Introduction to Curling for P7
The Russian Curling team came off the ice at Braehead Arena in January to be followed by ... Primary 7 pupils from Hutchesons'! The whole year group was taken to Braehead to sample the sport thought to have originated in late medieval Scotland.
A P7 pupils writes: "After a warm-up stretch, we had our shoes inspected. If they weren't perfectly clean, grit and dirt from them could damage the ice and the curling stones. Next we took our brushes and stepped onto the rink. Our instructor showed us how to sweep - this melts the ice so as to give the stone a smooth surface to slide along.
"We then practised sliding. We took our yellow protector bags and placed them over our (immaculate) trainers to give ourselves smooth feet, then slid along the ice holding onto a pole attached to two curling stones.
"We played a short game of curling. There were two sweepers, a scorer and a goalkeeper on each team, although we rotated positions. The scorer pushed the stone along, trying to get it to the 'button', a white circle the same size as the stone, while the sweepers swept the ice in front of them for a smooth surface. The goalkeeper did what goalkeepers normally do - try to stop the stone from reaching the button."
"At first I found it very hard," said another pupil, "but as we got further on in the lesson, I found it easier. We split into groups of eight or nine and ended the lesson with the boys playing against the girls. Unfortunately for us, the girls won by one stone!"
The Primary 7 pupils will have the opportunity to join the Curling Club once they are secondary pupils at Hutchesons'.
