Musicians' Network
Curling for the First Time
Perhaps you’ve seen curling on television. It probably was on television a few weeks after the Super Bowl when nothing else was on TV, or during the 2006 Winter Olympics. Your only other choices might have been repeats of Super Stars of Poker or Dog Agility Challenge. Curling was a repeat too, but you hadn’t seen it yet.
Who really cares about curling? It’s just something for bored, drunk Canadians to do during blizzards. Any idiot can do it.
It’s not as easy as you think! Check out the video (music by AC/DC).
There were a few spills and stumbles. Luckily, no one split his head open on the ice. We were fortunate the ice had not been groomed lately, and a thin layer of frost made the surface a bit less slippery.
As our form improved, our accuracy went down. It became harder and harder to put the right touch on the 38 pound stones we were sliding across the ice. I suppose that the ice between targets became more slippery too as we sent 16 stones per round down the ice.
We also discovered that sweeping is the most physically intense activity of the sport. First, it takes a lot of effort to maintain balance while sliding on one foot and sweeping. Next, the effort required to sweep the ice quickly enough to effect the speed and direction of the stone is enormous. Finally, we didn’t have enough players for the required two sweepers, so we had to work twice as hard.
All in all, it was a lot of fun for all of us, and we vowed to do it again each year when we get together for the holidays. We’ll probably invite more people to join us next year. We also have more respect for those that do it well. Hopefully, someone will broadcast curling during the Winter Olympics. We all plan to watch and learn. If you get the chance to try curling, you should. Let us know how you do. Good Luck!