Winter Play: Curling is the social sport for everyone

CATHY WURZER: On Minnesota Now this season, we're finding joy in winter with our series Winter Play. We're sharing stories about what brings Minnesotans delight during these long, snowy, and cold winter months. Finding joy this time of the year is a must for living in Minnesota, and we can't talk about winter in the state without talking about curling.

Some call Minnesota the Home of Curling in this country. There are at least 23 curling clubs, and the sport is continuing to grow across the state. Jason Botterill understands the draw of the sport. He's the Board President of the Dakota Curling Club located in Lakeville. He's on the line. Hey, Jason.

JASON BOTTERILL: Hi.

CATHY WURZER: How in the world did you get started curling?

JASON BOTTERILL: I got into curling almost by happenstance. The club in Lakeville hosts our local high school teams, and my wife, who is a teacher, happened to have one of the students participating in that program come through her class and mention it.

I've always liked watching curling on TV during the Olympics and things like that, and she mentioned that there was a curling club, and a couple of minutes later with Google, found a club and found out that I could sign us up for an introductory league. And I think before she knew what was happening, we were signed up with another couple friend of ours and ready to start our journey into curling.

CATHY WURZER: Do you remember what it was like on that first day?

JASON BOTTERILL: It was exciting, it was intimidating, but we were welcomed in so graciously that we felt comfortable almost instantaneously. But like learning anything new, it was certainly something that we had to take our time with, but we had fun almost instantly.

CATHY WURZER: You know, I've done curling once. I went to the St. Paul curling club for a story. And I remember getting on the ice. And I fell so many times, I had bruises up and down from my hip to my ankle bone. I just thought, this was-- it was horribly embarrassing. Did you have that same experience or am I just a klutz?

JASON BOTTERILL: Every single person who has ever curled for any extended period of time has fallen, and anybody who tells you differently is lying.

CATHY WURZER: OK, good.

JASON BOTTERILL: It just is a fact of life.

CATHY WURZER: What equipment do you need?

JASON BOTTERILL: If you're just starting out and you were showing up for your first introductory class, typically you just need something that will keep you dressed appropriately for the temperature in the ice shed, around 40 degrees. So a really nice temperature, especially in a Minnesota winter.

And a clean pair of athletic shoes. That's everything that you'd need to get started. Clubs will provide the rest of the equipment. But as you get into it, if you want, you'd be looking to pick up your own set of curling shoes that are specially designed for curling and a broom.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Now what kind of person would do well at curling?

JASON BOTTERILL: Just about anybody is the honest answer. I do a lot of the instructing at our club and I've found that the people that take to curling the easiest, the only common thread that I found, they tend to have a background in either dance--

CATHY WURZER: What?

JASON BOTTERILL: --yoga, or gymnastics are the three things that people have pointed to that really have allowed them to excel.

CATHY WURZER: I can see the gymnastics given how you have to drape yourself on the ice, in a sense, as you're throwing the rock down-- is that right? The rock?

JASON BOTTERILL: Yeah, the rock or stone. They're used pretty much interchangeably.

CATHY WURZER: OK. As you're gliding it down the ice, it seems like you do need to be pretty lithe. You have to be pretty flexible.

JASON BOTTERILL: And that's-- one of the wonderful things about curling is even if you can't get yourself folded up like a pretzel and get down on the ice like that, there's ways that you can curl from a standing position and allows people from all walks of life, all ages, all different abilities to come and experience the sport for a lifetime.

CATHY WURZER: How has curling changed the way you embrace winter?

JASON BOTTERILL: Well, we know that winter is long and cold in Minnesota, and if we don't look forward to it, for some reason, it's going to be pretty miserable, of course. And so prior to getting into curling, we would typically look at the winter season as board game season. We'd stay inside and we'd play a lot of board games.

Now we go out, we are much more social. Curling is a very social sport. And we look forward to seeing the same people season after season, but week after week, and really enjoying a sense of community that we have throughout the winter months and really look forward to seeing the people that we don't see as often during the summer months as we head out to do our different summer activities, of course.

CATHY WURZER: I have to say, going to a bonspiel, it does-- there is a definite sense of camaraderie. It's quite fun.

JASON BOTTERILL: Absolutely. I describe a bonspiel to any new curler as it's a party over the weekend and there happens to be some curling.

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] And just a little bit of a dull beverage. [LAUGHS]

JASON BOTTERILL: Yeah. It tends to show up from time to time.

CATHY WURZER: And sometimes when you're actually on the ice, that's nice. What's your advice for someone who has-- as you say, you watched it during the Olympics, and a lot of people do and then they get really fired up, and especially watching the Minnesota guys. And they look at this and they think, ah, I want to give it a shot. What's your advice?

JASON BOTTERILL: My best advice is come on out and try it. We offer Learn to Curl classes which are a two-hour introductory class to take somebody who's never even seen the sport of curling, even, from that point to having fun in two hours or less. I would say we have got 100% success rate in that goal of everybody at the end of it is at least having fun with it.

And from there, you can take it as far as you want. If you want to go and compete and play in the Olympics, there's paths to get there. If you want to get together your family or your friends and have something that gets you out of the house and meet new people over the course of the winter, you can turn it into really a very social outing and it's a lot of fun that way.

CATHY WURZER: By the way, what do you love about curling?

JASON BOTTERILL: I love the people. There are those that know me that would say that I love the competition more, but really, it's the people. All of the support, the camaraderie, and the friendships that we've made becoming part of this community and knowing that the curlers that you find not only in our club but across the state, across the country, we're all so like-minded in welcoming in all comers that it's a huge community to be a part of almost overnight. And it's such a wonderful feeling to know that you can go to just about any club anywhere and feel just as welcome as you are at your home club.

CATHY WURZER: Now the people are great, but when you watch curlers like, say, John Shuster and his team, I mean, there is some intensity on the ice. And I don't understand the game very well, but, I mean, they're looking for angles, and you've got to throw the rock down there just at a certain way. Is that a fun part of the deal, too?

JASON BOTTERILL: Absolutely. It's like a lot of other sports like billiards or like golf in that there's ways that you're looking to execute things, and if everything went perfectly, exactly how you want it to go every single time, quite frankly, it'd be a pretty boring sport.

It's really about figuring out how do you make the best out of the situations that are imperfect and trying to figure out a way that you can outstrategize and outthink and outexecute your opponent it's not simply about being a bigger, faster, stronger athlete. There's so much more to the strategy aspect of the game that it presents challenges to people not only on a physical level, but also on an intellectual level to make it much more of a well-rounded sport.

CATHY WURZER: There's a lot of finesse to it.

JASON BOTTERILL: Absolutely.

CATHY WURZER: By the way, do you have to be of a certain age or can you be a more seasoned individual and still learn?

JASON BOTTERILL: There is no age limit whatsoever. In fact, the Guinness World Record for world's oldest curler is north of 100 and she's still going strong up in Canada.

CATHY WURZER: What? All right. There's hope for me, then. All right. Jason, it sounds like an awful lot of fun. I might have to get back out and give it another shot.

JASON BOTTERILL: Come on down and see us and we'll make sure it's a fun time.

CATHY WURZER: Jason, thank you for your time today.

JASON BOTTERILL: Thank you very much for having me. It's been a blast.

CATHY WURZER: Jason Botterill is the Board President of the Dakota Curling Club in Lakeville. Now this weekend, there'll be a number of curlers gathering in Mapleton, Minnesota for the mixed state championship. That's at the Heather Curling Club February 24 through the 26th.