Curling Wants to Be the Next Pickleball — If It Can Find the Ice
Every four years, the Olympics give the idiosyncratic winter sport a moment in the spotlight. Local clubs are trying to make that moment last.
Curling, also fondly described as “chess on ice,” is back in the public eye ahead of the Milan Cortina Games.
Photographer: Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Every fourth February for the past few decades, the curious wintertime activity known as “chess on ice” gets its moment in the spotlight. Curling, which became an official Olympic sport in 1998, has grown more popular in the US ever since. In anticipation of the Milan Cortina Games, curling clubs are taking advantage of the attention to attract new members.
There are around 170 clubs across the country, according to USA Curling, the sport’s local governing body. In Boston, North End Curling Club president Jonathan Hearn says the Games provide a natural peg for more events, like learn-to-curl sessions and Olympic watch parties — the chance to “watch curling with a curler.”