BLOOMINGTON - Members of the Bloomington-Normal Ski Club trade snow for ice a few times each winter to go curling. | VIDEO: Curling strategy from local pros

The ancient game is played by teams using "stones" and brooms. Players scoot the rocks over the slippery surface and try to land near the target, which is called "home." The brooms make the rocks go farther, straighter or both. The trick is having the touch to know when to use the brooms, how hard and for how long.

Curling is more than bowling played on cold, slick surface, said Steve Parke, the club's winter trip coordinator.

"I've heard it referred to as a combination of shuffleboard and chess," said Parke, 50, who works at State Farm Insurance Cos. "There's a lot of strategy in how you place your rocks. I originally thought it was, 'Throw a rock and try to knock the other guy out.' But there's a lot that comes into it."

"It takes finesse," added Nate Beer, a member of the Waltham Curling Club in Triumph near LaSalle, where the B-N Ski Club plays. "It's harder than it looks."

According to the World Curling Federation (www.worldcurling.net), curling dates so far back in time no one is quite sure who invented the game or when. The "where" is generally agreed to be Scotland. Written records survive dating to 1540 when a monk challenged a representative of the abbot to a game that required throwing stones on the ice. A Belgian artist also painted people playing a game similar to curling about the same time.

Though the first games were played on frozen ponds, contests today are played on indoor rinks, such as the ones found at the Waltham Curling Club. Ski club members discovered the Waltham site after they were introduced to the sport on a ski trip to Switzerland several years ago, Parke said. Dating to 1894, Waltham is the oldest curling club in Illinois.

Popularity in curling surges during the winter Olympics, Beer said. Visitors who stop to watch often are people who find the club online after seeing the sport on TV.

Illinois has several rinks in the Chicago area. Other states in the upper Midwest are home to many others.

The Waltham Curling Club is a long thin building resembling a narrow bowling alley. It has three "sheets," or boards where games are played. Each end has a "home" and a hog line, similar to a foul line in bowling. Players can't pass the hog line on their end as they throw their rock. Each 42-pound rock must pass the hog line at the other end or it is taken from the board.

The interior of the club features the rink, where temperatures are kept chilly. A glass partition lets spectators sit in on bleachers in warmth.

The club also encourages the social aspect of curling. In a sport where tradition dictates that opposing teams shake hands both before and after a match, the club has a lounge with three tables so competitors from each sheet can share a drink afterward.

Each team has four players, and each one throws two rocks. Each team has a "skipper," who's in charge of the game strategy. He or she might deem it's time to throw a "blocker" to make it harder for the opposing team to score. The word "curling" comes from the skill of throwing a rock to curve around the blockers, like curveballs in baseball.

Brooms were originally made of straw like a witch's broom, and some players still use those, Parke said. But most are made of a synthetic material like nylon. Either way, brooms are critical. The skipper watches each rock and determines if it's on course and has enough speed to reach the position he wants. If not, he or she shouts, "Sweep," and the other two players begin sweeping hard over the ice surface. The action causes friction which melts a thin layer in front of the rock. The stone goes farther or straighter or both as a result.

To throw rocks, players wear smooth-bottomed "sliders" and stand against a "hack" similar to a starting block runners use to get traction. Other players wear "grippers" so they can move on the ice to sweep. Novice players can get by merely wearing a clean pair of tennis shoes to avoid tracking debris on the ice that could damage the stones or throw them off course.

The sport is extremely "gentlemanly," Parke said. If players cross the hog line before releasing their rocks, they call their own fouls. Likewise, if a sweeper touches a rock, he announces the fact and the skippers work out where to place the rock in play.

Only one team - the one with the rock closest to home - scores each round. Having the closest rock is one point. If that team also has the second closest rock, it earns two points. If three rocks are closest, it can earn three.

Ski club members enjoy curling as a fun alternative sport to skiing that provides a great workout.

"It can be fairly physical," Parke said. "I've seen reports that during a match, you might walk as much as two or three miles. Plus, when you curl, you essentially do one big lunge. But the hardest part is when you're sweeping. You aren't sweeping, you're scrubbing 40 to 50 feet as hard as you can. When you do that the whole length, you're pretty tired."

Still, anyone can play.

"It's a good game for any age. We've had people from (age) 10 to 80 who have gone," he said.

The Bloomington-Normal Ski Club has scheduled two trips to Waltham Curling Club, on Jan. 24 and Feb. 14. Call (309) 212-5869 for information about the ski club or curling. The Waltham Curling Club also has an open house Dec. 1-2. Learn more and get directions at www.walthamcurling.org.

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Curling on Youtube.com

• The Bloomington Normal Ski Club's first attempt at curling in Zermatt, Switzerland was captured on video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnehlnH7a8Q

• Members of several Central Illinois ski clubs, including the Bloomington Normal Ski Club, made a trip to the Walthan Curling Club. Video is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELJLJ89Qf4c