Forget about ice skating and snowboarding. Curling is the sport to try this winter at Prospect Park. NY1's Roger Clark filed the following report.

It's a game played on ice, but participants don't wear skates. And brooms are an integral part of helping your team win. 

It's called curling - created in Scotland, wildly popular now in Canada, and with a cult following here in the city. 

"There's a lot of strategy involved," said Dean Gemmell of CurlNYC. "Some people call it chess on ice because it's a thinking game as well."

The only place you can currently curl here in the city is at the skating rink in Prospect Park, home to the Brooklyn Lakeside Curling Club. 

"We were thrilled that it's here, and it's become instantly very popular," said Sue Donoghue, president of the Prospect Park Alliance.

There are leagues, and the rink partners with Curl NYC to provide lessons.

Here's how the game works. Think shuffleboard on ice. Slide the 40-pound stone, or rock, into a target, known as the house. Special shoes are used for both traction and sliding ability. And then there are the brooms, used to warm the ice, helping to propel and steer the stone in the right direction.      

"Two good brushers on good curling ice can take a rock 10 to 12 feet further than it can go without brushing," Gemmell said.

Always curious about curling, I needed to try it for myself. It's not as easy as it looks, but with a little brushing from my friends, I figured it out. 

When you watch curling on TV, it may not look like you have to be in the best physical condition to do it. But actually being fit would really come in handy.

"Better you get at it, the more physically demanding it becomes," Gemmell said.

And the folks at Lakeside expect the  to welcome more curlers in the future, especially with the Winter Olympics giving this curious sport a new shot of exposure next year.

"Our numbers will rise, so if you get in now, you can avoid the crowds," said Shanley Pascal of the LeFrak Center at Lakeside.

If you want to be swept away by curling, head to lakesidebrooklyn.com or prospectpark.org to find out more.