FAQ

Curling is one of the oldest team sports, played on ice, similar to shuffleboard. The game dates back to medieval Scotland where competitors slid common stones of various sizes across frozen lochs. Today the stones are standardized, composed of 42 pounds of granite with plastic handles bolted into the rocks. Curling gets its name from the spin placed on the stone once it is released. It has seen a rise in popularity since becoming a medal sport in the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Yes. Curling is a sport that can be enjoyed by anyone ranging from children as young as kids to senior citizens.

Absolutely! While you are Curling we usually ask you to put your phone/cameras on the benches and shelves on the ice.  After, we encourage you to take as many pictures and videos of your friends and family as you wish. This will be a fun experience that you'll want to remember! We also love it when you tag Pittsburgh Curling Club in your photos if you post them on social media.

Not at all. Curling is played in rubber-soled shoes. Clean sneakers with a decent tread are suitable for curling. Please bring a clean pair to change into.

Curling ice is not the same as hockey or skating ice. Typical arena ice is perfectly flat, but curling ice has tiny little bumps on it. Before the game, the ice is prepped with a fine spray of warm water (known as pebbling the ice), which melts and creates tiny bumps known as the pebble. The pebble has better grip than your common skating ice. This pebble also allows curling rocks to travel across the ice. A curling rock doesn’t move across skating ice very well.

At the club level we usually play 8 ends which take about 2 hours.

Beginner curlers can wear regular flat-soled tennis shoes. More advanced players wear special curling shoes. These are similar to ordinary athletic shoes except that they have dissimilar soles; the slider shoe is designed for the off foot (or sliding foot) and the non-sliding shoe for the hack foot. The slider shoe is designed to slide and typically has a Teflon sole. It is worn by the thrower during delivery from the hack and by sweepers or the skip to glide down the ice when sweeping or otherwise traveling down the sheet quickly. The non-sliding shoe, or hack foot shoe, is worn by the thrower on the hack foot during delivery and is designed to grip. It may have a normal athletic shoe sole or a special layer of rubbery material applied to the sole of a thickness to match the sliding shoe.

No! Curling ice is prepared differently than ice skating or hockey ice. While skating ice is flat and smooth, curling ice is has a bumpy texture called a "pebble." "Pebbling" the ice is done by sprinkling water droplets on the ice that then freeze, creating a textured surface. The stones ride on top of the pebbles. If the ice were flat and smooth there would be too much friction to slide the stones all the way down the ice. The pebble will wear down over the course of a game and therefore the ice is repebbled before each game.

There are “positions” in curling, but the sport requires that all team members alternate throwing stones. When you are not throwing, you are sweeping. One player is designated as the team captain (called the “Skip” position in curling). Though there are “positions”, they don’t limit participation in the game or relegate a player to doing only one thing.

Broomstacking is an important tradition in curling. Curling is a very social game. At the end of each game, team members from both teams sit together at a table in our cozy warm room and socialize over drinks and/or snacks. Tradition has it that the winning team buys the first round of drinks for the losing team and the losing team reciprocates with the second round.

Yes. As long as you get good enough and win the Olympic trials. It's important to remember that the people you see in the Olympics have been playing at a very high level for many years and there is a reason why they're Olympians. While it takes many years of practice to reach the elite level of Olympic play, most people can overcome the learning curve to be able to participate in leagues relatively quickly.

We are a volunteer run non-profit.  Some areas that need the most volunteering effort are:

• Bonspiels
  • Kitchen staff
  • Bar staff
  • Registration on the first days of the spiel
  • Other tasks
• Ice Prep before all draws(games)
• Ice maintenance throughout the year
• Learn to Curl Instruction/Assistant