Masked Curlers!
Last night we curled for the first time since the pandemic shut us down, and it was great to get back on the ice! Leading up to our “soft launch” our board came up with a pretty comprehensive COVID-19 curling plan (which you can read here) that has guidelines for setting up, playing, breaking down, etc.
We were able to follow our rules pretty well:
- setup went well (and made easier by not having to draw our houses!) including carrying stones out in a circular fashion to avoid crossing paths in narrow areas
- wiping down stones and equipment doesn’t take long
- everyone wore masks (and wore them correctly!)
- with only 3 of our 5 sheets being used — playing on every other sheet — keeping a distance between sheets and behind the hacks wasn’t difficult
- most of our teams were 3-person teams, so having a single sweeper wasn’t an issue
The bad?
- wearing a mask while curling sucks, but is doable … and still better than not curling at all
- skips and vices in the house want to sweep stones — it’s hard to just watch a stone that really needs sweeping and do nothing about it
- no post-curling broomstacking is a bummer — having to leave right after your stones are put away is an anticlimactic end to the night
While things aren’t 100% guaranteed safe — what is? — we feel following our guidelines is the best option short of not curling at all. Some of our members are still opting out for the season, which is completely understandable — we look forward to their return! And until we’re able to get our full club on the ice (Massachusetts currently limits groups to 25) we’re hoping we are able to curl at the current 3-sheet limit.
We’re still not ready to host Learn to Curls or private events yet…one thing at a time!
If you have comments or questions for the club, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
