Curling

Did You Know?

Curl BC is the Provincial Sport Organization responsible for the development of the sport in British Columbia and represents over 25,000 curlers.

Curling at the BC Games

Curling athletes at the BC Winter Games are 11-16 years old and are in the Training to Train phase of athlete development.  Club teams in each zone compete for the right to represent their zone at the Games and square off against the best in the province.

History

The game of curling dates back over 500 years with evidence of people sliding stones on frozen ponds or lochs in Scotland.  The game came to Canada in 1759 and has become very popular with over 1000 active curling centres in communities across the country. Canadian curlers are successful and well-respected in international competition, with Canadian teams having won the majority of the world championship events.  Curling was a demonstration sport at four Olympic Winter Games before becoming a full medal sport in 1998.

Format

Curling is played by two teams of four players on a rectangular sheet of ice.  Teams take turns delivering stones towards the target or “house”.  The players are identified as lead, second, third, and skip, which determines the order in which they deliver the stones.  Sweepers accompany each stone down the ice to help direct its final placement.  An “end” is complete after 16 stones have been delivered.  One point is scored for each stone that is closer to the centre of the target (button) than any stone belonging to the other team.  A game consists of 10 ends with extra ends added in the event of a tie.