Monday, January 31st, 2022
Thick ice draws curlers
By William Kincaid
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Dave Dues of Minster throws his stone down the pitch in an effort to score during a game of curling in Minster's Four Seasons Park Saturday afternoon.
MINSTER - When wintry weather settles in, you can either sit inside and mope around or head outside and have fun with friends.
That's the mindset of Dan Smith of St. Marys, who at 69 is probably the oldest member of the Flying Dutchmen Curling Club. Smith and his cohorts, men and women of all ages, on Saturday afternoon took to the ice covered pond at Four Seasons Park to enjoy the sport of curling.
The club started in the 1940s and met on Lake Loramie through the 1980s until "we stopped having real winters," club member Nick Poeppelman told the newspaper a few years back. The current club uses the original granite stones from the 1940s but has adopted modern brooms.
Curling will take place if the ice is at least five inches thick, said club member Doug Metzger of Minster. The deepest part of the pond is 15 feet.
"We've played back-to-back weeks for the first time in four years," Metzger said, commenting on the lack of suitable ice over the last few years.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Doug Metzger of Minster approaches the pitch during a game of curling at Four Seasons Park in Minster.
Members fashioned a proper curling course before starting the action.
"We'll clean the snow off the ice and we'll paint the circle and paint the bullseye," Metzger said.
The condition of the ice dictates the layout of the course.
"Since we're playing on a pond we don't use the same rules as what they might use in, say, the Olympics. We're going to adjust the course a little bit to what works best for us," Metzger said. "This time (the course) was 90 feet but sometimes it may be longer. It depends on what the ice conditions are."
Each team is made up of four members. But there are no set teams, with groupings determined the day of the curling. The club welcomes anybody to join in on the fun.
"It's just getting outside and enjoying the weather instead of being inside," Metzger said.
The only requisite for curling is having the ability to throw or slide a 44 pound stone, Metzger pointed out.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Minster's Dan Smith sweeps the ice to help speed up his team's stone at Four Seasons Park in Minster on Saturday afternoon. Behind him, kids play hockey.
"Last week it was so smooth all you had to do was push it," Smith said. "But this week we had snow. It ruins the ice when you have snow. It's not quite a smooth."
The park has nice amenities that allow players to escape the cold for a bit.
"You have a shelter house right there at the park and you have a big campfire inside there and heated restrooms so it makes it pretty nice," Smith said.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Tom Ahrns watches as his stone slides down the pitch during a game of curling in Minster's Four Seasons Park Saturday afternoon.
A 500-year-old Scottish sport that is also popular in Canada and Scandinavia, American curling has some hotbeds in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where children grow up sliding rocks much like Texans take to football or Californians learn to surf.
Curling, among the "nichiest" of niche sports in the United States, took its place in the national spotlight after the American men won the gold medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018.
- The Associated Press contributed to this story.
See our photo album of the action.
