Speeding Up Play

It is perfectly possible to play eight ends in a session at Kinross Curling but often clubs only manage seven ends.

Eight ends in 2 hours is 15 minutes per end. The bell goes at 1 hour 50 minutes, so a few seconds wasted here and there throughout the match could prevent that eighth end from being started.

Here are some tips to help speed up play.

Five Minutes Before

Be ready to go on the ice 5 minutes before your game is due to start. This allows for handshakes, coin toss and warm-up slides. If the stones are at the far end of the sheet, get down there before the game is due to start.

Be Ready

Be ready when it is your turn to play. As soon as the opposing player has released their stone, move to the hack. Remove your kipper, clean the stone and be ready to deliver when your skip calls the shot.

Leads, remember to get the skip’s stone ready on the hack for her.

Lead On

At the beginning of an end, if your team is playing first, your lead should NOT help put the stones away. Instead, the lead should find her first stone, get in the hack and prepare for delivery. That team’s second and third also need to be ready to sweep.

Out of Order

Stones do NOT need to be put away in numerical order after an end. They can be tidied up when the opposition first stone is in play. Skips can also help by putting stones that are out of play in their appropriate place as an end progresses.

Please note that Kinross Curling has assigned colour coded areas for the stones behind each hack starting season 2019-20.

Stay Focused

Skips must stay focused on the next shot and not be chatting with the opposing skip or players on adjacent sheets.