Anna Faszcza

Curly Curling?

There is something to be explained about curling, the sport of skill and great tradition. Here are 5 people describing this Olympic discipline.

Tom, 17, curling amateur

I’ve been playing curling for four years now and I love it! The game involves sliding downsliding down [slide down]sliding down a stone on the frozen curling sheetcurling sheetcurling sheet towards a bullseyebullseyebullseye while two other players armed with brooms (brushes)armed with brooms/brushes [armed with a broom/brush]armed with brooms (brushes) energetically sweep the ice. That really looks a bit funny. The thing that I treasure most is the code of honourcode of honourcode of honour, which each participant should take seriously. Some people call it the spirit of curling. The point of it is to treat the opponent in a friendly waytreat the opponents in a friendly waytreat the opponent in a friendly way. That way we competecompetecompete in a warm atmosphere with no negative pressurewith no negative pressurewith no negative pressure. If we win the game, we take the rivals out to spend some time together. Players cannot disturb the opponents and should report their own faultsreport their own faults [report one’s own fault]report their own faults! A devoted curler would rather lose than cheat!

Anna, 19, fan of curling

Do you know that this sport was originally played on frozen ponds and lochs in 16th century Scotland? Actually, the first recorded match took place around 1541 with a challenge between a monk and a relative. The popularity of this sport spread quickly to North America. The first Canadian curling club opened in Montreal in 1807, and the first American one in 1828. Nowadays people all over the world seem to enjoy this game. I found it truly mesmerisingmesmerising [mesmerise]mesmerising to watch a sliding stonea sliding stone/rocka sliding stone (rocka sliding stone/rockrock is another name for it).

Patricia, 27, coach

Curling is often wrongly regarded as a difficult game and many people say that it’s hard to understand its rules. Actually, the rules are not as complicated as they may seem. Curling is played on a frozen rectangular sheet. There are four concentric circlesconcentric circlesconcentric circles, called the househousehouse. The house is the scoring areascoring areascoring area. There are two teams, each of which consists of four players. They are given 8 stones to slide. The team with the most stones to the curling bullseye, the buttonbuttonbutton, is given points. The closer the button, the more points the team is awarded. After all 16 stones are thrown, the points are summarised. The match consists of 10 endsends [end] (noun)ends. In each end, the four players on both teams take it in turns to throw stones. The leadlead (noun)lead throws first, next the secondsecond (noun)second, then the thirdthird (vice‑skip) (noun)third, called vice‑skipthird (vice‑skip) (noun)vice‑skip and then finally, the skipskip (noun)skip. If no stones remain in the house after an end, no points are awarded. The team with the most points after 10 ends wins the match.

Julia, 22, professional curling player

Curling is about simplicity. There are four players in the team, each has a different role. I play as the skip, who is believed to be the most important player on the team. I do not not only throw the last stone in an end, which often determines the scoring, but I also direct the overall strategy. By the way, all players are sweepers! When a curlercurlercurler releases the stone, the teammates start sweeping the ice in front of it energetically. That looks easy but in fact it requires a lot of effort! Sweepingsweeping [sweep]Sweeping is a very important part of the game. It warms the ice and reduces frictionreduces friction [reduce friction]reduces friction, which allows the stone to slide farther and straighter.

Sam, 28, parent

Both of my kids have been attending curling lessons for a couple of years now, and I believe that it gives them more than physical activity. I only bought them brushes and gripper shoesgripper shoes [gripper shoe]gripper shoes. Curling develops concentration and staminadevelops concentration and stamina [develop concentration and stamina]develops concentration and stamina. You need to keep certain body positions for a while to make sure the stone slides steadily and directly to the house. What’s more, all muscles work, involving hands and legs. It is said that curling is like playing chess, you need to have a strategy to score the points and win. Logical thinking is in great demand.

1 Źródło: Anna Faszcza, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.