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Rink

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Sliding Delivery

First, a little note. The stone isn't get delivered with the hand. It gets delivered with the leg. That sounds stupid, but itis so. A right-handed person holds the stone with the right hand and pushes itself with the right leg out of the hack. In the left hand, he holds the broom to keep balance. A left-handed person is doing it the other way.

Right-handed persons slide with the left foot and streche the right leg behind them (see pics below). Offcourse left-handed curlers do it the other way..

The sliding delivery is divided in different phases:

- stand into the hack
- adjust yourself to skip's broom
- take the stone
- choose the correct handle
- make a forward move in way of skip's broom
- raise up
- make a backward move
- push yourself out of the hack
- turn the stone and let it go

That was a very simple explanation of a sliding delivery. In reality , the sliding delivery is a very complex move. Even professional curlers have some flaws in their delivery.

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The Curl

Curlingstones have a hollow grind at their bottom. Through this grind, they're able to "curl" if the player turns them while hes delivering the stone. When a stone curls, it makes a curve. This curve is called curl. Ice is a very important factor for the curl. On some ices, a stone curls 3 feet on others only 1 feet (3 feet = a big curve, 1 feet = a small curve).
A slow stone (draw, guard, ...) curls more than a fast one (Take-Out, ....)
Without the curl, Curling wouldn't be so interesting and exciting.

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Sweeping

Through sweeping, ice gets warm and a little (VERY little) bit of water results from sweeping.

Sweeping has two effects:

1) A stone that is played to short (=to slow) can be maked longer through sweeping (but not faster) In example: a stone should be played into the house, but the player delivers it with te length (weight) of a guard. The two sweepers sweep the stone, and if they do that good, the stone arrives in the house.

2) The curl can be suppressed. When a stone gets sweeped, it curls less than it would without sweeping.

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Different ways, how a stone can be played

You can play the following stones:

Draw:	A slow stone, which arrives in the house.
Guard:	A stone that arrives in front of the house and guards a stone in the house.
Freeze:	This stone stopps directly in front of an other stone. They touch each other, but the stone that was allready in the house isn't get moved. This stone has the advantage, that the front stone can't be shot out of the game without also taking the back stone out. Normaly, the back stone is a stone of the opponent.
Take-Out:	A fast stone shots an other stone out of the game. Some other variants: Double-Take-Out: 2 stones get shot out, Triple-Take-Out: 3 stones get shot out. And so on
Tap-Back:	aka Promotion. This stone pushes a guard into the house and stays in front of the house as a guard.
Wick:	1) A slow Take-Out, that "splits" a guard, so that both stones roll into the house. 2) A slow Take-Out, that hits a guard and pushes it into the house, sometimes even behind a guard. The stone that was played, rolls out of the game.

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In / Out-Handle

Handle means the turn of the stone. Without the handle, a stone wouldn't curl. For a right-handed curler, a stone with an In-Handle turns clockwise and an Out-Handle turns counterclockwise. Left-handed do it the other way.

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Skip's Job

The skip controls the game. He/she decides what stone gets played (Draw, Wick, ...). If the skip decides to play defensive, he/she gives the commands to play Take-Outs and Draws. Because the rink is very big, the skip communicates with hand signals.

If the skip wants to play a Draw, he/she gives the signal for "Draw". Afterwards he/she "calculates" how much the stone will curl. The skips takes this distance and puts the broom so much beside the target. Example: the skips thinks, that the stone will curl 3 feet. So, the skip puts the broom 3 feet beside the place, where the stone should stop (see picture 1)

The player prepares now himself and delivers the stone toward the broom of the skip. If the player is doing this well, the stone gets good.

Moreover, the skip gives the sweeping comands.

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