How Curling Clubs Bring Communities Together In New Hampshire

With the Winter Olympics on the mind of many of us, the every four year question pops up for me and my family. What the heck is curling and how did anyone ever get interested in it? It's not like there was Curling Class in school. You couldn't major in Curling at UNH. And finally, why oh why do they call it Curling? From what I've seen they ought to call it Speed Sweeping.

There Are Curling Clubs All Over New England

How surprised I was to learn that there is a curling club in Nashua, right here in the 603.

The Merrimack Valley Curling Club is one of many in New England. They rent the ice from the Nashua Country Club at 25 Fairway Street in Nashua.

This curling thing is a whole different language. For example, this past January, 2026, they had a Bonspiel. See? What the heck is that?

Dictionary.com defines a Bonspiel as a competition or meet in curling where several clubs compete against one another. That means there are MORE curling clubs in New England like Broomstones in Wayland, MA and North End Curling Club in Boston's North end. As a matter of fact, there are many curling clubs all throughout New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

If you want to get involved in Merrimack Valley Curling, they have "draws" which I'm assuming means practice every Sunday and Tuesday during curling season. (Winter) You don't have to be experienced to join, they state that the intent is to just have fun and enjoy the game.

Why Do They Call it Curling?

The curling name comes from the unique way the stone curls on the ice, according to the ssec.si.edu. The sweeping you see the players do is because the friction it causes on the ice manipulates the stone to go where you want it to go.

Curling looks like a really fun sport, but... something tells me that my knees and hips might be barkin' at me after an hour or so of doing splits on the ice.

Have you tried curling?