Hey everyone.  I don't normally make announcement for non-varsity events on this blog, but I felt this one might be of interest to a few people, particularly with the Winter Olympics coming up.

If you happen to live in the Knoxville area and you'd like to give curling a go, our club is having an open house on Sunday, February 21st from 8:30 to 10:30 PM at the Ice Chalet.  It's free to come and learn how to curl; the basic instructions take about a half hour, and we'll try to set up some quick pick-up games once enough people get the hang of it.  All you need to bring are clothes that you can move around comfortable in (and stay warm at about 35 degrees) and a clean pair of sneakers with decent soles.  (Bring an extra pair; the ones you wear into the place will track dirt on the ice, which is really bad for the stones.)  Anybody worried about falling can wear a bike helmet too; nobody ever teases you about that, and a few of our member do so religiously.

Spencer Hall (of EDSBS) learning to curl in Knoxville.

Doug Gillett (from Hey Jenny Slater) and Spencer sweeping hard.

If you decide you like curling, we run two leagues a year (and a third during the summer if enough people are interested).  The cost is comparable to a bowling league.  We also try to send teams out to various bonspiels (road trips, in curl-speak), and we'll send a college team back to Chicago for College Nationals in March.

Yours truly, throwing a stone at College Regionals 2010 in Bowling Green, Ohio.  (We took second.)

And if you can't make it to the Chalet on the 21st, we always have an extra sheet of ice available for curling lessons when we're playing.  It's at the same time (Sundays, 8:30 - 10:30 PM) on weekends not including Super Bowl Sunday for obvious reasons.

If you have any questions, you can ask here or email me directly (email is at the bottom of this page, and also in my profile).  Yes, I'll be there, but that shouldn't stop you.  It's a great time.

(Here's the club website; it's not updated very often, but it has the general information.)