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Curling enthusiast Toni-Marie Achilli lines up a shot for her teammate during a league game held last Friday. She began curling in March 2010. Insider photos by Beth Hurd |
A passion for curling, popularized in the Olympics, heats up
By BETH HURD
Insider Reporter
Most people had never heard of curling, before the sport was showcased in the winter Olympics several years ago.
The Ocean State Curling Club wants to change that.
While it’s still not a household name, the sport continues to grow in popularity. The Ocean State Curling Club was formed in April 2009 with the intention of bringing curling to Rhode Island. The group recently started its 2011-2012 winter session games at the Veterans Memorial Ice Rink in Cranston (the "bubble"). The games are held on Friday nights; the players are mostly amateurs.
After the sport was featured on the cover of the recent Rhode Island-based Learning Connection class catalog, about 60 signed up for the “Learn to Curl” class to try out the sport. From that group, about 16 signed up to join the league.
On Friday, Jan. 20, 10 of the league’s 12 teams competed against each other. During the year, some of the teams, according to the league's website, “participated in friendlies with other curling clubs in New England and in numerous Bonspiels [curling tournaments] in the United States and Canada.”
Representing Johnston in the sport are Toni-Marie Achilli and her husband Jason. Toni-Marie, who is working on a graduate degree in biomedical engineering at Brown University, started curling with a friend from Brown – Dan Cho – about two years ago, staring in March of 2010.
“He curls in two clubs, four nights a week,” Toni-Marie said of Cho. “Right after the Olympics, they held a ‘learn to curl’ class and hundreds of people signed up.”
Both also teach curling, and were planning another “learn to curl” session before the start of spring games, which will be held on Saturday nights in the main rink in Cranston. The registration fee helps to pay for ice time and equipment rental.
The 40-pound stones are made from granite, and come from only two quarries in the world. Brushes are used to make the ice smooth in front of the stone, reducing friction as it glides into “the house” to score points, or knock another player's stone out.
The club now has about 40 members, who wear curling-stone-shaped nametags.
Toni-Marie wears special shoes with Teflon-coated soles, but most wear sneakers, adding wide-width elastics around them to add traction.
Called addictive by those who have tried it once and returned for more, the sport has been described as a combination of shuffleboard, billards and bowling.
“Our goal is to have our own facility,” said Toni-Marie, saying she was thankful for the use of the Cranston rink.
For more information, visit the club’s website at www.oceanstatecurling.org or visit them on Facebook.
Left, Kathy Brady, president of the Ocean State Curling Club, lines up the shots as Toni-Marie and Jason Achilli watch. Right, Dan Cho of Pawtucket, a member of the Ocean State Curling Club, plays in two clubs and competes up to four nights a week.
Left, Janet Holmes of Smithfield lines up her shot; she and her husband Christopher just started curling this year. Right, Christopher and Janet Holmes prepare to sweep after teammate Dan Cho takes his shot.
