SSC Adds Curling Team

Salem State Athletics decided to start the college's first curling team, using funds that had gone to the Track and Field program to fund the new team. The team will be co-ed and start in Winter 2010.

In an official statement, Salem State Athletics said, "Curling is a sport that better suits the student body. Any student can play curling, not just the athletes who can participate in other sports. We wanted to open the athletic programs at Salem State to all students and not discriminate against those who don't have the strength and agility to perform."

Mike Smith, a junior business major, said, "I am so excited that curling's coming to SSC. I watched every match during the Olympics, and I so wanted to play!" However, not every student is happy with the decision to use those funds from track and field to fund the newest Salem State sport.  Patrick O'Brien, a sophomore secondary education major and former member of the track team, said, "It's not fair. My team and I worked so hard and we got cut. Now, we're being replaced by a novelty sport. I'd never watch a match, dude."

The curling matches will take place in the Rockett Arena at the O'Keefe Center when the hockey team doesn't play. Matches will be every other day from December to March. 

An informational meeting for those interested will be October 15 of this year. Try-outs for this team will take place on October 32.

The sport quickly gained popularity after the past Winter Olympics in Vancouver,  Players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area, similar to shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a circular target.