of the skill it takes to deliver the rock across the ice, Instructor Jason Allen said.
Curlers wear special shoes, one with a Teflon coating that – on the ice – allows it glide nearly without friction. The other shoe allows more grip; that’s the foot curlers use to push off from. Starting in a crouch, curlers slide one foot backward and then – while bringing it forward again – push off with their other leg.
The result: the sliding foot end up tucked under the curler, the other foot trailing behind them. In one hand, curlers hold a broom for balance – more on that later – and in their other hand, usually their dominant hand, they hold the rock in front of them. And, while they do all this, they need to keep their center of gravity over their sliding foot, and not lean on the rock – otherwise when they release the rock they will go face first into the ice.
“The first time you do it, it definitely feels new – it can feel unnatural,” Allen said. “But you’d be surprised, as strange of a motion as it is, when you do it a couple of times it starts to become more automatic.”
Within an hour or so, Allen said most people start to get the hang of things. They also get an appreciation of professional curlers, Allen added.
Video: The rare and beautiful ‘Manitoba Tuck’ curling slide. (Courtesy Rod McLeod)
Allen pointed out that there are “no points for style in curling.” But, as even the most utilitarian delivery method takes years to master, the fact that curlers can deliver rocks across the ice with grace – and the occasional flourish – is impressive.
And that’s to say nothing about the Manitoba Tuck.
“That’s a difficult one, I’ve tried to demonstrate it but I can’t quite pull it off every time, “ Allen said.
The maneuver leaves only the ball of the sliding foot and the tip of the other toe touching the ice, with the rock-sliding arm extended ahead of the curler. The body is held level, suspended low over the ice. The Manitoba Tuck is like a plank exercise for the core muscles, combined with a yoga move, performed while launching a small boulder across the ice and landing it, with deft precision, half a football field away.
“You’ve probably heard people make fun of curling,” Allen said, “but those athletes are in tremendous physical shape. Their diet, their training, they’re really serious – the sweeping especially takes a lot of stamina.”
Ladies and gentleman, start your… brooms?
Yes, the “sweeping.”
Many first-timers had questions about the brooms used in the sport. Allen demonstrated the brooms’ purpose: temporarily melting the ice.
Before a curling match, special sprayers are used to form a pebbled layer of ice on the curling sheet. Friction from the furious sweeping warms this layer and helps capitalize on a strange property of ice – the liquid-like surface layer of ice that makes it so slippery, despite being a frozen solid. The molecular-level phenomenon has puzzled physicists for ages, but curlers have taken keen advantage of it.
In short: sweeping keeps the rock from decelerating as much, and slows its spin or curl. More sweeping means a rock goes straighter and further. This can help the sweepers on a team make sure the rock gets as close as possible to the center of the house.
However, one member of the opposing team can sweep on the far side of the bullseye zone, in effect sweeping the stone out of the scoring area the same way the other team swept it in.
Physically, it’s even more demanding than delivering a rock. According to Allen, professional curlers burn up to 400 calories sweeping during a game.
Oh, Canada
Curling is an old sport, dating back to 16th century Scotland – the land where traditional curling rocks still come from, hewed from the granite of Ailsa Craig (they also come from Wales). Brought to Canada by Scottish immigrants, the sport has developed a particular culture of good sportsmanship that can only be described as Canadian.
According to Allen, players always wish their opponents luck before games and congratulate them afterward. During the game, sweepers who accidentally “burn a stone,” touching it with their feet or brooms, are expected to call themselves out on their own infraction.
And, when the game is over, both teams participate in “broom-stacking,” a ceremonial beer (or two, or three) shared by both teams. In a final Canadian touch, the winners buy the losers the first round.
“Any sport that ends like that, how can you not love it?” Wojciechowski said
Learn to curl
The Coastal Carolina Curling Club holds several nights for novices every month, held at the More information is available at club’s website and Facebook page. The club holds events at Wilmington Ice House, located at 7201 Ogden Business Lane.
Send comments and tips to Benjamin Schachtman at ben@localvoicemedia.com, @pcdben on Twitter, and (910) 538-2001.
