Curling takes Chicago by storm:
Hamilton team places at Nationals

by Carolina Geiger '14
SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR

While most Hamilton students went somewhere tropical over spring break to escape  the dreary weather, the curling team went on a five state road trip to Chicago for National College Curling Championships.   

Tara Huggins ’14 reminisced, “The Hamilton Curling Team always has fun, regardless if we win or lose. We are always complimented on how much fun we are having compared to other curling teams.” 

Two of Hamilton’s teams competed in Division II and one in Division IV. The teams placed fourth and fifth in their respective divisions.
The curling team began at Hamilton in 2005. The team currently consists of 13 students, and veteran captain Lindsay Shankman ’12 teaches all members how to curl.

Shankman explained, “The vast majority of team members never curled before joining our team, and those that had only had minimal experience, so we spend the first semester teaching new members all the basics, and by second semester new members are ready to start competing in our tournaments.”

Practice is held every Sunday evening at the nearby Utica Curling Club in tandem with Colgate University’s team during in season, which ranges from fall semester to spring break.

In order to appreciate the sport, one must first learn the language. Here is curling terminology 101: The stone is a thick disc stone that weighs about 42 pounds with a handle on top. Throwing is releasing the stone to the other end of the lane. Sweeping is clearing the ice with a broom so that the ice melts, which can change direction and speed of the stone. The skip is the team captain who directs where the stone should be thrown.

The four positions are lead, who throws the first two stones and sweeps the rest of the game, second, who throws the third and fourth stones and sweeps the rest of the game, vice skip, who throws the fifth and sixth stones, sweeps the first four and skips the last two, and finally the skip who throws the seventh and eighth stones. The goal of the game is to get your stone closest to the button, which is the bulls eye of the target. 

Shankman  revealed, “Even a piece of coat lint can mess up a perfect throw.” Each team takes turns throwing after each stone so the game is scheduled similarly to baseball innings. Games have either 6 or 8 innings and can last up to two hours. Curlers are said to walk over two miles back and forth in the arena during one game. Afterwards, it is tradition for the winners to buy the losers drinks, so even the losers are winners in curling.

So far this year, the Hamilton curling team has made tremendous breakthroughs. They hosted their first invitational which consisted of eight schools from across the Northeast including University of Pennsylvania and MIT (who you may have seen at the diner). They have also attended three tournaments, known as bonspiels, in Boston, Utica and Chicago.
 

First-year Mitchell Scher, who has found a unique community in curling, shared, “Curling is a great team to join because the atmosphere is unlike anything else I have ever experienced.  While the competition may be intense on the ice, its a bro sport at heart.”
The team also managed to find a financial backing for the first time this season. Their new sponsor is the Just Born and Incorporated Candy Company, the maker of Mike and Ike candy and Peeps. As a result, the team gets free candy at tournaments and t-shirts are on their way. Shankman was very pleased with the sponsorship as “it allows us to travel to more tournaments and buy more 

gear for the team, which is great since we have so many new members.”

While next season is a long way off, the curlers still manage to stay connected off the ice. Currently, the team is preparing themselves for one of their biggest events of the semester, the curling formal.