The Winter Olympics have inspired people all over Courier country to try their hand at curling for the first time.
The little understood sport was Team GB’s most successful event at the Sochi games with British athletes doing the country proud with their performances.
Team GB’s men’s team won silver and the women’s team took bronze which contributed half of the country’s medal haul. Their Olympic glory has spurred on people of all ages to take to the ice and try to imitate their heroes.
The national governing body for curling in Scotland, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, has launched its 2014 Try Curling initiative which aims to attract new people to the sport during the Sochi Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond.
Try Curling events around Scotland drew thousands of people to ice rinks and the event continues this week.
David Jones, head curling coach at Dundee Ice Arena, said the Winter Olympics had given a lot of coverage to the sport and interest has been huge.
He said: “The demand has totally exceeded our expectations and we are fully booked for the two events. We have 178 people taking part just in Dundee. Our youngest junior player is eight years old.”
He said the centre now has a waiting list for beginners’ curling courses and David is hoping to get a few future Olympic contenders through the door.
He said: “People coming into the sport could become good in three or four years, but these Olympic athletes started young and they are training five or six times a week.”
To support the initiative, a new website www.trycurling.com has been launched to make it easy for people to get involved, with hundreds of taster sessions and beginner classes in their area.
Rhona Howie (Martin), 2002 Winter Olympic gold medal winner, is supporting the initiative and said: “It’s important that we attract new people to the sport to make sure we have future curlers to follow in the footsteps of our men’s and women’s teams.”
David added that because of the huge interest in the taster sessions there will be more follow-up beginner courses and if anyone would like to find out more they can contact him at Dundee Ice Arena.