The 401 SPORTS
BY LAUREN CLEM
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF OCEAN STATE CURLING CLUB .
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Throwing Stones
Try your hand at this beginner-friendly Olympic sport with the Ocean State Curling Club .
OUTH HOCKEY IS WINDING DOWN AT 8:30 on a Thursday night , but the competition at the Smithfield Municipal Ice Rink is just heating up .
Members of the Ocean State Curling Club congregate in the stands , prepping for a night of friendly rivalry . League members ranging from their teens to their eighties chatter excitedly and don extra layers while the Zamboni makes the rounds . As the machine completes its final lap , they head down to the ice as a group to transform the rink into a playing surface . “ It ’ s about fifteen to twenty minutes for us to turn hockey ice into curling-capable ice ,” explains Dave Rosler , the club ’ s president .
Rosler , like many members , discovered curling through a common introduction : while watching the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics on television . The following year , after moving to Rhode Island from Seattle , he participated in a Learn to Curl event with the OSCC , eventually joining a league . Originally based in Middletown , the club now meets in Smithfield and holds weekly leagues and regular Learn to Curl events year-round .
Members of the Ocean State Curling Club compete at the Smithfield Municipal Ice Rink .
“ When they won the Olympic gold [ in 2018 ], I think it really blossomed the sport for everybody ,” Rosler says . “ It exposed it to everybody , despite the fact that it was televised at 3 a . m .”
At its most basic , curling is not so different from another Rhody pastime : bocce . Each playing surface , or sheet , is 150 feet long , with a circular “ house ” at either end . Players compete in teams of four to see who can throw closer to the center of the house . Sweepers pursue the stones down the ice , creating a thin layer of water that allows them to glide just far enough to nudge a
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I MARCH 2025 31