Here’s the bonspiel: Local club in fifth year, looking to expand

Desert community warms to icy sport

The Continental Cup has drawn thousands of spectators to Orleans Arena this week. Most are Canadian. But though it’s a nontraditional market for the sport, Las Vegas locals are showing an increasing interest in curling.

Las Vegas Curling is now in its fifth year and held its sixth annual Sin Sity Spiel earlier this month.

And at this week’s Continental Cup, Las Vegas Curling has a booth set up at Orleans Arena and the people manning it have gotten plenty of inquiries.

“I think we’ve got a lot more exposure and we’ve seen this year definitely a lot more locals coming up to our booth and asking, ‘Where can we go and try curling?’ and (saying), ‘This is so great,’ and they’re watching the games,” founder Nick Kitinski said. “You can’t deny that this event is definitely helping curling, not just for Las Vegas, but nationwide.”

Kitinski was the club development chair for USA Curling in 2010 and 2011 where his role was to help new clubs start around the country. Living in Los Angeles, he was trying to help as many people in the western states get into the sport as possible.

So in August 2010, after a few months of talking with a group of people in Las Vegas, he threw the first Learn to Curl event and got about 80 participants to come.

The group couldn’t raise enough money to buy their equipment and carry on, but a year later, Kitinski held the first Sin Sity Bonspiel and he said the club was born in 2012.

Currently, about 40 people attend practices, which are held on Sunday nights and will pick back up at the end of this month or the beginning of February.

Kitinski said the club has the 9:30 p.m. slot at Las Vegas Ice Center, where the curling sheets are permanent and within the hockey lines.

“Once hockey ends on Sunday, we Zamboni and pebble and melt in the hacks and we curl basically for two hours and when we’re done, we pack it all up and go home,” Kitinski said.

The club is hoping to get more ice time in hopes of expanding its membership.

Ultimately, the goal would be to get a dedicated club, so Kitinski said they are currently looking for partners.

“We’d like to partner up with somebody and bring curling to a larger level in Las Vegas,” Kitinski said. “Curlers come from all over the world and they just want to play. We just don’t have the ice time to dedicate to all these people so we’re missing out on a huge potential here.

“We’re looking to parner up with the community and also offer after-school programs, senior citizens program and veterans and the whole enchilada.”

CHASE STEVENS/ LAS VEGAS REVIEWJOURNAL @CSSTEVENSPHOTO Luann Wilson, left, helps Beverley Schaffer of Medicine Hat, Alberta, as she looks at souvenirs at the Las Vegas Curling table in the concourse of the Orleans Arena during the Continental Cup on Saturday.