UToledo Curling Club Sweeps the Competition in David vs. Goliath Tale

October 20, 2022 | News, Student Success, UToday, Alumni, Student Affairs, Engineering
By Krystal Clark



In March, shortly after it was recognized as an official club sport, the UToledo Curling Club celebrated a stunning David vs. Goliath victory over Penn State University’s nationally ranked club curling team.

The Rockets defeated the Nittany Lions — the oldest and largest curling club in the U.S. — 7-5 and 8-5.

Members of the UToledo Curling Club pose for a photo after their stunning David vs. Goliath victory over Penn State University’s nationally ranked club curling team in March.

“Our game was extremely close, we were trading points back-to-back,” said Andrew Thomas, co-founder and president of the UToledo Curling Club. “It was cool to see that we could put up a fight against a much larger organization. I’m very proud of us. We were pleasantly surprised with the win.”

And now, in a twist to the team’s David vs. Goliath tale, David has become Goliath.

The UToledo Curling Club is currently ranked as the No. 1 curling team in the nation, as recorded by College Curling USA.

“We have been at the top of the standings since the spring,” said Thomas, a fifth-year computer science and electrical engineering student. “There is a good amount of pressure to maintain that as long as possible.”

The Rockets have come a long way in their months of competing — particularly considering that only four of the club’s 22 members had curling experience prior to joining the team.

Thomas

With a target on their back, the team is ready to take on the rest of the season.

Their goal is to reach the College Curling National Championship tournament, which will take place in March 2023; however, the team has a few obstacles to overcome before then.

“We are in the curling desert. The closest schools to us are Notre Dame and Penn State,” Thomas said. “Schools in the east and in the other side of the Midwest are more centrally located. They don’t have to drive very far to play each other. The more bonspiels (bonspiels are curling tournaments, often taking place over multiple days) you can attend, the more points you can get towards the national standings and qualifying for nationals, so we are at a bit of a disadvantage.”

Despite their geographical disadvantage, the club still caught the attention of other teams on the national scene. UToledo Curling received an invitation from last season’s championship third-place winners, University of Wisconsin–Superior, to compete in a bonspiel later this semester.

The club is still working through logistics for the rest of their competition schedule.

“Currently we are working on getting sponsorships to try to offset the costs for travel,” Thomas said. “We don’t have any choice at the moment but to forward the costs onto our members, but it is very rewarding to play against another team. Just being able to prove yourself out on the ice, it makes it all worth it.”

Adam Billmaier, the vice president of the UToledo Curling Club, in action during the team’s game against Penn State.

Thomas credits the early success of the club to the executive board members, who have fast-tracked competitions and built connections in the community.

With the entire executive board graduating in the next year, however, Thomas said the club is looking for ways to develop the next set of curling leaders.

“We have a mentorship program we are trying to start,” he said. “We will have one interested member shadow an executive board member for the semester, and they are given a project to work on that their desired position would require of them.”

But more than anything, Thomas and his team want to bring the relatively unknown sport to the forefront of people’s minds.

“There are times when it’s extremely stressful. You may be down five points and things don’t look good out on the ice,” hes said. “But you can feel comfortable knowing that the people you are playing are your friends and not necessarily your adversaries.

“We are all here to have fun. That is the sentiment throughout curling in any sense.”

 

Click to access the login or register cheese