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From left: Coastal Carolina Curling Club member Shep Sheppard teaches proper sweeping technique to April McFarling, at his left, and a few
of the 70 or so new curlers. Tony Jacobs teaches Aubrey Marsh and Kelsey Piper how to move a rock by sweeping. Jason Allen teaches at the
Learn To Curl event.
“I’ve never even been on ice before,” she says.
Jason Allen can relate. He was one of the newbies four years ago,
captivated by the strange game involving big round stones and
brooms, and where seemingly regular Joes slide around on ice and
win Olympic medals through skill, finesse and strategy rather than
athletic prowess.
“I had no idea what it was until I saw the Olympics,” he says.
The idea is to slide your rocks — which weigh about 40 pounds
each — 150 feet down the ice and get them closer to the house, or
target, than the other team’s rocks. The rock is released by a shooter
who then barks commands at a couple of teammates with brooms.
“It’s weird and fascinating,” Allen says. “Why are you sweeping a
rock on ice? Why are there no skates? What’s with the yelling? Why is it
called chess on ice?”
Allen is now the Learn To Curl committee chair for the Coastal
Carolina Curling Club, responsible for scheduling events like the one
in February. There were a couple in March, and three are planned
for April. All should attract about 70 people who want to take a turn
throwing rocks at houses.
“Generally, it’s a bucket-list thing,” Allen says. “They just want to try it.”
What they are trying is an ancient sport that dates back to the 16th
century but one that, because the prerequisite is ice, was very much a
winter sport restricted to northern climes for most of its history.
Curling originated on frozen lochs in Scotland in the early 1500s.
It made its way to the United States in the mid-1800s. The advent of
indoor rinks helped it grow, but it remained a niche, regional game
until 1998, when it became a medal event at the Nagano Olympics.
Television coverage introduced the sport to new audiences who
watched and became curious. Popularity spiked during the Vancouver
Olympics in 2010, when curling matches made it into primetime on
one of NBC’s cable affiliates.
The United States Curling Association capitalized on the increased
interest. Visitors to its website were encouraged to seek out a local
club and give it a try.
Someone wrote to the USCA, inquiring about a club in the Wilmington
area. The message was forwarded to Topsail Beach resident Dick
Macartney, a charter member of the Triangle Curling Club in Raleigh
and then the vice president for growth and membership with the
Grand National Curling Club, the regional organization for the
Eastern U.S.
Dick and his wife, Charlotte, convened a meeting with a handful of
others and drew up the charter for the Coastal Carolina Curling Club.
With four borrowed rocks and some old brooms, the new organization
conducted the first Learn To Curl at the Ice House in June 2011.
Rick Crowell was on the ice that day. He had seen curling on TV and
thought “it looked neat,” but it was seeing it in person that made him
want to try it.
“We went to Vancouver, and sitting with a bunch of Canadians who
were pretty much just rabid was exciting,” he says. “There was a lot of
adrenaline flowing in the stands. They went out of their way to answer
any questions a bunch of stupid Americans had. We got into it from
that.”
Tony Jacobs is another of the original club members drawn to the
sport after Vancouver. He’s happy to explain how it works, and just what
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WBM april 2018