Athletes arrive at Kalamazoo’s Wings Stadium for the 2010 USA Curling National Championships

By A.j. Reed
Western Herald

The 2010 USA Curling National Championships kicked off on Saturday during opening ceremonies at Wings Stadium.

Preliminary rounds will be played throughout the week, with the semifinals taking place on Friday and the championship on Saturday.  The winners of both the women’s and men’s tournament will go on to represent the United States at the world championships later this year.

This is the first time the National Championships have taken place in Kalamazoo and a lot of that has to do with the recently created Kalamazoo Curling Club.

The Kalamazoo Curling Club was created in 2008 and started out with only eight teams.  Today, the club has twice that amount and is hoping that with all of the buzz being created by the National Championships this week, more people will fall in love with curling.

For those of you who are looking to tryout the sport of curling for the first time, this week’s event is a great place to start.  Not only will you get to see the best curlers from across the country, but you can get to try curling out yourself.

Open curling will be available to the public every night until Friday at varying times in the evening.  Then, on Monday March 15, open curling will take place from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the Cube, which is located next to Wings Stadium.  The cost will be $10 per person.

The Kalamazoo Curling Club is always looking for new members and the open curl is a great way to try the sport out for the first time.

Also, the club is offering a beginners league that will last for three weeks and costs $50.  This is a great way for people to learn the rules and the strategy of the game without having to commit to a typical eight week league if they find they don’t like the sport.  However, speaking from experience, once you throw your first rock down the ice, you can’t help but want to come back for more.

According to Kent Elliot, president of the Kalamazoo Curling Club, one of the goals for the organization is to get enough interest from college students to be able to start a college night.  Currently there are four teams from Michigan State University that come down to compete in the clubs current league, and if there is enough interest from students in the Kalamazoo area, a possible college league could be created.

For more information about the club, or curling in general, check out their website at KalamazooCurlingClub.com or email Kent Elliot at Kent@kalamazoocurling.com.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Mar 7 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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