Winter Olympics draws large turnout for curling clinic

An annual curling clinic at the George S. Eccles Ice Center drew a larger-than-usual crowd on Monday night — a boost that organizers attributed to the ongoing Winter Olympics.

The clinic always draws a greater turnout during the Olympics, according to Mike Wolfe, the clinic’s co-founder.

“Tonight has been great,” said Doug Jackson-Smith, who also founded the clinic. “We had around 89 people. We’d love to have this all the time.”

Wolfe and Jackson-Smith work weekly with curling teams, but wanted to extend the experience to the public. The pair founded the clinic in 2002 after the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

“Enough of us called and they got us all together and we formed a club,” Jackson-Smith said. “It’s generally been very successful. We’ve tried to have an open time for the public to learn to curl and this is the one time we can do that.”  

Jackson-Smith’s daughter, Rose, has been curling with her father since she was 8 years old. She has only competed once, but attends the clinic every year.

“Being in the clinic is fun and exciting,” Rose said. “Every year unless I do the league, I re-learn how to curl.”

As the sport grows, Wolfe and Jackson-Smith want to one day expand the Eccles Ice Center and have an ice rink dedicated to curling. They will need a large donation to make it happen.

“The potential is there,” Jackson-Smith said. “The key for me is making sure there are always opportunities for people to curl.”

Erin Cox, Kelsey Richardson, Whitney Fletcher, Melissa Allison, Taylor Murray and Mike Cannon contributed to this report.