How to Score in Curling

The sport of curling has been popular for a long time in Canada and parts of Europe, but exposure in the Winter Olympic Games has brought new fans to the game on ice. Now curling clubs have sprung up in places such as Houston, Texas, where practices are held on an ice rink located at center court of a huge shopping mall. Players use skill, brooms and heavy stones to score in curling.

Instructions

1. Select your order. Curling is played with two teams of four players on each side, and you select which player throws first (the lead), second, third (vice-skip) and fourth (skip, the team leader). You repeat that order for each end. Each player throws two stones per end as they try to score in curling.

2. Aim for the house. You are trying to get the stone as close as possible to the middle of a series of concentric circles drawn on the ice (called the "house") to score in curling. At the center of those circles is a mark called the "tee" or "button." That is where you want your stone to end up.

3. Get closer. Your team gets a point for every stone that is in the house and is closer to the tee than any of your opponent's stones.

4. Knock an opponent's stone away. You can use your stone to hit one of theirs, knocking it further away from the house and giving one of your stones a better chance of being closest to the button.

5. Protect your stones. If your team has a stone in the house, it could help you score if you put another stone in a position to make it harder for your opponent to knock it away from the tee.

6. Sweep. You aren't allowed to touch the stone once you throw it, but teammates can sweep the ice as it glides along to guide it. There is a great deal of science in the proper techniques to impact the ice to get your stone to go where you want so you can score in curling.