Curling Rules Explained For Kids
10 May 2024
Curling is a sport for everybody. It’s easy to understand the rules, and it’s fun to play - just as long as you don’t mind getting a bit cold!
What’s curling?
If you’ve ever watched the Winter Olympics, then you’ve probably seen curling. It’s an amazing thing to watch. Players slide a large, round rock (called a “stone”) down a length of ice with the aim of getting it to come to a stop in the centre of a target. As the stone slides along, two other players sweep the ice furiously to help it on its way.
The setup of the game
The game is played on a 150-foot long course called the “ice”. At one end of the ice is a line called a teeline, which is the point players need to release their stone (a bit like ten-pin bowling). At the far end of the ice, a target is painted on the floor. This is called the “house”. A match has two teams of four players, who take it in turns to slide their stones from the teeline to the house.
Ends
A game of curling is broken down into ends, which are a bit like innings in cricket, sets in tennis, or quarters in basketball. Each game has ten ends. During an end, each player in a team throws two stones down the ice. Stones aren’t removed from the ice during an end, meaning players can try to knock opponents’ stones off the ice, or knock their own stones closer to the centre of the house.
Throwing and sweeping
Every player takes a turn throwing stones down the ice.
When players aren’t throwing, they might be sweeping. Sweepers slide along the ice next to the stone with large special brushes. As the stone glides along, they brush the ice in its path in order to warm it up and make it more slippery. This helps guide the stone along. In fact, that’s where the name “curling” comes from: sweep the ice just right and you can actually make the stone travel in a curve - very helpful if you’re trying to get your stone behind your opponent’s and into the centre of the house!
Scoring
The house is like a bullseye. There’s a small inner ring, and a large outer ring. The winner of an end will be the team who has thrown one of their stones closest to the centre of the rings. The team who wins the most ends will win the match.
Strategy
It takes strategy to win a game of curling. Because the teams take it in turns to throw their stones, it means that even if one team gets theirs near the centre of the house, it might not be long until the opponent knocks it out of the way with a throw of their own. It’s for this reason that players have to watch the game closely and advise each other what to do. It’s also the reason that the sweepers need to curl their stones in and out of the other ones already resting on the ice.
Making friends
Tradition and fair play are integral parts of curling. Players must respect one another and opposing teams must always play politely and fairly. In fact, tradition says that you must always socialise with your opponent before and after a game!