Name – Sugath Narayan

Editorial Piece
Subject – Curling
Ahh bless those Scots, after making the best whiskey in the world, one
would expect them to come up with a tad bit better than the sport of
Curling. The first written reference to a curling contest comes from the
records of Paisley Abbey, Renfrewshire. The document dates back to the
15th century, telling us about men using stones on ice. The Kilsyth
Curling Club in Scotland claims to be the world’s oldest curling club,
dating back to 1716. In the early history of curling, rocks were simply
flat stones and the thrower had little control over the rock, while relying
more on luck than skill to win. Well it’s not like today’s game requires a
lot of skill either, or maybe that’s just my humble opinion. Curling
reached the Canadian shores after being brought here by Scottish
immigrants and it soon turned into one of the country’s most popular
sports. The Royal Montreal Curling Club is the oldest club in North
America, and it still remains active to this day.

Well enough about history, let’s get on to the sporting part of the game.
Curling basically involves two teams with groups of four players each
trying to outdo the other by guiding heavy granite stones into the target,
which is also known as the house.  The game is played on a rectangular
sheet of ice with a thrower and two sweepers, players that polish the ice
and try to guide the stone into the house, based on direction and speed.
The main aim of the game is to get the stones closer to center of the
house than the other competing team. Some people call Curling “Chess
on Ice”, right…I’ve heard they serve some good beer in the stands during
Curling matches.

Curling has been an official Winter Olympic Sport since the 1998 Winter
Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The International Olympic Committee
decided on February 2006 that Curling would be considered an official
Olympic event. In the past Curling matches have been hugely popular
and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics should attract capacity
crowds, although I for one would definitely not be going to witness this
spectacular uhm, Sport.