Physics Teacher Amanda Zranchev has brought more than just her science skills to Deerfield—she is founding the school’s first curling club.

She curled for a few years in college, even competing in tournaments with her team.

The Deerfield team will likely be starting small, meeting only once or twice this year. But Ms. Zranchev is excited to “test the waters” and knows the creation of a serious and popular curling club will not be instantaneous.

“People who do curling are usually interesting and enthusiastic,” she said. “So doing curling will be a good opportunity to meet other interesting and enthusiastic people.”

The club’s main obstacle is the necessary traveling time. Deerfield’s rink will not suffice for curling because the ice is too smooth.

According to Ms. Zranchev, the sport calls for pebbled ice, which is created by a special machine through a process called “scraping.” The mechanism sprinkles water droplets on the surface of the ice, which freeze and create numerous little bumps. This lessens the friction between the ice and the rock, allowing it to slide more easily down the ice.

So far, a variety of students of all grades, faculty members, staff and faculty/staff children have shown interest in trying the sport. Penelope Hough ’17 said, “I signed up for curling because my grandmother did it and I think if would be really cool to try it out.”

Jack Lambert ’16 had only “heard of [curling] as the punchline of jokes about the Olympics.” Now he is “most excited to learn how it’s played and to try it out myself.”

Science Teacher Ivory Hills, who also signed up for a curling lesson, is looking forward to joining “a Deerfield team, learning a new sport and getting better together.”

Ms. Zranchev urges more people to join, calling curling a “super fun, social sport.”

Seldom broadcast on American networks, curling will be in the spotlight with the Winter Olympics, making now an excellent time to learn the sport.