Question about curling - what are they doing with those little brooms in front of the puck or?
whatever it is? Are they using friction to warm up the ice? Does it make the puck or whatever go faster or slower? Showing my ignorance here - it looks like an interesting sport, but we are watching the Olympics from a foreign country and do not understand the commentators. Anyone want to give us a short explanation of curling?
Answers:
Anyone going snowboarding SOON?
Curling, a precision sport similar to bowls or bocce, is played on ice with polished heavy stones. In the early history of curling, the rocks were simply flat-bottomed river stones which were sometimes notched or shaped; the thrower had little control over the rock, and relied more on luck than skill to win, unlike today's reliance on skill and strategy. Although the game is generally believed to have been invented in 16th century Scotland, interestingly two paintings (both dated 1565 [1]) by Pieter Brueghel the Elder depict Dutch peasants curling.The origins of the word curling are not known though was first used in print in 1630 in Perth, Scotland. The game was also known as "the roaring game" because of the sound the stones make while travelling over the pebble (droplets of water applied to the playing surface). One possible derivation is from the old verb curr which describes a low rumble. Although curling probably does not take its name from the motion of the stones, a rock that deviates from a straight line is said to curl.
Outdoor curling was very popular in Scotland between the 16th and the 19th centuries when the climate was cold enough to ensure good ice conditions every winter, and is home to the international governing body for curling, the World Curling Federation, based in Perth, Scotland. The game is most firmly established in Canada, however, and the Royal Montreal Curling Club, the first sporting club of any kind in North America, was established in 1807. The first curling club in the United States began in 1832, and the game was introduced to Switzerland and Sweden before the end of the nineteenth century. Today, curling is played all over Europe and has spread to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and even China and Korea.
Curling has been an official sport in the Winter Olympics since the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. In February 2006, the International Olympic Committee retrospectively decided that the curling games from the 1924 Winter Olympic Games (originally called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver or International Winter Sports Week) would be considered official Olympic events and no longer be considered demonstration events. Thus, the first Olympic medals in curling, which at the time was played outside, were awarded for the 1924 Winter Games with the gold medal won by Great Britian and Ireland, two silver medals by Sweden and the bronze by France.
Basics of the game - Played on a sheet of prepared ice into which two archery-like targets (called the house) have been imbedded (see Playing surface below), the game involves two teams of four players. These teams are called rinks and named for the team’s captain (known as the “skip”). Each team has eight polished granite stones with which to score (see Curling Stone (or Rock) below).
During each round of play, called an “'end”' (see Game Play below), each player throws (see Throwing below) two stones. Play alternates between teams; one team does not throw two stones consecutively. Players influence where the stone lands by the amount of force used, or weight (see Scoring below), the curl (see Type of shots below), and aim. Once all the stones have been thrown during an end, the score is determined and the play reverses direction back to the other house.
The players are known as the Lead, Second, Third and Skip, and usually throw stones in that order (see Players (or Curlers) below). Additionally, the skip acts like the team’s captain determining the position played by each player, strategy during the game and representing the rink, which is usually known by the last name of the skip.
The basic goal of each end is to have more of your curling stones nearer to the center of the target (see button below) once all the stones from both teams have been thrown for that end. Therefore, the maximum number of points a team can earn per end is eight, though this is very unusual. Strategies used during play, such as blocking (guard) and hitting rocks to reposition them (bump) or remove them from play (take-out) lead to lower scores. The term draw is used to describe a shot that comes to rest in the house. For more information, see Types of shots below.
To help ensure the stone lands where intended, one player stands in the house and indicates to the player throwing where to aim given the desired effect of the shot. The other two players sweep in front of the rock, which results in a straighter trajectory and reduces the slowing effects of friction. Once thrown, players may not touch a stone, so sweeping is the only way to influence the stone once thrown. Games, called matches, usually last eight ends, though in competitive curling there are usually ten ends and some recreational games last six ends. The losing team cleans the ice for the next match.
Warming the ice.
How do you stop on a snowboard?
They are doing that to make the stone go faster.I have a giro mountain bike helmet. Can I use that as a snow boarding helmet as well? If not, why.?
Sweeping makes it the stone go faster.See the link for more details. I don't want to waste space here like some others.
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