I AM learning a new language, as the year comes to a close.
It will not help me on travels abroad, but it has introduced me to another world and it is a warm and friendly place, full of fascinating history and colourful characters.
The 11-year-old has taken up curling, inspired by excellent taster sessions in primary school, and I am spending hours and days at ice rinks, watching him play and learn.
It is a sport littered with lovely words and phrases – bonspiel, swingy ice, come around, double takeout – and there are lots of rules to follow.
My son attended school in rural Lanarkshire, where generations of the same farming families played the sport on frozen lochs in the surrounding countryside. He was fascinated by a photograph in the staffroom, a fading, sepia shot taken in the 1930s, of men in hats, curling on a pond just up the road from the school.
Historian Thomas Niven wrote beautifully about the quirky traditions of the game.
“Many curling stones became famous and none more so than the East Kilbride Cheese,” he wrote. “Its last appearance was in 1843 when James Strang of Peel played it as a first stone for the Carmunnock Club … Strang was the only player who could play the Cheese to the tee. It was often used as a test of strength and also for weighing oatmeal and cheese in our village…”
It’s thrilling to watch the top players, tactically brilliant and fiercely competitive, of course, but I love the fact the official rules on Scottish Curling’s website include a section on the ‘spirit’ of the game.
“Curlers play to win, but never to humble their opponents,” it states. “While the main object of the game of curling is to determine the relative skill of the players, the spirit of curling demands good sportsmanship, kindly feeling and honourable conduct.”
At the recent bonspiel (a tournament played usually on a weekend) some of the senior members of the club, spotting a newbie parent a little at sea, helpfully kept me informed about what was happening on and off the ice.The gulf in experience and skill in some of the games seemed vast.
“What you’ll find, though, is that when a more experienced team realises it is playing novices, its members will pass on tips to help the less experienced team play better,” explained one of the senior ladies.
It is hard to think of another sport in which that happens.
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