The current Albany Curling Club was founded in 1954. The original
Albany Curling Club has records dating back to 1866 and was disbanded
in 1902. There are pictures showing curling on the Washington Park lake
in Albany and an ice shed for the curlers to try to keep warm.
The Albany Curling Club has approximately 145 active curlers. We are affliated with the
Grand National Curling Club, a confederation of 36 curling clubs in the northeastern United States, and the
United States Curling Association, the national coordinating organization.
The
club provides 2 sheets of fine curling ice for our members from
mid-October through early April. We have league competitions during the
day and in the evening from Monday through Thursday. We have curling on
Sunday evenings as well. Our competition includes Men's, Women's and
Mixed leagues for adults. Additionally we have a curling program for
junior curlers, ages 13 through 18 that meets and practices on Sunday
afternoons.
The Albany Curling Club also sponsors bonspiels,
or, curling competitions. We sponsor several intraclub bonspiels during
the year and at least one invitational, where invitations are extended
to clubs to participate by sending teams to our club. In a similar
fashion, members of the Albany Curling Club travel to other clubs in
the Grand National Curling Club and to clubs in Canada to participate
in bonspiels.
The club publishes a quarterly newsletter, The
SWEEP. The SWEEP reports on our club's activities and bonspiels.
Additionally, information is provided about GNCC and USCA activities of
interest to our members. Bonspiel results when our members participate
in bonspiels in other clubs are also published.
Individuals
wishing to visit our club are encouraged to call the club, or send an
e-mail and ask about scheduling a visit. We do not have open curling
available as almost all the available ice time is booked with club
competition or training. We have an open house in mid-October and
interested members can apply for membership at that time. Free training
is provided for the two weeks or so before the league competition
begins at the begining of November.