VACAVILLE, CA - June 16, 2009
Most people are introduced to the sport of curling the same way.
Sitting and watching the Winter Olympics and waiting for their favorite events like skiing or pairs figure skating when a sport comes on involving individuals sliding granite stones down the ice with rapid sweeping of the stones with brooms.
The confusion of what they are watching usually leads to one thing — intrigue.
Curling involves teams of four trying to knock an opponents 42 pound stones out of a circle and having your stones closest to the center to earn points. The sport was invented in Scotland and still is very popular there and the winter sport is starting to draw more interest in the United States.
Public Viewing of the great sport of curling will be available to the public free of charge at the Vacaville Ice Sports facility during “The Crush” Bonspiel September 4th-6th, 2009 and is hosted by the Wine Country Curling Club.
Curling has had a presence in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1958. The San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club has celebrated its 50th Anniversary this year and will have a number of top notch teams entered. The Wine Country Curling Club was started three years ago after the Torino Winter Olympics. Both are members of the Unites States Curling Association and Mountain Pacific Curling Association.
Curling has grown from that lone San Francisco Club to include other western clubs located in Scottsdale, AZ, Portland, Oregon, Ogden, Salt Lake, Park City and Logan Utah, McCall and Boise Idaho, the Hollywood Curling Club and the San Diego Curling Club.
The U.S. Curling Association (USCA) has 151 member clubs nationwide, in 42 different states. The USCA has added about 15 new clubs since the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy with a number of other clubs currently pending.
The Vacaville Ice Sports complex is set up with five sheets of curling ice for planned future open houses and bonspiels. The Club will have several USCA certified instructors on hand to teach beginners the sport. Information of open houses will be forthcoming as planning solidifies.
For more information, contact:
Northern California – Jerome Larson, (707) 374-3920; winecountrycurling.org
USA Curling—Bev Schroeder, (888) 287 5377, USACurl.org
Jerry Orlando – Vacaville Ice Sports, (707)455-0225, vacavilleicesports.com