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Intro to Curling

January 24, 2012 By Nedra McDaniel 5 Comments

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Intro to Curling Cover

Taking an intro to curling class is what happens when you have a lunch conversation with your hubby about random Winter Olympic sports,  a constant curiosity for fun activities and a smartphone. That led to a search for a place where we could try curling, which resulted in my husband and I drove thru a winter snow storm to try this adventure.  My husband is a good sport and we decided to make the $10 intro to curling class a unique date night.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

We arrived at the ice center after a white-knuckle trip down. We scoped out the arena and noticed the markings on the ice for our game.

Our only knowledge of the sport came from channel surfing during the Winter Olympics. We knew there were brooms involved and that it looked like shuffleboard on ice.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

We were told that curling is one of the few sports where beer is encouraged on the ice.  You just set it on the ledge inside the rink while the other team is going.  No wonder so many guys like this sport!  We checked out our surroundings and noticed the other newbies and the pros who brought their own broom or wore matching outfits.  The “Sweeping Beauties” guys were my favorite.  They owned it with their matching neon green sweatbands.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

Most of our instruction was on the ice which was good because I am a very visual learner.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

The round stone is called the rock and weighs over 40lbs.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

The area on the other side of the ice is called the house.  You want to get your rock into your house without passing the line just like shuffleboard. The “sweepers” no longer use real brooms but something with a similar purpose.  You only sweep if the thrower’s rock is short of the house.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

Then the sweepers will sweep as fast as possible in front of the rock to get it moving closer to the house.

We started out our class by practicing throwing lunges. This is why they recommend that you wear running pants. Thank God my jeans were stretchy.  You put your right foot on the block and then slide your left foot forward.  That made for some comical attempts by everyone.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

We kept on practicing and then we got to try throwing the rocks from the starting block.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

Almost every time I did the lunge I wiped out afterward on the ice.  My instructor said that my throws were good so who cares about bruised knees or egos.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

After a few good lunging throws we were instructed on how to “curl” the rock. You can rotate the handle to the right or to the left to create the curling spinning motion. This is what separates curling from an ice version of shuffleboard.  The curling is where the strategy comes in to knock out your opponent’s rock of the circle area.

 

We were joined by a group of 6 coworkers.  I love that these coworkers decided to change up their hangout night with an intro to curling class too.  They were really fun to hang out with.  We played a few innings where my husband and I each scored a point.

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

The sweeping position is where the cardio comes in.  You could be booking it down the ice if the thrower’s rock comes down the ice fairly fast but still needs assistance getting to the targeted bullseye. We played several innings and loved how much fun we were having.  Curling is interactive, takes teamwork and is just fun!  I highly recommend trying this off the beaten path sport.

 

Intro to Curling Kalamazoo Curling Club in Michigan

If you want to check out curling try Kalamazoo Curling Club or locate a curling club near you.

 

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Filed Under: Adventures With Friends, Indoor Play, On A Date Adventures, Winter Activites Tagged With: curling, date night, intro to curling class, Kalamazoo, kalamazoo curling club, Olympic Sport, Pure Michigan, Winter Olympics

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nedra McDaniel

    February 11, 2012 at 9:55 pm

    Sounds good! Let me know if you hear of anything we should check out down there:)

  2. Amanda

    February 10, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    It was nice curling with you! If you come to the Kzoo area again for a fun new experience let Jim & I know & hopefully we can join you! 🙂

  3. Stefanie

    February 2, 2012 at 3:30 pm

    That looks like a lot of fun! I have a curling game on my iphone but that’s the extent of my experience! Super fun!!

Trackbacks

  1. 35+ Fun Date Ideas says:
    February 4, 2017 at 8:55 pm

    […] 33. Take an Intro to Curling Class […]

  2. 36 Adventures I've Loved and 37 I want to Try this Year says:
    July 18, 2015 at 7:47 am

    […] 35. Curling […]

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