Curling Throwing Order

When playing a game of curling, each team gets eight stones to throw every end (the rules are different for mixed doubles curling). To get a stone to move to a desired location on the sheet, you need to consider the throw, delivery, release, and how sweeping is applied. Let’s learn the rules of throwing in curling and how it affects the trajectory of the stones.

Throwing Order

A thrower is the teammate that is throwing a stone. In a game of curling, each teammate will throw two stones per end. Each team throws eight stones and there are four players on each team.

There are four player positions on a curling team called the lead, second, vice, and skip. The lead throws the first and second stones, the second throws the third and fourth stones, the vice throws the fifth and sixth stones, and the skip throws the seventh and eighth stones.

The throwing order for a typical curling team usually goes Lead, Second, Vice, and Skip.

Mixed Doubles Throwing Order

In mixed doubles, each team throws only five stones per end with one teammate throwing two stones and the other throwing three stones. It’s up to the team to decide which member of the team throws two or three stones.

Typically a mixed doubles throwing order looks like this:

• Thrower 1: First and Fifth Stones
• Thrower 2: Second, Third, and Fourth Stones

Throwing Order Exceptions

There is no rule stating that teams must throw in the order that we stated above. Therefore, some teams have changed around the order in which their teams throw stones. This is allowed as long as the throwing positions remain permanent for the entire curling game.

A current example of a team that throws out of order is the Swiss team skipped by Peter de Cruz. On his team, the throwing order is: lead, skip, second, vice.