Winter is almost here, and we all know what that means: hot cocoa, skiing, snowball fights, and of course Christmas.
But there is something else unusual that people can do for fun in the winter. It’s called Curling.

“Curling is a sport that was developed sometime in the late 15th or early 16th century. Most of the stones in use or made today are from the same quarry in Scotland,” Rick McCrickard a Member at the Lilac City Curling Club said. “It consists of 2 teams taking turns guiding 42lb. stones down the ice, 8 stones per team. The object is to get your teams stones closer to the center of the target than your opponent.”
The center of the house is called the button. Teams will also usually “sweep” the ice in front of the moving stone to make it travel farther and to help direct it to the button (without actually touching the stone).

Seeing as how curling is an officially recognized sport, it must require some physical activity.

“It requires some flexibility and balance, but not much brute strength. For folks that can’t get low enough to throw the stones in the conventional way, there are tools that will allow a player to push the stone while standing,” McCrickard said.

As far as gear goes, players will need ice with “houses” painted on (or placed under the ice), stones (16 per match), brooms, and curling shoes (or sliders).
Curling is not an inexpensive sport. Ice rink rentals can be as much as $200/hour, and a used set of 16 stones will likely set you back a few thousand dollars.
“The local league rents ice from the city and provides stones, brooms and sliders. Brooms usually start at $80 but can cost several hundred dollars,” McCrickard said. “Curling shoes cost anywhere from $120 to $300.

“We curl Sundays from 6-10 pm and its free to watch. There will also be plenty of people to talk to who can explain how to curl and the rules of the game”

“League participation costs $150 for 7 weeks of curling (1 match per week, 2 hours per match). The biggest part of the cost is ice rental”