Curling fever on the rise in area
Chances are, if you watched the Winter Olympics, you’re not out copying those gold medal flips on the snowboard course less than a month later.
Speed skating, that also takes more than a few years to be able to fly around an oval as well.
Believe it or not, the sport of curling — yes, curling — is catching on in the area.
ON SUNDAY and Monday, the Coeur d’Alene Curling club held Learn to Curl clinics. Due to popular demand, another clinic was added for this Sunday at 10 a.m. at Frontier Ice Arena in Coeur d’Alene.
“It really started as a bunch of us teachers going up to Creston, British Columbia, and curling in what is called a ‘Butterfly Bonspiel,” Coeur d’Alene Curling club vice president Ryan Montang said. “It was a great time and we started learning from those guys. Once we saw that they started a club in Spokane, we kind of got to thinking, why can’t we start one out of Frontier.”
Members of the club approached Vince Hughes, general manager of Frontier Ice Arena, and the rest is history.
“Vince has been awesome and hooked us up with some ice time and whatever we’ve needed,” Montang said. “We’ve had a league in the spring at least once a year since the club started. We have bonspiel of our own each year in April and we’re hoping to get to a point where we can have our own ice facility to do this.”
So about how the interest began in curling locally?
“Every four years it seems, there’s a huge audience that gets really into watching curling during the Olympics,” Montang said. “A lot of people enjoy watching it and want to get into playing and learning more about it once the Olympics end. Randy Boyd, our club president, he’s the one that originally started going to Creston,” said Montang, who teaches civics and U.S. history at University High in Spokane Valley. “He was watching the Olympics four years ago and thought it looked like a lot of fun. Him and a bunch of other guys were sitting around and talking about how statistically, if they were going to make it to the Olympics, their best chances were in curling. It was a big joke, but they started going up to Creston and once I’d gotten a job within the Lakeland School District, I met Randy and he said I needed to go up to Creston with them. I did, and I’ve been hooked ever since.”
DURING SUNDAY’s clinic, an estimated 100 people from teens to adults participated in the event.
“In Canada, a lot of guys are huge golfers in the summer and curlers in the winter,” said Montang, a former wrestling coach at Timberlake High. “It looks super easy, but it really takes a lot of practice and work. It takes a lot of finesse. There’s a lot more about the balance and those things than it appears. For us, it’s all about having fun, getting some competition in. Usually they’ve got a crazy story about how they got into the sport as well.”
The sixth annual Panhandle Bonspiel will be April 20-21 at Frontier Ice Arena.
“This year, when we posted it on the website and Facebook, the interest was out of control,” Montang said. “Vince told me we’re going to end up with over 100 people in a day and it’s going to be tough to manage. So we started to think about adding a day, and when he heard the numbers, added another, and we’re still expecting more. If that continues, we’re going to see what we can do about getting more ice time. We’ll give people a chance to go out and throw some stones and see what the sport is really about and get more people interested in it.”
The spring leagues, which have had anywhere from 12 to 16 teams compete in recent years, is booked full with 20 teams this year.
“We just can’t take any more because of the ice time,” Montang said. “We’ve got a wait list and still trying to figure out another four-week league for some beginners so they can get the experience.”
Something that people still want, long after the Olympic buzz has worn off.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.