When senior John Berquist and junior Jimmy Crea started curling together in middle school, they never thought that they would turn their winter hobby into one of the newest clubs at CSB/SJU.
In its first year as an organized campus club, the curling team has introduced new students to a growing and sociable winter sport.
“When I heard that Jimmy was coming to St. John’s, we decided to make it happen and bring the sport to our school,” Berquist said. “We have been playing together at St. John’s for two years, but when people became interested in what we were doing and what the sport was about, we decided to make it an official club.”
Crea, the Vice President of the club, stressed that the club is competitive, but it is fundamentally a recreational activity.
“Curling is a still a competitive sport, but it is easy to have fun while doing it,” Crea said. “You can just pick it up and play.”
If you have not watched curling during the Winter Olympics, the game involves four members who try to move eight stones roughly 140 feet on ice by sweeping the area around the stone. The team that accumulates the most points wins. There are two positions: sweepers and the skip.
The sweepers try to move the stone to the far side by listening to the calls that the person in the front (the skip) makes. The skip is equivalent to the quarterback in football and acts as the leader of the team. The skip tells the sweepers where to aim and what side needs more sweeping in order to get the stone in the right position.
Berquist and Crea switch off acting as the Skip.
“It just depends on which one of us is hot and playing well,” Berquist said. “That person takes [the skip position] for that day, and then we switch off the next time.”
The team plays in two locations; the more experienced curlers play against other established teams in Alexandria during the week, while those just being introduced to the sport play in an informal league on Saturdays in St. Paul. The Alexandria team will enter playoffs this week.
“Playing in St. Paul is fun because it is an informal league and we can use the first hour to practice and teach new people how to play and then play an actual game the second hour,” said Crea.
The team enjoys the St. Paul league because it allows new members to improve their skills.
“The great thing about St. Paul is that we can register more than one team, that way more people actually get to play,” Berquist said. “About 95% of our team is beginners to the sport, so having playing time is important for learning the fundamentals.”
Senior John DeSutter is a new member to the sport but has immensely enjoyed his experience thus far.
“It is a lot more enjoyable than you would think,” DeSutter said. “It has become a fun social activity to do during the winter.”
There is no cost to join the Curling Club. Berquist suggests a clean pair of tennis shoes and warm winter clothing. If interested, email the Curling Club at Curling@csbsju.edu.