Forty-Four teams with players from 16 states traveled to Bismarck to participate in the Annual Capital Curling Club SummerSpiel Tournament.
The event was cancelled last year because of COVID-19.
“Whoever is closer to the middle of the house gets the points and however many rocks they have closer than the opponent’s rocks, that’s however many points they score. Each team has 8 rocks. The most you can get in the end is 8 points,” said Tucker Smith, Volunteer.
An opportunity has arrived for curling enthusiasts to play the sport comfortably, no matter how hot it is outside.
“I grew up watching my dad curl and I grew up in Southern Ontario in Canada. It’s a great environment, a lot of great people. I was a competitive golfer when I was younger, and it’s a chance for me to continue to be competitive.”
This 33rd tournament has just enough competition for Darrick Kizlk, who traveled from Colorado. He said he will travel however far just to have a chance to curl in warmer months.
“Curlers are pretty big fanatics once they get into the sport and they’re willing to travel long distances in order to do it. We have people in our club who have traveled to Europe multiple times just to play,” said Kizlyk .
“A lot of people travel here because there’s not a lot of opportunity around the U.S to do this. You have to be at the nearest place that puts ice in during the summer and it is usually four or five, even six hours’ worth of traveling when you’re driving,” said Smith.
Capital Curling Club Volunteer Tucker Smith mentions how the space for the sport undergoes phases when freezing the floor.
“We turn the plant on around the first of July with our first floods going down sometime around the 4th or 5th of July. From there we put basically tap water for the lower-level floods and we flood a quarter inch. Each time; we have to put down four or five floods, and then we have houses,” Smith said.
Weather from the outside still can be a factor when playing the sport indoors.
“The challenge is that it is 100 degrees outside with 80% humidity. Humidity is always an issue; frost creates a lot of issues with the rocks. As long as it’s dry, we can work with that,” Smith added.
This year’s tournament finished up Sunday afternoon at the VFW Sports Center.
