New Oldtimers stick curling league keeps senior men in the game

An 81-year-old Winnipegger has started the Oldtimers stick curling league at the Pembina Curling Club for fellow curlers who call the club home but whose knees can no longer hack the traditional game.

"Once they get 85 to 90, they cannot curl and sweep like usual, so then we go to the stick curling and because there's no sweeping between the hog lines, the guys can rest up," said Dave Zacharias, the founder of the league.

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In stick curling, the stones are delivered with a stick from a standing position or sitting position instead of sliding. 

Zacharias said he wanted to find a way to keep curlers at the club as they got older. 

"They can keep on curling here, at home, so to say, and enjoy it rather than going away from here when they've been here all their lives," he said.

The league primarily consists of men older than 55. There are currently 18 teams that play twice a week. 

Don Lavallee was at the league's first game in January — the first time in four years he was back on the ice. 

His friend whom he curled with for 40 years talked him into trying curling again, and stick curling was a good option for him, since he knees won't let him play the traditional game, he said.

Though stick curling is easier on the knees, it's still challenging, Lavallee said.

"You're walking, you're gliding, you're pushing, you're twisting. It's a lot tougher than it looks," he said. 

In order to foster friendship, the league divides its season into quarters and forms new teams at the beginning of each quarter.

"Just love the game, love the competition, love the friendship, the camaraderie. Maybe a guy thing," Lavallee said.

Orest Dobinsky makes the sticks for the league from mops and plumbing connections and sells them for $40. 

"I just about sleep here, I'm here so much," said Dobinsky. "I'm getting older and I'm still trying to curl three games a week so it keeps me a little bit active."

He doesn't use his own sticks yet because he's too young, he said. 

"But I think maybe by next year winter, I'll be trying out the stick, especially with this new league starting here. It's going to be lots of fun to participate," he said. "We see people we don't see all summer because everybody's doing their own thing and travelling around, but in the winter, we congregate over here and we have lots of fun and good exercise too."