Originated in Scotland in approximately the late medieval time, curling is a winter sport played on a length of ice by two teams of four members each. The players are supposed to slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area.
It has proximity with bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Each team by turn slides the stones made up of granite and which are also heavily polished across the field. This is referred to as the ice curling. This spreading is ensured generally towards the house, a target marked on the sheet in a circular shape. Each team is given eight granite stones. The stones are circular in shape and weigh around 38 lb (17.
2 kg); they are dished at the bottom and top and have a top handle for the player’s grip-at the tees. These tees are goals that are placed 38 yards or 35 m apart and have a circle drawn around each one. This circle has a radius of 6 feet or 1. 8 m.
The purpose being the accumulation of the highest number of points for a game, the points being calculated for those stones that are present at the closest distance when it comes to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is considered complete after both teams, have thrown their stones. The number of stones is not limited to eight and can go up to ten stones too. The skill, team work and mental exactness required in the game earned it the title ‘ Chess on ice’. It is believed that curling was invented in the late medieval Scotland.
The earliest references to a game using stones on ice being can be seen in the records of Paiseley and Abbey, Renfrewshire in February 1541. Evidence that tells us that curling was existent in the sixteenth century is an inscription on one of the curling stones with the date 1511 that was uncovered when an old pond was drained at Dublane, Scotland along with another curling stone inscribed with the date 1551. Kilsyth curling club that had been formally constituted in 1716 claims to be the first curling club in the world. It was also claimed by Kilsyth Colzium as the place where the oldest purpose built curling pond is present in the world. The form in which this curling pond exists is that of a low dam.
But nowadays it cannot be used for curling owing to the warm winters. In earlier times, outdoor curling was a very popular sport with Scottish people as the climates gave very suitable ice conditions every winter. The mother club of curling The Royal Caledonian Curling Club made a committee called The World Curling Federation which is now the international governing body for the sport and resides in Scotland. By the end of the nineteenth century, Scottish emigrants had helped spread the game to various corners of the world like Canada, North America, The US, Switzerland and Sweden. Today curling is played all over Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, China and Korea.
