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Sweep! Olympic curling comes to Janesville Saturday

Photo

Submitted photo

Olympic curler Deb McCormick delivers a stone. McCormick will be appearing in Janesville at the Blackhawk Curling Club this weekend.

JANESVILLE — Debbie McCormick has been to two Olympics and is headed to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. .

She’s the 2003 World Champion and won the U.S. National Championship in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Last week she competed in Switzerland.

This Saturday she’ll be in Janesville.

McCormick, the leader of the U.S. curling team, will be attending an open house at the Blackhawk Curling Club on the Rock County Fairgrounds in Janesville. The open house runs from noon to 4 p.m. and will include the opportunity to try curling.

During the open house, McCormick will be signing autographs, doing “meet and greet” activities and giving curling demonstrations.

It’s a lot to ask a person who is in the middle of training for the Olympics, but McCormick seems happy to do it.

“I want to give back what curling has given to me,” McCormick said. “I want to share my sport with other people.”

McCormick of Rio is the skip of the Olympic team. Her teammates are Allison Pottinger of Eden Prairie, Minn.; Nicole Joraanstad of Madison; and Natalie Nicholson of Bemidji, Minn. Tracy Sachtjen of Lodi is the “fifth” or alternate.

Each team has a lead, a second, a vice and a skip. The skip is the person who calls the shots and decides on game strategy. On television, the skip is easily identifiable because she’s the one yelling “Sweep!” at her teammates.

The skip also delivers the last two stones of the game.

Curling is a sport that involves sending granite stones down an ice sheet toward a target. Two “sweepers” can brush the ice in front of the stone to affect the distance it travels or how it curls.

It’s a game that requires chess-like strategy and the ability to gauge how the ice is changing as the game goes on.

There are eight “ends” in a game and 10 “ends” in competition. An end consists of each member of both teams delivering two stones.

Curling is a lifetime sport, and that’s part of its appeal. The Blackhawk Curling Club has had members who curled well into their 80s.

McCormick likes the thrill and the challenge of the sport.

“I’m always learning something,” McCormick said. “Obviously, delivering the last two stones is always challenging. But I like the thrill, I like the butterflies.”

The last two stones can make or break an end. They can mean the difference between winning or losing.

McCormick also likes the social aspect of the sport.

“Curlers are like family; you meet so many people,” she said. “It’s definitely a social sport.”

After each game, curlers sit down with the opposing team and have something to eat or drink. The tradition is called “stacking the brooms.”

She loves to see people try the sport for the first time and hopes that Saturday’s event will generate both new curlers and new fans.

“When people come to the open house, they can see it live and give it a try,” McCormick said. “Then when they’re watching it during the Olympics, they’ll have a little understanding of what’s going on.”