Table of Contents
Curling equipment
To bet successfully on such an exotic sport as curling, you need to understand it. We have talked to experts from leading bookmakers and prepared a series of tips for beginners who are ready to bet on curling. Moreover, we have compiled a professional curling vocabulary, which will allow beginners to understand the complex terms of this Olympic sport. It should be noted that all leading bookmakers kindly agreed to take part in writing this material. Perhaps this article is one of the most useful for the beginners, ready to bet money on curling.
Curling shoes
Curling shoes are also unique. One sneaker has a smooth surface, while the other has a rough surface, allowing for easy movement and pushing off the ice. Shoes with smooth soles are coated with a layer of Teflon, or only a Teflon coating is worn. Left-handed people have slippery soles on right-handed shoes and right-handed people have slippery soles on left-handed shoes. The roughened sole is covered with a thin layer of rubber, which increases traction. The rubber pads can also be worn on the smooth surfaces of the shoe to help the player keep his balance on the ice.
Brush and Stone
The curling stone weighs no more than 44 pounds (approximately 19.96 kg). It has a special handle attached to it that allows it to rotate properly. An electronic circuit can be placed in the holder to determine if the stone is released for before the red line. This solution is used at the best curling tournaments. The Olympics and the World Curling Championships are two of the sport’s most prestigious events. The downside is the cost of this technology, which costs $650 for each “electric” stone.
Curling ailsite – the stone itself is not flat, but concave, so only the radius outline touches the ice. According to the Scots, the highest quality stones are made from a special kind of granite – ailsite. The name comes from the place where it was mined. It is one of the islands off the coast of Ayrshitt or Ailsa Craig. This type of granite weakly absorbs water, so it does not melt or freeze again. Because the Ailsa Craig area is now a nature preserve and this type of granite mining is banned, the best stones are quite expensive and cost $1,500. It happens that a small layer of Ailsite granite is only attached to the underside of the stone. It is also worth noting that the top of the stone has yellow or red handles. In this way, curling players can more easily distinguish the stones of the team they have invested their resources in to win.
Rubbing Brush – When curling, it is very important to brush the ice with a brush. Special nanofiber brushes (formerly corn brushes) are used for this purpose. Intense brushing increases the temperature of the ice, which increases the speed of the stone or changes its trajectory. Skip (team captain) uses a broom to guide his players to where they should try to place their stone in the house. The curling brush also helps keep the balance as players release the stone.
Wheelchair Curling. There are also additional accessories for wheelchair curling players. Special curling equipment means that the sport can also be played by people with disabilities. A stone throwing bar was created for them.
Types of throws
There are two main types of throws in curling: drop shots and takeaways. The rest are just variations of them.
Draw and Takeout
A draw is a throw in which a stone is placed in or in front of the house when it is left as a keeper.
Take-out, in turn, puts the opponent’s stone out of play.
Guardian Stone
A guardian is defined as a stone that is secured between the out-of-bounds line and the tee line, except at home. This is called the Free Guard Zone. Any first two endpoint stones that have been placed in this zone may not be minted by the opposing team’s first player. Once a guard is removed from the base, which is against the rules, he returns to the playing field.
Stones considered keepers were introduced to give losing teams a chance. It often happened that the leading squads killed the adjusted guards, so that the auxiliary squad had almost no chance of taking over the base.