European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 4, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page the stars and stripes cur ing an ice Way of socialize by Joseph Owen Stuttgart Bureau Lahr Germany when the skip delivers at the end of an end his rink Hopes for a Stone on the Button or at least in the four foot. Say that again discussing the sport of Curling with Many americans draws the same Blank look a tibetan Monk might Register on hearing baseball explained for the first time. Yet curl ing a former olympic sport and a muscular second Cousin to shuffleboard is at least twice As old As baseball. The game involves Competition Between four Man rinks teams on ice marked with Curling targets. Its Basic tools Are brooms special shoes and 44-Pound Curling stones or rocks with handles attached. Players at the Rhine Valley Curling club a facility at Canadian forces base Lahr say the game is a Good excuse to get together with friends. That s the Best part of Curling the socializing that goes with it. It s the least watched and most sociable sport there is said warrant officer Gerry Ringuette the club s vice president. The game s object is to slide the Rock from one end of an ice Lane or Sheet to the other so that it stops on the Button a Center Dot in a target of concentric rings or bumps an opposing player s Stone away from the but ton. As a player releases his Rock his teammates often sweep the ice in front of it creating an effect that makes the Rock move faster. Sliding rocks can Hook sideways or curl depending on How much the curler twists it on release. A skilled curler sometimes can make his Rock curl around a teammate s Rock and bump out an opposing Rock just behind it. When both rinks have played All eight of their Curling stones the end like an inning of baseball is Over. The rink that has put a Rock closest to the Button wins the end and scores a Point for each Rock closer to the Button than All opposing rocks. The winning rink is the one that has scored the most Points after eight ends. The rink members Are the first the second the third and the skip who is the team Captain. The skip has to have a great memory to remember everything about the ice said Rhine Valley Curling club member capt. Edward Mcmurdo. Ice condition affects Rock movement he said. The skip also looks for weaknesses in other teams Mcmurdo said. I d consider this chess on ice Ringuette said. The skip has to decide where to put the rocks what the strategy  Curling s origin is unknown. The scots who called it the roaring game because of the thunderous noise a Rock tuesday March 4, 1986 is photo by Gus Schueller action is Lively at Canadian forces base Lahr Germany during the Rhine Valley Curling club Competition. Makes lumbering across the bumpy face of a Frozen Pond cultivated the sport and spread it to other parts of the world. The earliest known mention of Curling and curl ing stones occurs in a scottish poem written in 1638, although similar Stone throwing contests appear in a Scot Tish documents and flemish paintings of the previous Cen Tury according to Curling an illustrated history by David b. Smith. The earliest known Curling club was Scotland s Duddingston society founded in 1795. Curling clubs now thrive in most of Northern and Central Europe in Northern North America and in new zealand where players still use Ponds instead of ice Arenas. The game has generated its greatest passion among canadians however. Nowhere in the world is there such a depth of Curling skill As in Canada Smith wrote in his Book. The ubiquity of the game and the vast numbers who play have Given Rise to conditions in which Competition of the highest order can  according to legend Curling started in Canada during the French and Indian War when a scottish regiment the 18th highlanders melted cannonballs into Curling stones after the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Scottish Immi Grants founded Canada s first club at Montreal in 1807, using cast Iron stones. The same club played against que Bec City curlers in the first inter club tournament or Bonspiel in 1836. Montreal lost bought dinner for the Quebec club then atoned for the indignity in 1837 by building what is believed to be North America s first Cov ered ice rink. Today More than a million canadians belong to Curling clubs Mcmurdo said. Canadian forces Europe s Lahr and Baden Soellinger bases both support full time clubs but membership is not limited to base personnel. There a a a lot of americans Curling at the Canadian club at Baden Mcmurdo said. Scots also helped found the first american club Michi Gan s Orchard Lake Curling club in 1832. Clubs sprouted in the northeastern and midwestern United states in the 1850s, with their concentration shifting to the Midwest by the 1890s. Rhine Valley manager Keith Wen Dorf said the sport is strongest today in Minnesota and neighbouring states. Three Curling teams competed at the 1924 Winter olympics in Chamonix France. The sport was deleted from the olympic schedule after that but now is being reconsidered. Wendorf said a demonstration Curling event is planned for the 1988 Winter olympics in Calgary Al Berta. In the meantime Curling Competition reaches its Zenith at the world Curling championships where the top teams compete each Spring for a trophy known As the Silver  German rink helps Canadian strive for the top Lahr Germany for the first time in six years Keith Wendorf won t be going to the world Curling championships at the end of March. Big Deal after five world championships in a Row laughed Wendorf a 36-year-old Canadian who manages the Rhine Valley Curling club at Canadian forces base Lahr. For the past five years Wendorf has gone to the world championship As the Lone foreigner on a German rink team from the Black Forest town of Schwenninger. The rink won Germany s Curling Crown in 1981 and kept it until a few weeks ago when it lost a semifinal game to a rink from Suessen. Wendorf a Toronto native who moved Many times As a Soldier s son said he first curled in 11th Grade. It was a late Start but when he was a University of new Brunswick student his rink won the maritime prov inces championship in the seven years or less experience group. R after following his parents to Germany Wendorf joined a Munich rink that won the National championships and competed at the world level a 10-nation tournament in 1978 and 1979. He later joined his current rink which has played in the world championship five times. The rink s Best showing was losing is photo by Joseph Owen Keith Wendorf competed for world title five times. In the 1983 finals at Regina Saskatchewan four months after losing the separate european championship finals. So what is a Canadian doing on a German team anyway All the Canadian play is a dead end Street said Wendorf citing the limitations of playing Only with other canadians in Europe. When you play with a German team that leads to the european championship and then the  reaching the top is fairly easy in Germany because the country has Only about a dozen Good competitive rinks he said. But Wendorf misses the exposure to Canada s wealth of Talent which can hone the skills of a player aiming for the world championship. The Best curlers in the world come from Canada he said. Every town and Village in the West has a Gram elevator and a Curling club. Those Are the Only two things you can be sure of. And if one of them is missing it s the Grain  but he said players can Only get so Good at a sport no matter where they play. He noted that Canada failed to win the world championship for seven years in a Row in the 1970s, when the United states took it three times. Joseph Owen