Alberta Stick Curling Association president Randy Olson is elated to see more people taking to the ice.
"Curling is such a great sport," Olson said. "You can play from six to 96. It's always on TV, and people watch it and say, 'Well, maybe I'd like to try that.' And so, they come down to the club, and we're glad to help them out."
The St. Albert Curling Club has commemorated several milestones recently, from celebrating its 75th anniversary to now being the largest stick-curling club in Canada, with 250 members in 11 leagues.
Stick curling was started at the club in 2008 by Milt McDougall and eight others, and has grown by leaps and bounds since then.
"It's going fantastically," Olson said. The association had to create two more leagues for all the members who wanted to play.
“Although the club is really full, and we probably have a wait list, there's a few people who drop out for medical reasons," Olson said. "We're always looking for new members."
While members go to the club to play the winter sport, the atmosphere is another part of the experience, and that’s why Olson believes the stick-curling leagues continue to grow.
"[Stick-curling] only takes an hour to play, and we have a great concession here at the club," he said. "The food is good, you have [a] coffee, and then you go and play another game. It's the relationship between all of the curlers. It's really good."
Olson said more people may want to join because of weekly clinics on Thursdays, where he gives lessons on how to throw with a stick and tips on improving their game.
The clinics are free, and Olson welcomes anyone interested in learning or improving their throwing skills, whether they are in the 55-plus league or not.
“There’s no age limit whatsoever, so if you’re younger than 50 and you want to play it, we’ll certainly let you do that,” he said.
The St. Albert Curling Club will host the Alberta Championships on March 26-28 and is expecting more players because of the sport's increased popularity, along the nice Alberta jacket players will get when entering the tournament.
“In our provincial event, we have three divisions of curling," Olson said. "We have a men’s division, a mixed division, and a women’s division. Depending on which one you want to play in, it’s available for everybody.”
