Tulsa Curling Club

About Tulsa Curling Club

Tulsa Curling Club: From Borrowed Stones to Oklahoma’s No. 2 Club

Tulsa Curling Club began with one determined curler. Eric Vardeman, hooked after watching the 2010 Winter Olympics, spent months driving to Oklahoma City to play before persuading Tulsa to try it. With help from the Tulsa Oilers, the club held its first open house at the Oilers Ice Center in January 2012; organizers hoped for 20 or 25 people and 67 showed up. Play started with stones and brooms borrowed from the Oklahoma Curling Club in Edmond and rings painted on hockey ice.

The all-volunteer nonprofit now curls at WeStreet Ice Center on South Yale Avenue and has grown into the second-largest curling club in Oklahoma, with about 90 members. It runs four to five competitive leagues a year plus instructional and beginner leagues, Learn to Curl sessions and open houses, and its members travel to bonspiels out of town. The league champions play for a trophy known as The Leo.

The club has also taken curling outdoors, hosting a special event at Tulsa Winterfest in 2019, and its Curling and Cocktails nights introduce newcomers to the sport with an hour of instruction.