Preps for Curling National Championships

ASHWAUBENON - The nation's top curlers will call the Cornerstone Community Ice Center in Ashwaubenon home for the next several days.

The USA Curling National Championships start this weekend.

It's the last chance for teams to make it to the U.S Olympic trials, but it's no easy task to get the ice ready.

"They're putting down what's known as pebble and they're going to scrape the ice with a zamboni like machine to get it prepared," explained Event Co-Chair Bill Rhyme. "They level each sheet and try to make it within 17-thousandths of an inch of being level."

200 plus volunteers have been working round the clock since Monday to get everything ready.

"We're building what we call championship ice," Rhyme said. "This is the same kind of ice you'd see if you were going to play in the Olympics or in a World Championship."

1959 was the first and last time the Green Bay area hosted the national championships. Event officials couldn't be happier to have it back.

So what can you expect at a curling championship? Well, league officials say it's the best of the best.

"These are the 20 best curling teams in the country," explained USA Curling Communications Director Terry Kolesar. "They've been training hard for years. They're trying to qualify for the Olympic trials. So a team you see competing here will be team USA at the Olympics in 2014. We don't know who, but this is the last chance for them to qualify for the Olympic trials."

Interest in curling seems to grow by the year.

Kolesar estimates membership has grown nearly 50% in the past 10 years, bringing the total to 16,000 curlers across 40 different states.

And Rhyme hope that'll be the case here in Northeast Wisconsin, with the help of this event.

"Hopefully at the end of the day, we get more curlers in Green Bay, more people enjoying the life-long sport," Rhyme said.

The championships kick off this Saturday afternoon. The event will run through next Saturday, February 16th.