Q and A

Q: Columbia, SC - "While sweeping a person by accident steps on a rock- is there a penalty; if so what is enforced?"

A:  If a sweeper makes contact and moves a rock that was at rest, the opposing skip can ask to put it back in its original location. Other than that there is no penalty. If sweeper touches his team's moving stone, that stone is "burned" which means it is removed from play. Oftentimes, the only person that would know such contact had been made is the sweeper himself.  In curling, much like in golf, players are required by the "spirit of the game" to call penalties on themselves.

It is a game of honor and integrity. A great example of this occurred a few years ago in the US when a competitor in the finals of the National Junior Championship called such a penalty on himself, nearly costing his team a trip to the World Championships.