Yeah you can do it. I suppose it depends on the club. I went to a curling party last year. It was my first time, and I only think one person was a member there. I bet most places would let you take a guest or even have “open houses”.
Most clubs have an orientation night in early fall for people you have never (or rarely) curled before. That would be the best time to chuck a few stones, but I doubt very much any club president is going to toss you out simply because you took a few rough shots after the bonspiel/league game was over. You’ll get zero support in wandering out between games to throw some rocks. Mainly due to
- They’re likely sweeping/pebbling the ice
- Some games go over their time
- They don’t want some one who doesn’t know what they’re doing to crack the ice or smash up the hacks at either end.
As with anything it’s best to just ask.
Yes! My club has periodic “learn to curl” open houses where they teach you about the game and take you out on the ice to play a couple ends. That’s how I got started. The club is a little gun-shy about letting newbies out on the ice outside of a structured environment, though–liability concerns and so forth.
Um, yeah. That’s why I said:
It was more a jab at the local news rag for A) jumping on the curling bandwagon, and B) throwing out useless stats. I certainly didn’t mean to curl your panties.
I believe a rink from your club is playing at the Evergreen Bonspiel at my club this weekend. There’s a few rinks from other Chicago-area clubs; I met some folks from North Shore yesterday.
In this article from the London Free Press, a columnist suggests that curling is a more truly representative Canadian sport than hockey: Curling a lot like Canadians