The Boise Curling Club has three more scheduled learn to curl events at Idaho Ice World to help people learn about this unique sport.
"I love the strategy, I love the uniqueness it is just different than any other sport," said Jeff Salmons of the Boise Curling Club. "You don’t have to be the greatest athlete in the world, you don’t have to be a tone fit 22-year-old to be really good at it you can be in your 50s and still be competitive at the highest level."
In these clinics, people learn how to slide the stone down the ice, sweep to control the stone and even though a lot of people took falls when they first started it didn't take long for them to start figuring it out.
"Throwing is fun and sweeping is a little scary because you kind of got to go fast on the ice that’s a little scary," said Amanda who was trying curling for the first time. "It's good cardio, you are sweating you bring all your coats and your gloves and you are taking it all off by the end."
Curling to me represents a life-size game of shuffleboard mixed with a game of chess on the ice and while players picked up the basics, it's a sport that takes a lot of practice to be able to put the stone where they want.
"I thought it was wonderful," said Rick Hardy who also tried the sport for the first time. "I’ve only ever watched it on tv, I thought it looked pretty easy but boy you come out here and it is way harder than it looks."
The Boise Curling Club started in 2006 and they have around 65-70 members many of whom compete in leagues from September to May.
The three learn to curl clinics start back up on Sunday evenings after Super Bowl Sunday, you can find more information about it here.
"I love curling, it is the best game and I have so much fun," said Salmons. "I've met so many good people, made so many good friends and we just want to keep the club going and reach as many people as we can."
Eventually, the club would like to raise enough money to create to have their own facility, but that is also an expensive endeavor so right now they are looking to take advantage of the Olympics to grow the sport here in the Treasure Valley.
