Curling Clinic Sweeps Beginners Into Fold

ORLEANS – “Never underestimate an old man with a broom,” read the shirt Bill Shinnick wore as he led the classroom portion of a learn to curl clinic held by the Lower Cape Curling Club last Sunday at Charles Moore Arena.

Twenty people signed up for the class, the largest ever for the club, according to president Thom Freytag. Those first 30 minutes of Curling 101 covered the breadth of curling basics. There are sticks and stones, handles and hammers, skips and sweepers, hacks and hogs. Equipment includes brooms, grippers, sliders and stabilizers. 

The object thrown (but really slid) by curlers towards the target (the house) is called a stone or rock. That’s not to be confused, however, with pebbles, the water drops sprayed on the ice to create the surface of the playing area.

And even on ice, a stone can get burned (that is, if it’s accidentally touched by a curler as it’s moving). The game — one that most have likely seen briefly on television every few years during the Winter Olympics but never played or watched in-person — is called curling because that’s what the stones do when they’re thrown.

A learn to curl clinic is how Freytag first started with the sport seven years ago, he said. The Lower Cape Curling Club, more than 50 strong, holds the classes each year — instructors are club members — and otherwise meets to play together in weekly leagues. Members also participate in “bonspiels,” curling tournaments.

“It’s a good time,” Freytag said. “Just like anything else, it’s a reflection of the people you’re playing with.”

The curlers, both club members and the newcomers on Sunday, “come from all different walks of life,” Freytag said. Most start out simply looking for something to do in the winter. 

After the classroom session with Shinnick, the beginners were equipped with brooms and sticks and were fitted out in grippers, soles worn for traction held to the bottom of shoes with rubber bands. It was time to hit the ice.

They first stood and used the stick — the more accessible and less physically taxing method of throwing the stone. Throwing via the hack, in which a curler pushes off and squat-slides on the ice holding the stone with their hand, followed. Then the students tried sweeping — the sport’s distinct action of rapidly brushing the ice in front of a thrown stone to manipulate its movement. Lastly, they played a few practice rounds and learned how scoring works.

“The group I was with picked it up pretty fast,” Shinnick said.   

Shinnick, 75, started playing six years ago, he said. He knew someone in Falmouth that had been playing into their 90s.

“The idea is to have fun,” he said.

Following the clinic, the next step for the beginners was to decide if they’d like to commit to playing in one of the Lower Cape Curling Club’s leagues. If they do, they’ll be added to a player pool. Then the skips, the team captains, hold a draft. The skips have been around for a while, and they ensure that all teams have someone new on them, Freytag said.

The club, meanwhile, has recently expanded its accommodations. A fifth playing court — called a sheet — was added to the ice at Charles Moore Arena in May, meaning that 40 people can play during each league session, according to Freytag, who predicted that it’s “going to be a great season.”

And there indeed seemed to be at least one newcomer interested in continuing on after Curling 101.

“I’m signing up for this,” Eastham resident Michelle Costa said.