Icy fingers, warm hearts: Curlers love the rink life
| Wayland, Mass.; and Smithfield, R.I.
It might not be obvious to the untrained eye, but as stones slide across the ice and players with brooms scramble across a curling rink in Wayland, Massachusetts, a strategy is taking shape.
“Some say it’s like bocce, but it’s more like playing chess,” says Rich Collier, vice president of the Broomstones Curling Club. “I might do something now [that will] benefit three or four shots from now.”
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onIn the sport of curling, players send stones gliding across the ice. But they're also forging social bonds beyond the rink, and having a delightful time doing it.
Curling may look puzzling to the uninitiated. Two teams take turns sending stones sliding toward a target, with their respective teammates sweeping in front, so the stone will travel farther. The team with the stones closest to the center wins the round.
The sport has jumped from a 16th-century Scottish pastime to an Olympic-level event. But it’s obvious after a recent Broomstones match, as teams meet in the lodge for refreshments and to trade handshakes, that the sport hasn’t strayed far from its communal roots as a social event.
“It’s just a really social sport,” says Dave Rosler, president of Ocean State Curling Club in Smithfield, Rhode Island, another outpost of the game. “I enjoy losing at curling more than I enjoy winning at almost any other sport.”
At a frigid ice rink in Wayland, Massachusetts, members of the Broomstones Curling Club look for a clean push-off that will send a 44-pound stone gliding more than 100 feet across the ice and closest to the target, called the “house.”
“Some say it’s like bocce, but it’s more like playing chess,” says Rich Collier, vice president of the Broomstones. “I might do something now [that will] benefit three or four shots from now. It’s all about building it up and sequencing.”
Curling, which started in 16th-century Scotland, may look puzzling to the uninitiated. Two teams take turns making throws, with their respective teammates sweeping in front, so the stone will travel farther. (The stone actually curves, or “curls,” giving the sport its name.) The team with the stones closest to the center wins the round. There are 8 to 10 rounds in a full match and the team with the most points wins the match.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onIn the sport of curling, players send stones gliding across the ice. But they're also forging social bonds beyond the rink, and having a delightful time doing it.
Since it was added to the Olympic Winter Games in 1998, the sport has grown in popularity. Today, there are more than 80 clubs in the United States. At Broomstones, the wait for a membership slot is five years.
After the match in Wayland, both teams meet in the lodge for refreshments. The evening ends in smiles and handshakes. “The easiest part about curling is having fun,” says Mr. Collier. “The hardest part is not taking yourself too seriously.”
In 2009, a group of dedicated curlers who couldn’t travel to Broomstones opened the Ocean State Curling Club in Smithfield, Rhode Island. “The one thing people should know about curling is that anyone can do it,” says Dave Rosler, the club’s president. He says new players can be curling in a league after two hours of instruction.
“It’s just a really social sport,” Mr. Rosler says. “I enjoy losing at curling more than I enjoy winning at almost any other sport.”
