Curling club offers 'Learn to Curl' event Wednesday

COEUR d'ALENE - There is good news if the recent 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics got anyone pumped to try curling.

On Wednesday, the Coeur d'Alene Curling Club is offering up its Learn to Curl event at the Frontier Ice Arena.

"Once you figure out how to throw the stone, what gets people hooked is the strategy," said Corey Gorham, one of the club founders and a Rathdrum resident. "I've heard it called 'chess on ice.'"

Learn to Curl is free and open to the public from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Veteran curlers will be on hand to teach anyone who is eager to learn techniques and strategy.

"We're trying to drum up some interest in the sport," Gorham said.

The club wants to continue growing, he said.

The club had 12 teams last season, and with the second season starting March 17 there are 16 formed and ready to compete, with four to six players on each, he said.

This season is scheduled to last eight weeks.

A waiting list has started for players who want to fill a vacancy if one opens, he said.

The cost to join the league is $540 per team or $135 per person.

The club also just bought 64 stones, he said. It had leased stones from the Spokane club in the past. Stones are the approximately 40-pound ball that curlers slide down the ice, and cost from $200 to $500.

The stones were purchased with money from fundraisers, tournament funds and Frontier chipped in, he said. They will be delivered this week, he said.

The club is planning an adopt-a-stone fundraiser, and businesses and individuals can get their name engraved on one of the stones for a donation.

The weekend of May 2-4 the club is hosting the second Panhandle Bonspiel tournament. The cost is $300 per team and will include teams from Canada, Montana, Washington and southern Idaho, he said.

The club is still taking reservations for the Bonspiel. There were 25 teams last year, and this year it's expected to be 32.

Information: www.cdacurling.com