Curling and Etiquette Tips:
Speed of Play
- Trust your skip to call the shot and the ice; stop making decisions by committee.
- As soon as the opposition delivers their stone, get your rock to the hack and clean it. Do not touch the other team's rocks.
- As soon as the opposition's rock comes to rest, both sweepers and the thrower should be ready to play.
- After sweeping a teammate's stone, do not stay at the playing end; move quickly to the throwing end to be in position as per #3.
- A 30 second delay on each shot causes a one hour delay in an 8-end game. Please be ready.
Curling Equipment
- Check your gripper! Friction between your gripper and your shoe causes the gripper to shed little rubber droppings that get on the ice and can make a rock pick. You can solve this problem by frequently replacing your gripper, cleaning it often, or trying an opaque gripper, which may provide more insulation from the heat of the friction from your shoe.
- Check your curling brush! Hog-hair and horse-hair brushes last about 40 games, and synthetic ones last about 20 before they all start to shed. If you didn't replace your brush last year, you need to this year.
- Use the Boot Boy! Debris can easily be transferred from outside shoes to curling shoes and then to the ice. Remember, you walk on the same carpet with your outside shoes as with your curling shoes. We ask that both curlers and non-curlers wash their shoes before entering the building.
Where should I stand?
- Only the skip and vice-skip of the non-delivering team may be behind the hogline at the playing end. This means that sweepers must stand between the hoglines when the other team is throwing.
- The next player to throw may stand on the backboards at the throwing end.
- If possible, sweepers on the non-throwing team should stand on the opposite side of the ice to the throwing team's skip, so as not to be a distraction.
