Pointlife
Curling: it’s not just for your hair anymore
The Pointer
hshee298@uwsp.edu
Fifty years ago, Howard Woodside along with a few of his friends, decided a curling club was needed in Stevens Point. This was the start of citizens of Stevens Point realizing that curling was on the rise and growing internationally. At that time, it had been especially popular in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Now, fifty years later, the Stevens Point Curling Club boasts 125 members of all ages that want to take part in the camaraderie and competition that is curling. Curling is even more prominant in the international scene as a part of the Winter Olympic games.
Stevens Point Curling Club’s vice-president, Jack Edgerton, realizes that curling is growing in popularity, especially in cities like Stevens Point.
“We have everybody from kids in grade school to people in their 80’s, it’s a sport that can be done by just about anyone,” said Edgerton.
Edgerton said that most of the more serious competitors that compete in tournaments, which curlers refer to as “bonspiels,” outside of the club come from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, but the competition within the club is always challenging and full of sportsmanship.
“Curling is a gentleman’s sport,” said Edgerton. “When you do something illegal, you call it on yourself. Also, before games you shake hands and wish your opponent ‘good curling.’ The same exchange happens after the game when the winner takes the losers out for a beverage of their choice. It’s a very social activity.”
What happens in between the hand shaking is the real bulk of the activity. Edgerton describes it as “shuffleboard on ice.”
“Curling is done with 42-pound granite stones, and you slide them from one end to another,” said Edgerton. “There are four people on a team, one person to be captain, what we call a ‘skip,’ who tells other people what he wants them to do at the other end. Another person delivers the rock, and the remaining two have brooms that they use to try and affect the course of the stone to go further and stay straighter. Each round, or end, has eight rocks and the ultimate goal is to get all your stones closer to the scoring area than your opponents. And that is curling.”
If this is just the sport you’ve been looking for, you’re in the right place. The curling club located in Stevens Point is open every evening. It also contains the base for the United States Curling Association in the business park. Anyone can come to observe the sport and, as Edgerton pointed out, because there are many retired people in the club, it’s easy to set up a time with an experienced curler to learn the sport. For more in depth information about the Stevens Point Curling Club visit http://www.stevenspointcurlingclub.com/index-5.html.
