Equipment

When curling, players need to wear special shoes. One of the shoes' soles has a thin strip of teflon or another type of smooth surface. This enables curlers to slide out of the hack when delivering a rock. Left handed curlers have this special shoe on their right foot, while right handed curlers have it on their left foot. The other foot has a thin layer of rubber, to maximise traction on the ice. An additional piece of foot wear is the gripper, which can slide on and off the shoe with the slippery surface. This is also usually made of rubber. This piece of equipment is needed when a player is sweeping, and needs traction of both feet.

Another piece of equipment is the curling broom. The curling broom is used by the sweepers to sweep the ice surface in front of the rock. Sweeping in front of the rock slows down the deceleration of the rock, and also straightens the trajectory of the rock. The broom can also be used to clean debris off the ice, and is also used by the skip to show where they want the rock to go. The skip will also hold the broom at the opposite end of the rink from the delivering player to show the deliverer where to aim the rock. Brooms can come in many different shapes and sizes depending on preference.