The Sundre Curling Club’s inaugural attempt to introduce an all-inclusive icebreaker sturling bonspiel met with great success, said the main organizer, who wants to make the event annual.
Bev Konschuh, who is also heavily involved in the junior curling program, said the Saturday, Nov. 17 Sturling Season Opener Fun Spiel brought out 16 teams of two for a total of 32 participants of all ages. Some teams even came from Didsbury, Airdrie and Caroline. Also taking a lead role helping to organize the event was Kristin MacKenzie.
“It was full, which was great,” said Konschuh, later adding there were even some new faces.
“We’re seeing some new curlers in there, which is awesome.”
Sturling — which differs from the standard format of the sport by bringing together stick or slide delivery with two-person teams and no age or gender restrictions — is a more casual approach to curling with more of a focus on developing skills from scratch or simply improving while at the same time getting to socialize, and less of an emphasis on competition, she said.
“I tried to keep it simple; most of us were just learning.”
With two people on a team playing six ends per match, each curler gets an opportunity to throw six rocks per turn. In standard curling with four-player teams, a curler only throws two rocks each turn, she said.
For brand new curlers, juniors, or anyone else seeking to sharpen up their abilities, a sturling spiel offers three times the number of chances to practise their delivery, she said.
“It accommodates a lot of different people.”
The daylong event — which for many people was easier to commit to than a whole weekend — was broken down into four draws, with each team getting to play two games. After a lunch break, the teams were combined for a few standard rounds of curling played out in four ends, she said.
The club remains receptive to new recruits, and Konschuh encourages anyone who is interested to come give the sport a shot, as new curlers are always welcome.
“Even if we can’t get them on a permanent team, everybody’s looking for a spare,” she said.
“I’m sure we could find a spot.”
Steve Brigden, president of Sundre Curling Club, said last week that while he didn’t have exact numbers on hand, the group’s registration remains consistent with recent years at an overall total of almost 40 teams in the men’s, women’s, seniors’ and open leagues.
The organization’s board was all re-elected, leaving in place a strong group of people, he said, adding fundraising efforts remain, as always, a priority.
Sponsorships help to pay some bills and community support keeps the club’s doors open, but membership dues alone are not enough, he said.
“We don’t have a casino this year. Much like every other year, funds are tight,” he said, adding that while enough is in place to operate, “capital improvements are always a struggle.”
The next main events are the upcoming men’s bonspiel from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, followed immediately afterwards by the seniors' spiel, which is scheduled for Dec. 2 to 7.
Visit the club’s website, www.sundrecurlingclub.com for more information.
“We’re looking forward to another good year,” said Brigden.
“We hope everybody comes to our bonspiels and enjoys the facility.”
