A sport most often associated with the Winter Olympics, curling is a game played on a sheet of ice, and that seems rather refreshing in summer months.
The sport can be played locally and its following runs from cold northern climates to southern rinks. And curling has a Central Ohio following. The Columbus Curling Club is in mothballs for the summer, but fundraising efforts continue with its 10th annual CCC Golf Scramble scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 10, starting at 1 p.m. at Champions Golf Course in Westerville. The cost is $80 per player, with all proceeds going to the CCC Building Fund. Last year, they raised $5,000 for the club. Registration can be made online at https://columbuscurling.com.
Curling is a sport that can be compared to shuffleboard on ice,. It involves players sliding a circular stone on a sheet of ice toward a target, known as the house, according to rulesofsport.com. The target has an inner circle, called the button, and three outer rings. In order to score, the stone much touch the rings, and players can sweep and brush the ice ahead of the stone to alter the speed. Whichever team is closest to the center of the house is given a point. Each turn is called an end, and points are tallied after each end. The winner is named when the team scores the most points after all ends are finished. There are normally eight to 10 ends in a curling match.
Curling has a history dating back to the 16th century with evidence recorded in Scotland and the Netherlands, according to the World Curling Federation. The game has been described as the "roaring game" due to the sound from the granite stone over ice, and there were paintings by a 16th century Flemish artist, Pieter Bruegel, showing what appeared to be curling played on a frozen pond.
There was written evidence in 1540 recorded in Latin, and John McQuhin, a 16th-century notary from Scotland, wrote about a challenge between two people in which one man threw a stone along the ice three times.
In the early modern days of curling, the sport was played on frozen ponds and lochs when weather permitted. Curling clubs started being formed in Scotland in the 19th century. When Scots settled around the world, they brought the game with them. Their new curling locales included Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand and the United States. Scotland is also where the first rules were created, adopted by the Grand Caledonian Curling Club, formed in Edinburgh in 1838. It later became the Royal Caledonian Curling Club as it was a game that Queen Victoria enjoyed.
The first international events were in Europe and North America in the 19th century, but in 1924 the game made it to the Olympics in Chamonix, France. There, Great Britain beat Sweden and France. It was listed as a demonstration sport in 1932 in Lake Placid, with Canada beating the U.S. in a two-country competition. In 1957, a meeting was held to consider forming a team for Olympic medal status. However, after years of playing and multiple leagues in between, it wasn’t until July 1992 that the International Olympic Committee granted medal status to women and men’s curling. In 1998, the sport had medal status at the Nagano Olympics with eight teams involved, and it has been a staple of the sport since.
This year in mixed doubles, Italy took gold, Norway took silver and Sweden took home the bronze medal. For men’s curling, Sweden won the gold, Great Britain won silver and Canada won bronze. In women’s curling, Great Britain took home the gold, Japan won silver and Sweden won the bronze medal.
The Columbus Curling Club is just a short drive from the Mount Vernon area and offers a competitive league that runs on Wednesday nights, as well as a day league that plays on Thursday afternoons. The competitive league can be a combination of men and women, and at least one member must have two years of league experience and all players must have one year of league experience. The day league is a random drawing of positions, teams and opponents. The curling season runs from October through March. A five-week instructional league starts Oct. 15 and runs through Nov. 19. After completing the instructional league , players can become members and play in one of their many Sunday-Friday leagues. Cost is $150. Information can be found at columbuscurling.com.
Other clubs in the state can be found at usacurling.org. There aren’t any in Knox County yet, but that doesn’t mean the area has to be left out. If you have a curling competition set up in Knox County, let us know at mike.blake@mountvernonnews.com.
