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Introduction to Curling Strategy
Have more fun watching and playing curling with this new guide to “chess on ice”!
“Introduction to Curling Strategy” is the first comprehensive book on modern curling strategy. It uses an intuitive approach (and lots of pictures) to make curling strategy easy to understand, even for people who are totally new to the sport. It works through classic scenarios that commonly occur at all levels of curling. And, it shows advanced curlers how to pick tactics based on goals and “intent,” rather than play shot-to-shot.
The book is organized into five parts:
Part 1: Curling Basics—A brief introduction to curling for people who are new to the sport, plus basic information you must know to understand the rest of the book
Part 2: Strategy Basics—Fundamental concepts that underlie all curling strategy
Part 3: Tactics in Depth—Opens and endings. Decide how you want an end to finish, then pick the right opening moves to get you there.
Part 4: Strategy Scenarios—Navigating the nebulous middle of an end. This section uses interactive puzzles to show you how to stay focused and steer play towards the ending you want.
Part 5: Putting It All Together and Playing in the Real World—Follow a real game, shot by shot, and see how skips make—and stick with—plans. This section also covers “real world” situations, like curling on arena ice, and playing with new curlers who are still learning to make basic shots.
The book also makes a great textbook for curling classes!
(Author's note: There are three versions of this book - color paperback, black and white paperback, and e-book - so everyone can have access to curling knowledge at an affordable price.)
“Introduction to Curling Strategy” is the first comprehensive book on modern curling strategy. It uses an intuitive approach (and lots of pictures) to make curling strategy easy to understand, even for people who are totally new to the sport. It works through classic scenarios that commonly occur at all levels of curling. And, it shows advanced curlers how to pick tactics based on goals and “intent,” rather than play shot-to-shot.
The book is organized into five parts:
Part 1: Curling Basics—A brief introduction to curling for people who are new to the sport, plus basic information you must know to understand the rest of the book
Part 2: Strategy Basics—Fundamental concepts that underlie all curling strategy
Part 3: Tactics in Depth—Opens and endings. Decide how you want an end to finish, then pick the right opening moves to get you there.
Part 4: Strategy Scenarios—Navigating the nebulous middle of an end. This section uses interactive puzzles to show you how to stay focused and steer play towards the ending you want.
Part 5: Putting It All Together and Playing in the Real World—Follow a real game, shot by shot, and see how skips make—and stick with—plans. This section also covers “real world” situations, like curling on arena ice, and playing with new curlers who are still learning to make basic shots.
The book also makes a great textbook for curling classes!
(Author's note: There are three versions of this book - color paperback, black and white paperback, and e-book - so everyone can have access to curling knowledge at an affordable price.)
- GenresNonfictionSports
292 pages, Paperback
First published January 31, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 9, 2019
Curling strategy
Introduction to Curling Strategy (ICS) is well written and a great book for any beginning to intermediate curler.
ICS will help you understand the fundamentals of strategy, and explain how you can control a game.
ICS will help you take your game to the next level.
If you love curling and you love strategy, this book is for you.
If you are a newer skip, this book is a must read!!
Introduction to Curling Strategy (ICS) is well written and a great book for any beginning to intermediate curler.
ICS will help you understand the fundamentals of strategy, and explain how you can control a game.
ICS will help you take your game to the next level.
If you love curling and you love strategy, this book is for you.
If you are a newer skip, this book is a must read!!
March 18, 2026
I got this to better understand the strategy behind the games I've watched in successive Olympics. It was pretty good for that purpose despite being intended for players and coaches rather than spectators. I found the sections on rules of thumb and "folk wisdom" particularly helpful and was pleased to find that I got 75% of the exercises correct despite never having played for real.
Some parts did go over my head,and I think this is because the diagrams often just show the sequence of moves without separately showing the result of each move. I am not a very visual learner, and combined with having ADHD, this made it difficult for me to fully follow the explanations. However, there are already a lot of diagrams in this book, and I fully understand that adding even more would probably make it prohibitively unwieldy and expensive. Overall, I would recommend the book to anyone wanting to understand this sport better.
Some parts did go over my head,and I think this is because the diagrams often just show the sequence of moves without separately showing the result of each move. I am not a very visual learner, and combined with having ADHD, this made it difficult for me to fully follow the explanations. However, there are already a lot of diagrams in this book, and I fully understand that adding even more would probably make it prohibitively unwieldy and expensive. Overall, I would recommend the book to anyone wanting to understand this sport better.
October 18, 2020
This is a good primer for anyone who is interested in starting curling. The nutshell is that good curling takes time and it needs to be on ice. It was beneficial to have the differences between the different shots explained and how the early rocks will build the score for the end.
February 5, 2015
There is a lot of information in here. As someone who usually plays lead, I'm not sure how much of it I'll retain. I enjoyed the last quarter (or so) the most - it went over some lead shots, techniques for playing on arena ice (which we do), and play-by-play of the last few ends of a championship game showing what was called vs what was thrown. This will be a good book to review as a team before Playdowns.
December 26, 2016
Perfect starting point for beginning curlers
I learned a ton of strategy as a beginning curler. Until now I mostly thought about the next shot. Now i understand how to plan for a game and each end. Examples were really helpful. I'd like to see a table of contents and make it easier to look through a series of photos.
I learned a ton of strategy as a beginning curler. Until now I mostly thought about the next shot. Now i understand how to plan for a game and each end. Examples were really helpful. I'd like to see a table of contents and make it easier to look through a series of photos.
March 15, 2016
Loved the book, has helped me appreciate curling strategy more.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews