4 players
A curling skip does not have to throw the last stones
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Photo: The original uploader was Earl Andrew at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0
The short answer
The skip directs a traditional four-player curling team, but that leadership role does not require playing fourth. World Curling explicitly distinguishes the skip’s role from the delivery order.
Why it's true
In traditional four-player curling, skip describes a leadership responsibility and fourth describes a delivery position. They often belong to the same person, but they are not synonyms. The team can designate a skip who plays another position, provided it follows the rules governing its delivery order and team responsibilities.
The delivery positions are lead, second, third and fourth. Each player normally delivers two stones per end, with the teams alternating individual deliveries. Within one team’s allocation, the lead has the first two, the second the next two, the third the next pair and the fourth the final pair.
By the numbers
4
Traditional players
2
Deliveries per player each end
8
Stones per team each end
How we know
World Curling separates the skip and vice-skip from the declared playing order. That distinction accommodates teams whose best tactical director is not their preferred final-shot specialist. It also explains why a lineup listing a skip at third is not announcing that the team will skip a delivery or add an extra player.
The vice-skip carries out the relevant directing responsibilities while the skip delivers. Otherwise, a skip playing any position would face the same practical problem: the person sliding down the ice cannot simultaneously stand at the far house and provide the normal target from there. The leadership arrangement solves that problem independently of delivery order.
Worth remembering
- Skip is a role, not a delivery number.
- Fourth delivers the team’s last pair.
- Vice-skip directs while the skip throws.
In context
To read a lineup accurately, ask two separate questions: who directs the team, and who delivers each pair? Then identify the vice-skip and the hammer. Those four pieces of information explain the normal flow far better than assuming that the player standing in the house must always be the final thrower.
The distinction also changes how you interpret a close finish. A skip can make the decisive tactical call without delivering the decisive stone. Conversely, a fourth can execute the winning shot while another player holds the skip role. Crediting leadership and execution separately is more accurate than automatically attaching every responsibility to the last delivery.
A closer look
What a skip playing third actually changes
Imagine a team whose skip is its third player and whose fourth is a particularly strong final-shot thrower. The skip delivers the team’s fifth and sixth stones. During those deliveries the vice-skip directs play from the house. When the fourth prepares the seventh and eighth stones, the skip can again be at the far end directing the intended line.
The team has not changed the number of stones or created a floating batting order. It still has four players and eight stones in an ordinary full end. What has changed is the distribution of tactical leadership and high-pressure delivery. A broadcast graphic using third and skip together is describing those two independent attributes.
This separation can suit different strengths. Reading ice, anticipating the next several shots and communicating a plan are not identical skills to executing the final draw or takeout. A team may reasonably want one player making the strategic decisions and another delivering the last pair. The rules do not require those talents to be concentrated in one person.
Delivery order still imposes structure
Teams do not gain unrestricted freedom to shuffle throwers after seeing every developing end. World Curling’s delivery-order requirements apply, and substitutions or missing players have their own procedures. The statement that the skip need not play fourth is not permission to ignore the declared sequence or let a star player deliver extra stones at will.
The word last also needs care. Fourth means the team’s last pair, not necessarily the final stone of the entire end. The team holding the hammer delivers the end’s final stone. A fourth on the other team delivers before that opposing last stone, and must plan for the opponent’s remaining opportunity.
Mixed doubles is organised differently: two players share deliveries and use pre-positioned stones under its own rules. The familiar lead-second-third-fourth explanation belongs to four-player team curling. Applying it unchanged to mixed doubles would invent positions that format does not use and obscure how its delivery responsibilities are divided.
Related facts
Follow the stones from delivery order to the comparison that determines the end’s score. Only one team can score in a curling end.
Another useful contrast is how valid deliveries, rather than all releases, advance cricket’s count. A cricket over contains six valid balls, not necessarily six deliveries.
Football likewise separates a player’s position from the later action that creates an offence. Being in an offside position is not itself an offence.
Rugby’s try and conversion show why one attack can produce separate scoring events. A rugby union try and conversion are worth seven points together.
Key terms
- Skip
- The leader who directs a traditional four-player curling team, but need not deliver last.
- Delivery order
- The sequence in which players deliver stones, distinct from the skip’s leadership role.
People also ask
Does the skip have to deliver fourth?
No. Skip is the directing role, while fourth is a delivery position. A team can have a skip playing another position within the applicable lineup rules.
Who directs play when the skip throws?
The vice-skip takes over the relevant directing duties. That handover is necessary regardless of whether the skip normally plays lead, second, third or fourth.
How many stones does each player deliver?
In the normal four-player arrangement each delivers two stones per end. Together that gives the team eight deliveries, alternating with the opponents’ deliveries.
Does fourth always throw the end’s final stone?
No. Fourth throws that team’s last pair. Only the team holding the hammer has the final delivery of the whole end.
Can the team rearrange its order whenever it wants?
No. Declared delivery order and the rules for changes still apply. Separating the skip role from fourth does not create unrestricted mid-game rotation.
