North Texas Daily

Renee Hansen / Contributing Writer

Of the 15 sports that will be seen in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games in Russia, only one has been available to students at UNT – until now. If everything goes as planned, the sport of curling will join ice hockey in the  ranks of being a UNT club sport.

It would also mean the university would have the first college curling club in Texas.

Curling, traced back to the 16th century in Scotland, is a sport where players slide round, flat stones across an icy surface in a fashion that kinesiology freshman Dakota Anderson, vice president of the club, said is “like shuffleboard on ice.”

She explained that the stones are often called “rocks,” and players use brooms to sweep the ice in front of the estimated 45-pound rock as it slides towards a mark.

According to the World Curling Federation, the sport has evolved much since its earliest forms in Scotland, becoming widely popular and modern with its own World Championships.

Even Texas is getting in on the icy action.

In an interest meeting on Oct. 11, Tim McCurry, president of the club and an undecided junior, spoke to several students and promoted the club, which is hoping to kick off in the spring semester if the minimum number of 10 participants is met.

Because curling requires teams of four members, McCurry and Anderson have set a goal to get 12 students to join the club to balance out teams.

The club would be an affiliate with the DFW Curling Club in Richardson, where UNT would compete with other teams in the DFW Curling Club leagues, McCurry said.

Carolyn Weeks, president of the DFW Curling Club and Anderson’s mother, said UNT club members would first register as members of the Richardson-based club, then form a UNT team and become eligible to compete in the 10-week seasons.

If the club were formed, it could compete nationwide against college clubs that compete regularly and are involved with the United States Curling Association, the closest being colleges in Oklahoma, McCurry said.

“I could easily see a UNT and Oklahoma curling tournament – a bonspiel is what it’s called – become a regular thing,” he said.

Attendees of the interest meeting were attentive. Among them was business sophomore Armun Shakeri, who has curled before, and who said he is likely to join the club if it is created.

“I was looking for sports that I haven’t done before,” he said. “It was actually really fun.”

Weeks, who began curling just three-and-a-half years ago at DFW Curling Club, wants to encourage doubtful students.

“Just get out there and do it,” she said. “It’s one of the few sports that you’re not required to be athletic or coordinated.”

For more information on the potential club, go to Facebook, UNT Curling Club and DFW Curling Club, or visit dfwcurling.com.