LANSING - The Lansing Curling Club met this Friday for their Friday night Curling event.

Although the Club is relatively new to this generation of curlers, the organization's roots date back much further.

"The Lansing Curling Club actually used to curl in the seventies, late sixties and early seventies over at MSU," said Club Presdient Mark McElwee. "So the current incarnation is sort of a rebirth that formed in 2010."

The President of the new Lansing Curling Club has his group participating at a hiher level than Lansing Curling has ever known.

Next month, the group will travel to Fort Wayne to take part in the first ever Arena Curling National Championships.

"It's a new event that the US Curling Association is hosting," McElwee said. "It's for clubs that strictly curl on Arena Ice, which is ice that people play hockey on too. So they're sharing ice. They usually have odd ice hours. A lot of Saturday night late, like last year we curled at Saturday morning at 8 o'clock. Not Ideal."

"We're sending one mens team and one women's team," he continued.
"They each have four players and an alternate. I'm gonna be down there actually officiating. Because I am a certified level two official for the US curling association as well, and so I can help out that way. Since I'm not participating I can still officiate and keep things running smooth."

McEllwee says the group is full of passion for the game, but he is hesitant to place high expectations on such a young squad.

"You know, we're really green," he explained.
"We're a new team, just a new outfit, and so are a lot of the other clubs. There are teams from Virginia, California, Dallas, I mean all over. That's the new thing. These Arena clubs are all over."

The National Tournament begins on July 18th in Fort Wayne.