Learning to curl at Roseland

 

The Roseland Golf & Curling Club is offering free “Learn to Curl” clinics to the public.

These will take place every third Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. during the October through March curling season.

“It’s an easy game to learn but hard to master,” said Dave Guttmann, a junior ice technician and curling instructor at Roseland. “It can be a challenge but it’s not elusive.”

More than 50 participants have signed up for the clinics this season. They learn the rules of curling, how to properly step onto the ice to avoid a slip and fall, followed by a demonstration on how to properly glide from one end to the other while pushing the broom on the ice surface. Eventually, everyone has a try at sliding from the starting block while releasing a 42 lb. curling rock.

“The slide is the toughest thing they have to learn,” said Mitchell Blanchard, 17, who was in Roseland’s  novice league last year, and is now on the Massey high school team and helping Guttman with instructing. “And usually they throw the rock way too hard.”

The trick is to throw the rock softer while the two sweepers on your team will clear the ice of any debris, thus making the rock travel faster and up to 10 feet further. Sweeping is also the best way to keep warm inside a cold rink. Guttmann said the best way to learn curling is by doing.

Most of the curlers at Roseland register for a league such as the novice, recreational, mixed or a competitive one. On Saturdays, there are lessons as well as well as public ice

rental and special events like the “Rock ‘n’ Curl.” Roseland plays the rock music and you and your friends can curl for a couple of hours. The cost for two hours is $140 and instruction is $30 extra.

“Curling is some thing we hope to continue to grow in Windsor,” said Guttmann. “Roseland is city-owned and there is more public access for events like this.”