​Ferndale Hosts 2018 USA Curling Junior National Championships

With elite athletes across the US preparing for the Olympics next month, Metro Detroit has the opportunity to see some of America’s best young curlers battle it out for the title of 2018 USA Curling Junior National champion. The Detroit Curling Club has hosts the annual competition at its Ferndale facility this week, welcoming ten men’s and ten women’s teams from across the country.

In a curling match, players slide stones on the ice towards a goal area with four concentric circles. Related to shuffleboard, the game is played by teams of four players who take turns sliding heavy stones (polished granite) towards the “house,” or target. Each team begins a match with eight stones, scoring points with the ones that make it closest to the center of the house by the time an end of play has finished. A curling game usually includes eight or ten ends.

The championships began Sat., Jan. 27, with Detroit Curling Club member Ann Swisshelm, a US and World champion and Olympian, delivering a ceremonial stone to open the games. The competition continues through Saturday, Feb. 3. The first playoff game takes place at 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 2nd. The final will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3rd, followed by closing ceremonies at 4:15 p.m. Tickets for individual days of matches - which include preliminary games earlier in the day, as well as the marquee matches - are $10. The Detroit Curling Club is located at 1615 E. Lewiston, Ferndale.

Photo via Detroit Curling Club.