How many of you out there in the audience-raise your hands-know anything about curling? A few hands go up. But to further explain, we don`t mean hair curling, ribbon curling or those new curly french fry makers. We mean the sport of curling.
The hands are back down.That`s no surprise. There are only 15,000 active curlers playing the game in the United States today.
But if one asked how many of you are interested in learning about this sport played with a rock and a broom, the response would probably not get much more enthusiastic. That`s because curling suffers from an image problem.
”It is not taken seriously,” explained Stew Carlson, who at age 71 has been curling for 22 years. ”If curling is covered on TV at all, it is in a short bite where the camera follows a competitor vigorously sweeping, and then the announcer makes a funny,” he said. ”They make jokes like, `I bet their wives can`t get them to do that at home.` ”
The public conception of the game is further degraded by its popularity with the older set. The average age of the players is 66, Carlson said. Curling is dismissed as a silly game played by the old and feeble, which is just not true, he said.
The game is played with a rock and a broom, but don`t let that fool you into thinking it is easy, Carlson added.
”Curling is a vigorous sport,” he said. It takes skill to aim a 42-pound granite stone down an ice runway. Players need steady footwork to keep ahead of the fast-moving stone as the team ”sweeps” it down the ice.
Anyone out there thinking, ”Maybe it would be fun to watch,” will have a chance to see competitors in action. The United States Curling Association`s 16th Annual National Senior Men`s Curling Championship, one of the most popular curling events in the United States, will be held this year in Lake County and at two north Cook County locations.
Spectators are welcome, and there is no admission charge, said Carlson, who is chairman of the event.
Observers will witness the biggest senior men`s curling championship in the event`s history. The audience will have a chance to see 76 rinks (teams)
compete on 12 sheets (lanes) of ice in a nine-event bonspiel (tournament).
The game is played on a sheet of ice 14 feet wide and 125 feet long. It is sometimes likened to other games-bowling, marbles and even shuffleboard on ice-but there is really nothing quite like it.
The 42-pound finely polished granite stone, with a handle on top, is pushed by hand down the sheet. Once the stone is thrust, team members, who slide along the ice wearing regular shoes, race along in front of it furiously sweeping the ice to enhance the progress of the stone. Scientifically explained, the sweeping creates friction to reduce resistance.
The stone can be made to turn (curl) in a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion as it travels forward, thus the name of the game. This curling effect is needed to control the stone,Carslon said.
Players are aiming to get the stone to rest closest to the center of a 12-foot circle at the opposite end of the sheet. The score is taken after each team member throws two stones. Points are scored by the team having the closest stone or stones to the circle center.
The senior championship, open to men age 55 and up, will take place at the Exmoor Curling Club, 700 Vine Ave., Highland Park. Because of the enormity of the event, it will be spread across to two additional clubs: the Chicago Curling Club, 555 Dundee Rd., Northbrook; and the North Shore Curling Club, 1340 Glenview Road, Glenview.
One of the reasons this area was chosen for the tournament is because of the three-club package, which will make 12 sheets available at one time, Carlson said. ”Interest in the bonspiel is growing, and we could take more entrants,” he said.
The event has grown from 55 rinks in 1987 to 64 rinks at Minnesota last year to 76 rinks this year. Competitors will come from 46 clubs, representing 14 states, including 12 clubs from Illinois.
The championship will take place Feb. 13 through 16. Games start at 9 a.m. and continue through the last draw, which begins at 9 p.m. The event finals will be held at 10 a.m. Feb. 16 at all three clubs.
———-
The Exmoor Country Club is at 700 Vine Ave., Highland Park. Phone 708-432-9520 for more information.
