PETERSHAM – Those interested in learning about the sport of curling will get a chance this Saturday.

The Petersham Curling Club will begin its 2023-2024 season with the annual Golf & Curl Biathlon Tournament this Saturday, Oct. 14, starting at 7 a.m. and running throughout the day. It will be held at 250 N. Main St., Petersham.

The one-day event begins with breakfast at the club and will combine nine holes of golf and six ends of curling. An end is similar to an inning in baseball.

Event Chair Lucinda Booth said that a regular curling game is eight ends, but just for the sake of time – and for those playing golf – they only do six ends. Registration for the event has closed, but spectators are welcome. According to Booth, the club hosts leagues every night during the season, which runs from October to April.

“It’s a very easy game to learn,” she said. “Anyone of any physical ability, wheelchair included, can curl. It’s very hard to learn how to do well; it takes two seconds to learn, a lifetime to learn how to do it well. But it’s a lot of fun.”

According to the World Curling Federation’s web site, curling is a team sport, played on ice, where two teams take turns to slide stones made of granite towards a target – known as a House. It is an Olympic and Paralympic winter sport with medal disciplines for women’s, men’s, mixed doubles and mixed wheelchair teams.

The teams, Booth said, consist of a lead, a second, a vice and a skip. The vice acts as a co-captain, while the skip is the team captain. She said the skip tells the others what to aim for when throwing the curling stone and how to spin it, so the stone goes in a particular direction.

“They’re (the skip) figuring out the strategy and the whole nine yards,” Booth said. “And if the skip is the one to throw the last stone, they also have to be the best shot.”

Asked about the sweeping that teammates do as a thrown stone makes its way down the ice, Booth said, “There are so many schools of thought on what the sweeping is actually doing, whether it’s creating teeny-tiny scratches in the ice, whether it is filling in teeny-tiny scratches in the ice. Whatever it’s actually achieving, the end result is it does effect how far the stone moves and how far in any direction the stone moves. So, without sweeping, your stone will curl less and stop sooner.”

Booth said the biathlon marks the kickoff of the full curling season, adding that a curling tournament is officially known as a bonspiel. The event will include breakfast for $10, starting at 8 a.m. lunch for $15, and dinner, which includes barbecue ribs and chicken, for $20. The club also has a full bar.

Learn-to-curl events for anyone age 7 and older are scheduled at the club on Friday, Oct. 27, and Friday, Dec. 1, from 6-8 p.m., and from noon to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 27. According to the club’s website, the class “covers the basics of curling including scoring, rules, etiquette, and on-ice instruction on how to throw a rock, sweep, and play a game. Participants that complete a learn to curl class can explore membership and league opportunities.”

Additional details, including recommendations on how to dress, can be found at https://tinyurl.com/4kr2b792 or by calling 978-724-3210.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.