Westfield's Katie Sullivan has been involved in competitive curling since before most people were even aware of the sport.

Curling since the age of seven, the high school senior and her teammates recently qualified to compete in the USA 2012 Junior National Curling Championships, a weeklong competition that takes place in Madison, Wis. from Jan 27 through Feb. 4.

The top 10 boys and top 10 girls teams in the country will compete for a chance to move on to the World Championships. Last year, the event was held in Scotland, where the sport originated. This year, Sweden will play host.

Often referred to as "chess on ice" because of the strategy and critical thinking involved, curling made its debut as a medal sport at the 1994 Olympics in Nagano.

The game, with teams of four plus an alternate, takes its name from the "curl," or spin a player puts on the stone by twisting it upon its release. Alternating with the opposing team, each player sends a stone, which weighs 44 pounds, from the delivery zone toward the scoring area or "house" as instructed by the team captain, called the "skip."

Two sweepers then brush the ice in front of the moving stone in an attempt to maneuver it as close as possible to where the captain indicates.

Sullivan said it was after watching the event during the 2002 Olympics that her parents thought it might be something fun for the family to try together.

"We went to the club in South Plainfield, which is in an industrial park, and we got hooked and we've been doing it ever since," said Sullivan. "I don't think my parents went into this thinking that this would be something that we stuck with but it just kind of happened."

Sullivan said there are many things about the sport that surprise people who are unfamiliar with it.

"I think it's a lot harder than anyone thinks it is and that's what I like about it," she said. "It's a lot of strategy. A lot of psychological things go on. A big part of curling is all about sportsmanship. Even in the higher-up levels, if you touch a rock it's called 'burning it' and it goes out of play and that's not up to umpires or anything, that's on you to call it.

"If the other team sees that you've hit the stone they can't do anything about it unless you call it out. And in non-competitive times the winners buy the losers the first round and then it goes back and forth.

"There's a big thing about saying 'nice shot' even if they're your opponent. You shake everybody's hand before the game and you shake everybody's hand after the game."

Sullivan said not being from the midwest can make it difficult to find people who are skilled at the sport and even though curling is becoming more widely-known, putting a team together is a challenge because team chemistry is often the key to success.

While this is her first time working with her teammates, the athlete said most of the curling community knows one another. Sullivan added that it's important for teammates to get along because they are on the ice together for the duration of each game which runs two and a half hours.

The sport saw a huge boom after the last Olympics, said Sullivan, who volunteers at the curling club in Plainfield. At an open house held shortly after the Olympics, over 600 people came through the doors and more had to be turned away and given rainchecks, she said.

"The best part about it is that everyone's like 'it's so easy' but it's not," she said. "Sometimes we'll do corporate outings and the women's professional soccer team of New Jersey, the Sky Blue team, did it for a team bonding and it was great seeing Olympians like Heather O'Reilly wiping out on the ice. It's really hard."

Sullivan said the thing she loves about the sport is that it can be played for a lifetime. 

"You're able to do it when you're two years old and when you're 92," she said. "It's a sport that has longevity. Getting the gist of it is easy, it's perfecting it that's the hard part. The most important thing is getting out on the ice and throwing and being consistent."

A senior at the Academy of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station, Sullivan has already been accepted by Southern Methodist University, one of her top choices. But Sullivan, who will major in economics, has not made a final decision yet as she is waiting on answers from other schools.

One thing that factored into her decision making is whether or not a college has a curling club.

"It's not just a sport, also it's a culture. People's families have grown up inside of this sport and it's like a family," she said.

Sullivan said her team is accepting donations to help defray the cost of their trip to the Wisconsin championships. Contributions can be made through the team's Facebook and Twitter accounts.