Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The 2022 Winter Olympics are officially in full swing, with a small number of events starting back on Wednesday, Feb. 2 in Beijing, China.
One of the more popular events at the Winter Olympics every year is curling, which was one of the events to get underway this past Wednesday. It was mixed doubles round robin action that opened up, with the competition expected to wrap up by Tuesday before team events gets started on Wednesday.
Many people in Buffalo know of a couple of places to be able to take part in the fun of curling during the winter months. One happens to be down at the Ice at Canalside, while the other location is on the outdoor rinks at Buffalo RiverWorks on Ganson Street.
However, it was back in 2014 when a group of advocates decided to bring the game of curling back to Buffalo and re-form the Buffalo Curling Club at RiverWorks.
"We started with a dream back in 2008 when a couple of members were actually curling at Niagara Falls Curling Club in Ontario. But border restrictions were starting to get a little tougher, and we started exploring opportunities here," said Membership Chairman and past President of the Buffalo Curling Club, Danielle Buchbinder. "Nobody would have us and we didn't have the money to start our own place, but then we were blessed to meet the guys who own RiverWorks now, and we were able to be the first people on their ice back when they opened in 2014."
Four years later, the group was able to find its way to its current location at the old Buffalo China Factory just off Bailey Avenue on Buffalo China Road.
"[We] got very lucky again, heard some rumors about this building," Buchbinder said. "When we came and checked it out, it turned out that one of our members actually had a relationship with the owner, knew they were part of the family, and they were able to get us a tour of this facility back in 2017. By 2018, we were open in time for the [Pyeongchang] Olympics."
Now, the Buffalo Curling Club's permanent residence is a spacious facility with four sheets of ice for curling.
"Pretty much it was an empty warehouse shell when we actually took possession," Buchbinder said. "We have four sheets of ice. All of it is movable, so we lay down some insulation, roll out the matting - same stuff they use for the Winter Classic outdoors - and that's how we created our sheets."
The Buffalo Curling Club is a not-for-profit organization that is run by volunteers. These volunteers donate their time to put the ice in every year, put the houses and lines in the sheets, while also helping run the facility with their curling programs for all ages.
"Just to have curling here in Buffalo again is incredible," said one of those volunteers, Darrell Skelton. "Curling had been gone from the area since about 1982 when the old Buffalo Curling Club closed down. Now with Danielle Buchbinder's leadership, curling is here again, and it's just fabulous. We're just hoping that it will take off."
Skelton is one of the volunteers that helps run the youth program that the Buffalo Curling Club has. The program is designed to be an introduction to curling in a fun, noncompetitive way. Kids as young as five-years-old can take part in this program, as they work with special full-sized, half-weighted stones to get them integrated to the game.
Skelton has been curling on-and-off for the last 57 years, and has seen just how much the game has evolved from when he grew up playing the game until now.
"One of the biggest changes was going from an old corn broom, which always left a lot of debris on the ice, to hog bristles or different types of synthetic bristles, to now we have these brushes which are regulated by the World Curling Association. That's one big change," Skelton explained. "The other is just the equipment itself. The shoes - they've come a long ways in the shoes with the Teflon being on the bottom of the shoe, it's actually molded right into it. Whereas before, it was always something that slipped on to the bottom of your shoe, which you can take off quite easily."
Arguably the biggest change that the game of curling has seen is not what has happened on the ice. It happens to be the attention the game has garners not only in the United States, but also across the globe.
"With curling becoming an Olympic sport, it's piqued everybody's interest in the sport, which is just fabulous," Skelton said. "I think the sport needs to grow. It needs to grow in New York State, and any of the states across the nation with the better facilities that can be built and the equipment that can maintain ice surfaces throughout the United States."
"I understand the rules of the game, and admire - with any Olympic sport - how much people invest in it," said Jackie Goergen, who just started curling with her husband around six weeks ago. "Certainly having just gone through learning this sport, you realize how talented [the Olympians] truly are."
Goergen says her husband knows one of the volunteers at the Buffalo Curling Club, and they decided to take a few lessons and join a league. Leagues at the Buffalo Curling Club vary of all ages, and offer people a fun way of interacting with fellow curlers and compete with others on the ice, and share a bond off.
While the actual curling aspect of the game is something the Goergens say they are still working at, they both enjoy hitting the ice every week with their friends.
"[We're] learning the rules of the game, really just trying to get a form down, and every week I feel like I learn a little something else that I can take and hopefully get a little bit better," she said.
With the Olympics already underway and each day of the event being shown on a projector in their lounge area, Buchbinder says that the interest in curling is, once again, starting to take off with the local community.
"[The influence] is huge," she said. "When they started the Olympics in 2018, we had an open house and had hundreds of people through. It was nonstop people coming through, trying different stations that we had out on the ice. Had basket raffles and 50/50s going. I don't remember the exact number of numbers at the time, but our second part of the season, because we were here indoors, our leagues almost filled up then."
"[This] January, we had a beginner league, and it was nicely attended with 16 people. We opened one up for February, and as soon as the Olympics teasers started coming out, we are now full with a full 32-people in the next session for February."
The Buffalo Curling Club has also had some notable names in curling come through its doors in the past, including Olympic medalist John Schuster, who won gold for Team USA at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, as well as a bronze medal in 2006 at the Turin games in Italy.
Currently, the Buffalo Curling Club has its four sheets of ice at its facility, but Buchbinder says they have room for two more sheets of ice if the sufficient funding ever is available to them.
With the Olympics set to run all the way through Sunday, Feb. 20, the Buffalo Curling Club is set to host a number of different events, including the chance to watch some of the day's curling action from Beijing.
"We're doing Learn to Curls on Sundays, Feb. 20 and 27, and also on Thursday afternoon the 24th," Buchbinder said. "Those are all on our website, where people can register for them. If they fill, we'll find other times to open."
"We also do rental groups, so if you wanted to do team building or a birthday party, people could do that. A lot of times, they'll get the warm room for a half hour before they go out on the ice, and then they'll play, get a lesson and then they'll come back out do their birthday wishes afterwards."
For those who have never curled but are interested in taking any lessons or holding an event at the Buffalo Curling Club, what are they advised to bring?
"All you have to do is bring clean footwear with you," Buchbinder said. "A nice clean pair of sneakers, carry them in with you and wear some clothes that are pretty stretchy and flexible. Temperature in here is usually around 42 degrees, could be a little bit warmer or colder. You dress appropriate for that, and we provide the rocks, the brooms, the sliders, grippers, stabilizers, everything you need to learn how to curl."
In addition, the Buffalo Curling Club is now offering an adaptive curling program, where people who have limiting abilities will also be able to learn how to curl. People who may be missing a limb or maybe are in a wheelchair will have a chance to learn the game of curling.
"Curling is a sport for just about anyone. You can be as young as five and be in our youth programs. I used to curl with a lady in Niagara Falls who was in her 90s still curling," Buchbinder said.
For more details on what services the Buffalo Curling Club can offer, feel free to check out their website, buffalocurlingclub.org.