OMAHA, (Neb.) — Back then there was a facility in Omaha dedicated to just curling. Now curlers share with other athletes at Baxter Arena. But with the Olympic Curling Trials coming back to Omaha, President of the Aksarben Curling Club Sean Morrison hopes they can get more people to see how cool the sport is and raise enough cash to get their own ice.
“We’re kind of capped out with our capacity. We’ve grown the club to well over 200 members now,” said Morrison.
And it’s not just the availability of ice that’s the issue, it’s also the ice itself. Curling ice isn’t smooth like skating ice.
“We do put a bit of texture on the ice to make the stones play properly and that’s not ideal for skating so they will come through and have to take that off with the Zamboni and kind of get the ice ready for the next activity,” said Rau.
Most years the Aksarben Curling Club has around 500 people sign up for a curling class. The last time the Olympic Trials came to Omaha, officials say they had more than double that.
