Anchorage Curling CluB

Anchorage Curling Club
Anchorage, AK
March 2017

"It's really a simple game to play but it's a lot of fun.  Do you want to play with us. I've been playing since I was 4 or 5."

She looked to be about my age but then she told me she still had high school kids so she must have been ten years younger than me.  She explained the rules and the scoring and I got about 30% of what she was telling me.  The bottom line- someone launches the 42 lbs stone and two people sweep a friction path towards the goal which is a red bullseye at the opposite end of the court.

She spoke about the game with so much damn enthusiasm.  She met her husband, when they were 30, at a curling club. "It took us awhile to find each other but he's the one. He loves curling too."

There are about 100 members in the club.  There are leagues and competitions and championship games.  But Wednesday nights, the night we are there, it's open floor.  The public is allowed in to watch and play and learn the sport.  I am there with my 14 year old nephew and he gets out on the ice immediately and loves it.  I watch him and marvel at the agility of his thin, lanky body.  He jumps right in there and become a viable team member.

My host continues to explain the rules and strategies of the game.  Again, most of it escapes me.  I am too preoccupied with all of the slipping and sliding of the players who walk and run on the ice in their street shoes.

Clay's team lost which means they don't have to clean up the ice after the game is over.  The winners do that and they buy the first round of drinks.  We leave before any of them have too many drinks.  I saw how they walked on the ice before they consumed alcohol.  I didn't have any desire to see them maneuver the icy parking lot.