Steinbach Curling Club expecting ‘full house’ this season

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This article was published 26/09/2022 (961 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sound of granite rolling down sheets of ice will soon fill arenas across Canada, and Steinbach is no different.

The Steinbach Curling Club is preparing for their annual registration night, set for Saturday, Sept. 24.

Cody Bergen is the club’s president. He said everyone is looking forward to a normal season after COVID-19 has wrecked havoc on sports for the past two years.

“We’re expecting a full house this year,” Bergen said.

“We have one of the better facilities, in my opinion, in the southeast, and we’d love to see it filled up again.”

While other curling clubs around North America have been hit hard by COVID-19, Bergen said Steinbach’s was doing well financially thanks to some grants and other support.

“We did take a hit with the number of teams that curled,” he said, noting senior teams in particular were affected.

“We were able to survive throughout the couple of years. We followed all the protocols as best we could… For the most part, we did very well.”

As curling moves into the future, finding new players has been a challenge.

To that end, Bergen and the rest of the board have worked at lowering the barrier to entry for new curlers. The club will be hosting a free learn to curl weekend on Oct. 12 and 13, alongside a new open doubles league. The Friday night fun league will also return this year.

“Since I became president, my goal is to get more people in the building,” Bergen said.

“It seems that curling is almost a dying sport, and we’d love to re-invigorate it.”

Regular league play will begin the week of Oct. 17. Stick and senior leagues will begin the week after. For more information on the leagues the Steinbach Curling Club offers, or to register online check out steinbachcurlingclub.ca.

Ice will be installed at the club Oct. 10.