KSHB 41 News anchor Lindsay Shively offers coverage on a wide variety of topics, including stories of interest to consumers. Reach out to Linsday via email.
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The Winter Olympics are here! Our KSHB 41 morning team went out and tried curling, one of the Olympic sports you'll see during the Milan Cortina Games.
Did you know the Kansas City Curling Club has its own facility in Blue Springs?
"We are the only curling club within 300 miles. You gotta go to Minnesota to find another dedicated facility," said DeeAnn Wlodarski, KC Curling Club president.
We went to learn from them on their own ice and had a great time.
When you see Olympic curlers on TV, maybe you think it looks easy. We can tell you the folks at KC Curling Club make it look easy, too, but it's far from it.
They say don't let that intimidate you! They'll tell you it's easy to learn and difficult to master.
"Yep. That's what we still stand by," Wlodarski said.
Lindsay Shively first met Wlodarski four years ago when she got a curling lesson ahead of the last Winter Olympics. Back then, they had just moved into their new facility and had 100 members.
RELATED | Kansas City Curling Club ready to teach beginners at new Blue Springs location
Since then, their numbers have doubled to 200 members.
"And we're looking to do that again with this Olympics," Wlodarski said. "When the Olympics come on, we see a huge influx of people, and that's where we get our members from. That keeps us going."
When it was our turn to try it all out, we broke up into teams. We put special grippers on our shoes, grabbed "brooms" and took turns "delivering the stone," with guidance, coaching and help from some gracious members of the Kansas City Curling Club.
"The goal of the game is to have your stone closer to what we call the 'button.' The button is the center," Wlodarksi said.
From throwing stones to sweeping and skipping, we learned the different roles. Taylor Hemness seemed to really enjoy yelling "SWEEP!" They told us he has a voice for curling.
"Whoever the 'skip' is that's calling the shot, just like you would read the green, you have to read the ice to figure out where people should be aiming," Wlodarski explained.
Mike Erin helped teach our crew. He has been a KC Curling Club member for 16 years.
"How'd you feel about today's performance all-around?" Hemness asked Erin.
"Well, I think you guys did amazingly well," he laughed. "We love to have new curlers because we get to see them grow. We get to see them from 'How do I do this?' to 'I can do this!'"
Want to learn to curl or check out a curling watch party? You can find information on both on the KC Curling Club website!
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