Icy fingers, warm hearts: Curlers love the rink life
Ocean State players Don Frechette (on knee) delivers a stone as Brad Caetano sweeps during a curling league match.
ALFREDO SOSA/STAFF
Wayland, Mass.; and Smithfield, R.I.
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 鈥渉ouse.鈥� 聽
鈥淪ome say it鈥檚 like bocce, but it鈥檚 more like playing chess,鈥� says Rich Collier, vice president of the Broomstones. 鈥淚 might do something now [that will] benefit three or four shots from now. It鈥檚 all about building it up and sequencing.鈥�
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 鈥渃urls,鈥� 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
In 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.聽
After the match in Wayland, both teams meet in the lodge for refreshments. The evening ends in smiles and handshakes. 鈥淭he easiest part about curling is having fun,鈥� says Mr. Collier. 鈥淭he hardest part is not taking yourself too seriously.鈥澛�
In 2009, a group of dedicated curlers who couldn鈥檛 travel to Broomstones opened the Ocean State Curling Club in Smithfield, Rhode Island. 鈥淭he one thing people should know about curling is that anyone can do it,鈥� says Dave Rosler, the club鈥檚 president. He says new players can be curling in a league after two hours of instruction.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a really social sport,鈥� Mr. Rosler says. 鈥淚 enjoy losing at curling more than I enjoy winning at almost any other sport.鈥�