The small community of curling won in a big way on Saturday. USA’s men’s curling team earned its first gold medal.

The fact that the men’s gold medal curling game wasn’t on until the middle of the night did not stop Rochester’s curling club from missing any of the action. 30 members of the club stayed up until 4:00 a.m. to watch the men take gold.

“The club members decided that at 1:30 in the morning, we were all just going to come here and watch it together because we thought it was history in the making,” said Dorothy Roach, Rochester Curling Club member. “It was just heartfelt, we were just screaming, cheering them on and loving it.”

Rebeca Andrew, has been curling for 16 years and grew up playing the sport. The Rochester Curling Club had 80 members in 2002 and has now grown to 250 members. 

“It’s awesome, it’s awesome going places and not having to explain curling to people,” said Rebeca Andrew, Curler. “Say you’re a curler and people ask what’s that, lifting or your hair? People know what curling is and that’s awesome.”

Within recent years the success of curling has grown with the help of the Olympics. According to Roach, curling clubs on the east coast alone have grown from 20 to 63 since the turn of the century.

“I really hope it’s going to do awesome things just for the growth of this sport, that’s what we’re really hoping for in the U.S.," said Andrew. "There are tons of new curling clubs popping up all over the place and getting more players into the sport is just going to develop our talent pool, which is really what we need, just some grass roots growth.”

Roach said one of the most special parts of belonging to the curling community is knowing how hard guys like U.S.A. Curling Captain, John Shuster, worked to get where they are. 

“I can literally say I know Olympians and I don’t know any Olympians in any other sport, but that’s kind of what curling is all about,” said Roach.

Curling is a sport people can begin playing at any age and Andrew said what’s enticing is the fact that it’s easy to learn, but hard to master.