Rookies Tryout For New Tulsa Curling Club

As athletes all over the world gear up for the 2012 Games, Olympic fever is catching on in Tulsa.

Curling is one of the sports people are curious about. It's an Olympic oddity combining rocks, brooms and emotions.

It's like shuffleboard on ice.

For many, it's a strangely addicting show on ice, even if they have no idea what's going on.

Rookies to the sport of curling, like Christine Couri of Broken Arrow, showed up at Oilers Ice Center Saturday to see if they have what it takes to join a new Tulsa Curling Club.

"Well, after seeing curling on the Olympics, it looked easy," she said.

"The idea is to get your stone to go all the way down the ice," said Jonathan Havercroft of the Oklahoma City Curling Club.

Players aim for a target all the way at the other end of the rink, while their teammates frantically sweep the ice in front of the stone.

"The brooms melt the ice and they help the rocks fly further and straighter," Havercroft said.

If the rules seemed confusing, organizers had a handout that explained everything, but the best thing seemed to be to chuck it away and get onto the ice.

"The challenge of trying to see, ‘OK, can I make this thing go that far and can I make it go in a straight line,'" said Hugh Niewoehner of Tulsa.

It takes a lot of balance and everyone wobbles their first few times.

"It's not a good thing to fall, but if you fall without landing on your head, it's not too bad," said Rick Urquhart of Broken Arrow.

Once the rookies got the hang of it, they were ready to go for the gold.

"It's a very social sport," Urquhart said. "You get out on the ice as a team and you curl with other people. Then, usually when you're off the ice, you have a couple of beers."

Just don't drink and drive—down the ice.

Learn how you can join the Tulsa Curling Club.

Members will be divided into teams playing against each other as well as some curlers from the Oklahoma City club.