City Life

Sweep the Ice With the Ocean State Curling Club

A Winter Olympics favorite slides into Cranston

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You can swirl rocks in your whiskey glass, or you can slide them across the ice during a curling match. The Ocean State Curling Club meets on Fridays at the Cranston Veterans Memorial Arena. The league matches up teams of four players who slide 40lb granite stones across the ice and try to land more of their stones closer to the target than the other team. Sounds simple, but it’s more complicated (and more of a workout) than you think. “Intellectually, it’s a game of strategy, problem solving and thinking on your feet,” says Larry Riccitelli, president of the club. The 500 year old “gentleman’s sport”  also comes with a set of pretty unique traditions, like broomstacking: “Once the game is over, the players go to the bar and the winners buy the losers a beverage,” Larry says. “Everyone sits together for an hour or more.” Check it out for yourself at one of their Learn to Curl sessions, or just bite the bullet – er, stone – and join the club.

ocean state curling club, Cranston, Veterans Memorial Arena, Larry Riccitelli, Learn to Curl,

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