Curling
Not happy with your locks, and you wanted to find out how to impart beatiful curls to them? Well, you aren't going to find out here. My longest hair is about an inch long, and graying, so to find the Farrah Fawcett look, go elsewhere.
Oh, and if bigger biceps is your aim, again, wrong place. If you want to use exercise and steroids to get bigger, ain't gonna find it here. My stance on steroids, DON'T!!! My stance on weight-lifting, maybe.
No, this post is about the sport of curling. I suspect most of you are scraping cobwebs out of some deserted corner of your brain, asking yourself, "Could he possibly be referring to that weird sport with the big rocks being slid on ice and the guys sweeping the ice with brooms?" Yep, that's the one.
The circumstances are a bit odd, but last Sunday I tried curling. My take on it: Surprisingly difficult. It consists primarily of two kinds of activity: 1) Sliding a 42 lb. stone and 2) sweeping the path of the stone. To slide the rock properly, you stand in a starting block called a "hack" and slide out briskly keeping yourself balanced while slipping on a teflon soled shoe and as you slide, directing the stone and simultaneously imparting a spin to the stone. It's this spin that both give a degree of control to the stone (think rifled bullet or spiral pass)and permits the stone to curl (think bowler's hook or curveball).
Keeping one's balance while sliding isn't terribly easy, even with a broom to aid you. And for a runner, the act of sliding requires a fair degree of flexibility, not my strong suit.
What did I think? Well, first, let me say that curling, like bowling is one of those sports that can likely be classed as competitive recreation. The athletic portion of it is limited. (It can even be reduced, in the USA, use of a delivery stick is permitted in most games, this permits those with physical limitations to play the game.) More than that, I won't argue this point. Suffice to say, like most competitive recreation, I had a lot of fun. It's a sport that center around a fair amount of cameraderie. I understand most clubs have opportunities for beginners to learn the sport and a post-match beer (or soda) is almost de rigeur. Put another way, if you want to add something unusual to your "sports I've tried" list, this is a good one...and unlike my hang-gliding experience, I didn't screw-up a shoulder.
Oh, and if bigger biceps is your aim, again, wrong place. If you want to use exercise and steroids to get bigger, ain't gonna find it here. My stance on steroids, DON'T!!! My stance on weight-lifting, maybe.
No, this post is about the sport of curling. I suspect most of you are scraping cobwebs out of some deserted corner of your brain, asking yourself, "Could he possibly be referring to that weird sport with the big rocks being slid on ice and the guys sweeping the ice with brooms?" Yep, that's the one.
The circumstances are a bit odd, but last Sunday I tried curling. My take on it: Surprisingly difficult. It consists primarily of two kinds of activity: 1) Sliding a 42 lb. stone and 2) sweeping the path of the stone. To slide the rock properly, you stand in a starting block called a "hack" and slide out briskly keeping yourself balanced while slipping on a teflon soled shoe and as you slide, directing the stone and simultaneously imparting a spin to the stone. It's this spin that both give a degree of control to the stone (think rifled bullet or spiral pass)and permits the stone to curl (think bowler's hook or curveball).
Keeping one's balance while sliding isn't terribly easy, even with a broom to aid you. And for a runner, the act of sliding requires a fair degree of flexibility, not my strong suit.
What did I think? Well, first, let me say that curling, like bowling is one of those sports that can likely be classed as competitive recreation. The athletic portion of it is limited. (It can even be reduced, in the USA, use of a delivery stick is permitted in most games, this permits those with physical limitations to play the game.) More than that, I won't argue this point. Suffice to say, like most competitive recreation, I had a lot of fun. It's a sport that center around a fair amount of cameraderie. I understand most clubs have opportunities for beginners to learn the sport and a post-match beer (or soda) is almost de rigeur. Put another way, if you want to add something unusual to your "sports I've tried" list, this is a good one...and unlike my hang-gliding experience, I didn't screw-up a shoulder.
Labels: cross-training, curling, fitness, recreation, sports
posted by Scooter at 6:55 AM
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