Sweeping Rhody

Ocean State Curling Club works to spread sport, eyes construction of new facility

By Meri R. Kennedy
Posted 10/6/16

The game of curling is about precision – moving stones across ice with accuracy down to a fraction of an inch.

The Ocean State Curling Club, meanwhile, is eying some bigger moves.

The club, …

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Sweeping Rhody

Ocean State Curling Club works to spread sport, eyes construction of new facility

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The game of curling is about precision – moving stones across ice with accuracy down to a fraction of an inch.

The Ocean State Curling Club, meanwhile, is eying some bigger moves.

The club, which makes its home at Veterans Memorial Arena in Cranston, is the largest arena curling club in the New England region and one of the largest in the country. It has grown to include dozens of members in five short years.

Ocean State hosts play two nights a week, and is a leader in rapidly training new curlers and expanding the sport. Last week it held a “Learn To Curl” event at the Cranston arena.

Since its inception, club members have traveled and performed strongly in regional, national, and international competitions. The club has developed innovative community outreach programs to sustain and grow its membership.

“OSCC is poised to continue and expand these and more programs, but we are out of available ice. To serve its members and its mission, the OSCC is now raising $700,000 over two phases to build Rhode Island’s first facility for dedicated curling ice to broaden the base of recreational and competitive curlers in the southern New England area,” said Larry Riccitelli, the club’s president.

Curling is an international sport dating back to the 16th century and is steeped in traditions of sportsmanship, fair play, and camaraderie. Curling can be played by nearly anybody with modest physical ability and of any virtually age. Its name derives from the spin put on the stone when it is thrown down the ice, causing it to break, or curl.

The U.S. is relatively new to the curling landscape compared to neighboring Canada – which has more than one million curlers – but it is one of the fastest growing curling countries in the world with about 20,000 curlers and 167 clubs in 40 states. Curling has been an Olympic sport since 1998.

“A curling game is typically played between two teams of four players,” Riccitelli said. “Each team has a lead, a second, a vice-skip, and a skip.”

Riccitelli said games begin with handshakes and a coin flip to determine who shoots first. Teams then alternate shots with their stones.

“The ‘skips’ go down to the far end. They are the captains, and are responsible for planning the strategy of the game,” Riccitelli explained. “They call for the type of shot and give the shooters a target to aim for by placing the broom on the ice. Beginning with the lead players, each player shoots two stones per ‘end,’ while her teammates sweep in front of the stone. Sweeping extends the length of a shot and makes it curl less.

“An ‘end’ is like an inning in baseball,” he continued. “When all 16 stones are delivered toward the scoring area rings called the ‘house,’ they are examined to see where they end up relative to the exact center of the rings and the score for that end is determined. Only one team can score in an end, and that team must shoot first in the next end, giving the other team the ‘hammer’ advantage. This goes on for eight consecutive ends, and the team with the highest score after eight ends is the winner.”

Arena ice serves a multitude of ice sports such as ice hockey, figure skating, and speed skating. Dedicated curling ice is single-purpose and groomed specifically for the sport. The primary difference is availability of ice to play and the quality of the ice surface.

“The sport of curling is a sport of precision. It demands that a team deliver a curling stone across more than 140 feet of ice to come to rest in a very specific location, where mere inches often make the difference between success and defeat,” Riccitelli said. “As such, much care is put into the playing surface to ensure that it is perfectly level, clean, free of impurities, and at an ideal temperature for curling. Even the air humidity level is critical to the ice surface.”

Curling ice is initially flooded and frozen over several layers, using distilled water to eliminate any impurities, to build up a perfectly level foundation. The ice is then “pebbled,” again using distilled water, creating droplets of frozen water on the surface that make it easier for the stone to move across ice.

Contact with the ice is limited to what is necessary in game play. Players keep their shoes and brooms clean, and are even discouraged from having hands or knees in contact with the ice for any unnecessary period of time as body heat can affect the ice surface.

Riccitelli said instructors sometimes need to explain to new curlers that playing on arena ice is like learning to play golf on a miniature golf course on the side of a mountain. Arena ice is not flat but a tilted landscape of peaks, plateaus and valleys.

“Even as the club’s training programs expand, its competitors will always be at a disadvantage due to the lack of quality and availability of home ice,” Riccitelli said. “We peaked at about 80 members. However, for this year, we lost our Thursday night slot to a hockey group and we will only host about 40 members. The other 40 won’t get to play.”

If the club is to serve its mission of expanding the sport, training athletes of all ages and abilities, and playing the game as it was meant to be played, it needs quality ice, and much more ice time.

“The solution is a dedicated ice facility. Curling is not new to the Ocean State. Outdoor ‘pond’ curling was played in Rhode Island many years ago in Westerly, Burrillville, and Cranston,” Riccitelli said.

Founded in 2009 as a non-profit, Ocean State is the first arena curling club in Rhode Island. After a successful open house in the spring of 2009, the club raised enough money to build, buy, and lease all the equipment necessary to begin play that fall. The club moved to Cranston two years ago.

“From visiting schools to hosting Girl Scout youth groups to doing traveling curling demonstrations, OSCC raises awareness of the sport and brings the values of curling to the community at events throughout the year,” Riccitelli said. “Our only limitation is getting would-be curlers on the ice.”

For more information, visit oceanstatecurling.org, email oscurling@gmail.com, or call 401-603-5732.

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