Ft. Wayne Curling Hosts 2024 End of Summerspiel this Weekend

The Fort Wayne Curling Club is proud to be welcoming 120 curlers from throughout North America for the 2024 End of Summerspiel Curling Tournament this weekend (Friday, September 20th - Sunday, September 22nd).

Each Curling season, the Fort Wayne Curling Club hosts one of the first Curling tournaments in North America and Curlers from throughout the continent flock to Fort Wayne to get back on the ice.  Most participants do not yet have ice at their home clubs.

States and provinces represented in the event include: Florida, South Carolina, Ontario, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky.  4 teams from Fort Wayne will be among the teams competing.

Games will be at the following times:

• Friday, September 20th  

  • 8:30 am

  • 11:00 am

  • 2:00 pm

  • 4:30 pm

  • 7:30 pm

  • 10:00 pm

     

• Saturday, September 21st

  • 8:00 am

  • 10:30 am

  • 1:30 pm

  • 4:00 pm

  • 7:00 pm

  • 9:30 pm

• Sunday, September 22nd

  • 8:30 am

  • 11:00 am

  • 2:00 pm (Finals - Preceded by a bagpipe ceremony)

Games last roughly 2 hours.  Spectators are welcome.  There is no charge for spectators.

The Fort Wayne Curling Club is located at 3837 N. Wells Street, directly across Wells Street from the Parkview Ice House.

THE SPORT OF CURLING

The sport of curling originated in the 1500s on the frozen lochs of Scotland but was formalized and made into the sport it is today by the Canadians.  The sport entails teams alternately sliding 42 pound stones down a sheet of ice roughly 150 feet long to a set of rings (“the house”) while teammates sweep the stone to make the stone go straighter and further.  Once all the stones are thrown (an “end”), the team whose stone is closest to the center of the rings scores and the number of points they score is the number of stones closer to the center than the opponents’ closest stone.  A game continues for 8 ends at the club level and 10 ends at the Olympic level.

Curling has grown significantly in the United States since its re-introduction into the Olympics (it was included in the inaugural 1924 Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix).  There are currently nearly 23,500 curlers and 185 curling clubs in the United States and significant additional growth is expected. 

THE FORT WAYNE CURLING CLUB

Curling has a long and storied history in Fort Wayne which can be found here, but the modern Fort Wayne Curling Club was founded in 2010 by Craig Fischer, Greg Eigner, Jerri Mead and Dan McCoy.   Brief history of the club is here.  The club started curling at the Parkview Ice House (then known as the Lutheran Health Sports Center) and, in2014, opened a 3-sheet dedicated facility in a rented warehouse on Wells Street (now partially occupied by 2Toms Brewing Company).  In 2019, the club opened a dedicated 4-sheet curling facility at 3837 N. Wells Street, directly across Wells Street from the Parkview Ice House.  The Fort Wayne Curling Club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that offers leagues for curlers of all ages and abilities, Learn to Curl sessions, private events, corporate events and activities for those with special needs.