My Brother's Learning to Curl

My brother, who lives in the bay area, started a 5 week learn to curl class last week.  I had taken him to the curling club last year and I think it's kinda cool that he's now taking this class and may play in a league afterward. 

After I asked how it went, his first words were "I'm really sore."  I think that's a good thing.  It means that they must've been able to fit in a lot of throwing and sweeping.  They even played a mini game, which my brother's team won and it was his rock that was the winning point.

A few things to note:

• My brother realized how much nicer the St. Paul Curling Club is compared to arena ice.  Apparently, he could tell how uneven the ice was.
• Some of the instructors were overheard discussing how many of the students in the class (of 30+) would come back with curling shoes and a broom.  Last year for this class, around a third of the students came back with all the gear.  That's very surprising to me.  There are a few teams at the SPCC that have matching outfits, but still use sliders and house brooms. 
• He didn't really get the free guard zone rule and didn't think it was explained all that well.  (But I and/or other opposing skips have forgotten about it from time to time, so maybe not that big of a deal.  This even came up during game 11.)
• He said it was fun.