Bringing Curling to Kalamazoo

At the K Wings Annex. 3600 Vanrick Drive, Kalamazoo, MI

Gold member: free
Silver member: $10 per hour
Non-member:$15 per hour
Inquire about membership on July 12th. Or by email. See prices and benefits below.

There will be someone there to answer questions and instruct if need be, but for the most part you will be free to play as you like. We recommend getting a group of eight together and renting a whole sheet. Play a game with your friends. Or, bring a team of four and we’ll try to find another team for you to play. Or, just come and throw some rocks. Hone your game. If you will need instruction, be sure to point that out when you register.

To reserve open ice, email jasonjhall@chartermi.net.
or call 269-349-6455. Email preferred.
We can only fit so many people on the ice at once so schedule your ice time when you call. Walk-ins will be welcomed but scheduled curlers will take precedence for ice times. Due to a limited amount of equipment we can only fit 24 people on the ice at once. If you have a group, give us all the names when you register and we’ll do our best to keep you together.

Come early, stay late.
We encourage you to come for the entire evening and experience the sense of community that comes along with the rich heritage of curling. There will be all kinds of beverages available for purchase in The Ice House bar that overlooks the Annex, where we will be curling. And curling is nearly as much fun to watch as it is to play.

What to bring.
Wear comfortable warm, loose fitting or stretchy clothes and light weight gloves (it will be about 50º on the ice). You will be active for part of the time so you may want to wear layers. Bring soft soled rubber shoes. Such as running shoes. We will put a slippery tape on the bottom of one of your shoes to work as a slider. Or you can purchase your own slider at one of the links listed below.

Membership and leagues
We will also have open registration for membership and Fall leagues.

Where to get your own curling equipment
You may want to get equipment that enhances your experience. The first thing you should get is a slip on slider. This is a piece of Teflon that slips over your shoe to help you slide. A slider ranges from $15-$30. If you want to throw right in you could buy curling shoes. These range from $65 on up. Another piece you may want to eventually invest in would be a broom. These range from $30 - $180. The club will provide brooms so you may want to hold off on that purchase. Two places to purchase curling supplies are Dakota Curling Supplies and Steve’s Curling Supplies. There are other places to go, but if you mention that you’re from the Kalamazoo Curling club, either will give you a discount on your order.

We hope to see you. Come help us build a curling club.

Due to lack of interest in the 12-1pm time slot, we are canceling the 12-1pm Learn to curl time and will be starting the event at 1pm. All other scheduled ice times remain the same. Please arrive one half hour before your ice time for off ice instruction. Open ice times have not changed.

We’re looking forward to getting you all on the ice.
Good curling.

In the hope of making curling accessible to all, we’ve come up with a two tiered membership system. We also tried to keep fees as low as possible, but charge enough to keep the rocks sliding.

GOLD MEMBERSHIP
$150 - Annually
Benefits:
* Free Shirt $25 value
* $130 League Fee. 8 week league. One night per week. (= $80 Discount)
* Free scheduled open ice time (= $15 per hour Discount)
* Free “Skip School” training seminar (usual cost $25 not including Ice Time)
* Full voting rights
* The peaceful easy feeling that comes with knowing you are wholly involved in making Kalamazoo History.

SILVER MEMBERSHIP
$50 Annually
* $155 League Fee. 8 week league. One night per week. (= $55 discount).
* $10 per hour for scheduled open ice time (= $5 discount).
* Full voting rights.
* The peaceful easy feeling that comes with knowing you are moderately involved in making Kalamazoo History.

NON-MEMBER FEES
Open ice: $15 per person per hour or $100 per hour for a whole sheet (one playing surface).
Leagues: 8 week league. One night per week. $210
First time learn to curl lesson: $12

We encourage you to rent a whole sheet, or playing surface. The cost is $100 per sheet per hour (subtract $12.50 for every Gold member on the sheet and $5 for every Silver Member on the sheet).

Due to an overwhelming response, we’re having another Learn to curl event and open ice.

At the Wings Stadium Annex. 3600 Vanrick Drive, Kalamazoo, MI

May 3rd - Learn to curl

12pm-4pm (later if demand requires)

May 3rd - Open ice

6pm-10pm (later if demand requires)

LEARN TO CURL.

$12 per person per hour of ice time.

20 minutes of pre-ice instruction followed by one hour of ice time with further instruction. Feel free to sign up for more than one session.

OPEN ICE

Price TBD.

There will be someone there to answer questions, but for he most part you will be free to play as you like.

To register and reserve ice, email jasonjhall@chartermi.net.

Or call 269-349-6455. Email is preferred.

We can only fit so many people on the ice at once so schedule your ice time when you call. Walk-ins will be welcomed but scheduled curlers will take precedence for ice times. Due to a limited amount of equipment we can only fit 24 people on the ice at once. If you have a group, give us all the names when you register and we’ll do our best to keep you together. If you have already gone through our learn to curl session, we recommend the afternoon open ice session.

Come early. Stay late.

We encourage you to come for the entire day and experience the sense of community that comes along with the rich heritage of curling. There will be all kinds of beverages available for purchase in The Icehouse bar and Grille that overlooks the Annex, where we will be curling. And curling is nearly as much fun to watch as it is to play.

What to bring.

Wear comfortable warm, loose fitting or stretchy clothes (it will be about 40º on the ice). You will be active for part of the time so you may want to wear layers. Bring soft soled rubber shoes. Such as running shoes. We will put a slippery tape on the bottom of one of your shoes to work as a slider.

What to expect.

The first thing you will say is, “This is much harder than it looks.” And it’s even more fun. You will be instructed on the rules of the game, basic delivery of the rock, sweeping the rock and how sweeping effects the rock, scoring and strategy of the game. And, time permitting, you will play a short game.

Bring your checkbook or lots of cash because we will be taking donations for our rock fund. And once you experience the fun of curling you will want to help make sure this happens. We won’t try to fleece you, we’ll just stick a can in the corner or something.

Membership and leagues

We will also have open registration for membership and Fall and Winter leagues. Prices for both will be decided in the next few days.

Where to get your own curling equipment

After you’ve tried it out, you will undoubtedly want to curl more. You may want to get equipment that enhances your experience. The first thing you should get is a slip on slider. This is a piece of teflon that slips over your shoe to help you slide. A slider ranges from $15-$30. If you want to throw right in you could buy curling shoes. These range from $65 on up. Another piece you may want to eventually invest in would be a broom. These range from $30 - $180. The club will provide brooms so you may want to hold off on that purchase. Two places to purchase curling supplies are Dakota Curling Supplies and Steve’s Curling Supplies. There are other places to go, but if you mention that you’re from the Kalamazoo Curling club, either will give you a discount on your order.

We hope to see you. Come help us build a curling club.

Thanks to all that came out to the Learn to Curl Open house (about 200 in all). Especially those who fought Friday night’s snow storm. We hope all enjoyed their exposure to the great sport of curling. I know I didn’t hear a discouraging word. We apologize to all who didn’t get to participate, and to any who called or emailed to register and didn’t get a response. The person receiving phone calls and emails for this event was in the hospital having a baby. It won’t happen again. Well, at least not for another nine months.

People are asking when they can come back. We will answer that question as soon as we can. This event surely demonstrated that there is a demand for curling in the greater Kalamazoo area. We plan to have another Learn to Curl event, open curling throughout the Summer and a Fall league. We’ll get that scheduled soon. Please check back on this website now and then to stay information. Or better yet, get on our email list by going to the contact us section and we’ll email you when we have some news. We’ve had some requests for T-shirt sales on the website. We’re working on that one too.

Thanks for all the great comments and positive feedback. The Kalamazoo Curling Club is off to a great start.

Good Curling.

Learn to curl at the inaugural Kalamazoo Curling Club/Wings Stadium Open House, With Canada’s legendary ice man Shorty Jenkins.

At the Wings Stadium Annex

March 21st

6pm-9pm (later if demand requires)

March 22nd

5pm-9pm (later if demand requires)

$10 per person per hour of ice time.

20 minutes of pre-ice instruction followed by one hour of ice time with further instruction. Feel free to sign up for more than one session. If there is enough demand, there may be open ice time on both days after 9pm.

To register, call 269-345-2277

or email jweber@wingsstadium.com.

We can only fit so many people on the ice at once so schedule your ice time when you call. Please arrive one half hour before your scheduled ice time for off ice instruction. Walk ins will be welcomed but scheduled curlers will take precedence for ice times. Due to a limited amount of equipment we can only fit 16 people on the ice at once. If you have a group, give us all the names when you register and we’ll do our best to keep you together. After all scheduled curling instruction time is up we may have uninstructed open ice time for $10 per hour per person, depending on interest.

Come early. Stay late.

We encourage you to come for the entire event and experience the sense of community that comes along with the rich heritage of curling. There will be all kinds of beverages available for purchase in The Icehouse bar and Grille that overlooks the Annex, where we will be curling. And curling is nearly as much fun to watch as it is to play.

What to bring.

Wear comfortable warm, loose fitting or stretchy clothes (it will be about 40º on the ice). You will be active for part of the time so you may want to wear layers. Bring soft soled rubber shoes. Such as running shoes. We will put a slippery tape on the bottom of one of your shoes to work as a slider.

What to expect.

The first thing you will say is, “This is much harder than it looks.” And it’s even more fun. You will be instructed on the rules of the game, basic delivery of the rock, sweeping the rock and how sweeping effects the rock, scoring and strategy of the game. And, time permitting, you will play a short game.

Bring your checkbook or lots of cash because we will be taking donations for our rock fund. And once you experience the fun of curling you will want to help make sure this happens. We won’t try to fleece you, we’ll just stick a can in the corner or something.

What if I already know how to curl or want to curl more once I’ve learned?

After all scheduled curling instruction time is up we may have uninstructed open ice time for $10 per hour per person, depending on interest. If there’s enough demand, we’ll curl until 2am when they kick us out.

We will also be setting up a curling league in the fall if we have enough interest. That’s what this event is about, generating interest.

If you would like to get on the email list to receive updates, please go to the Contact Us section and give us your name and email.

We hope to see you. Come help us build a curling club.

Well, they’re being packed up to be shipped, but we will have rocks. So save March 21st and or 22nd.

We’re buying rocks from Canada’s legendary ice man Shorty Jenkins. And as a bonus Shorty has agreed to come help us with the ice and our first curling event. Even if you are not interested in curling it would be worth the time to come down and meet Shorty. If you want some info on Shorty google him and you’ll get plenty. In fact, he’s on Wikipedia. You know you’re somebody when you’ve made Wikipedia. He’s over 70 and retired now but he has been the go-to ice guy for all of Canada’s major events and many world events. The man knows his ice and rocks.Now, about curling. We’ve had an overwhelming response from other clubs with helpful advice. Wings Stadium has been more than accommodating. They’re really helping us out. Dean Gemmell has rounded up some good curlers that are willing to come help instruct. Wings is putting in four sheets and we’re going to have a “learn to Curl” session on the evening of Friday, March 21st, and during the day on Saturday, March 22nd. I don’t have solid times yet. But if I had to guess, it would be from 7pm - Midnight on Friday and somewhere around noon - 5pm on Saturday.We have a lot of other details to nail down as well. But I wanted to get these dates on people’s calendars.

If anyone would like to volunteer to help please let me know. We could use it. You don’t have to know about curling to help, and as we set up the club we’ll need help from people in a variety of areas. Such as accounting. Or setting up a non profit. And who knows what else.

Also, we might have another set of rocks we need to pick up from a curling club in Nashville. If anyone happens to be going through Nashville, TN in the next month and is willing to pick up some rocks, please contact me.

Hopefully we’ll have solid times, where to sign up and a cost in the next week.
We need to show Wings this is a worth while venture. And this will be the only place to curl between Chicago and Detroit. So spread the word.

We are in the beginning stages of securing a facility for the Kalamazoo Curling Club, in Kalamazoo Michigan. If you have any interest at all in the great sport of curling, and who doesn’t, please sign up to receive our email updates so we can keep you in the loop on the progress. It will also give us a good gauge of how many people are interested. Which is important at this stage. Remember, You don’t have to know a thing about curling to be interested. We’ll teach you. We won’t inundate you with emails. And, Of course, we will not sell your information to any third parties. This isn’t about making money, it’s about curling. Period. To sign up for the email updates please fill out the form on the “Contact Us” page.

You can learn a lot about the game by watching the pros, but it’s hard to watch curling in the US. Right now you can catch it live on the CBC’s web site. Click the one that says in progress in green under it, in the blue “Watch now” box, under live video.

We’ve been speaking with Wings stadium about housing the Kalamazoo Curling Club and they are very interested in converting some ice for us. They have been very helpful. The big hurdle, and seemingly only hurdle, is rocks. They are expensive. Like $4,000-$8,000 per sheet of ice expensive. That’s a bit of a risk to take on sport that many have never heard of. So we can go about it two ways. We can assemble such an overwhelming list of interested people, that Wings will feel compelled to front the rock money. Or, we come up with the funds ourselves somehow. Obviously, coming up with “the list” will get us on the ice faster. So please send us your name, and email address so I can get you on the list. Send us your interested friend’s names as well. If anyone has any ideas on fundraising for rocks please leave a comment. Or, if you feel like donating to the cause, include that amount in your email. We will not collect money until we get farther down the line. If we get enough donations that would solve our problem as well.

We hope to have an introduction to curling in mid to late March and an actual league in the Fall of ‘08. Interested parties please fill out the form on the “Contact Us” page.