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Happy birthday Matthew Stilp!

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Skiers, boarders, resort operators ready for rebound in NEPA

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; &#8220;We&#8217;ve never had people die doing this, but I tell them, &#8216;If you do die we&#8217;ll name a trophy after you.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>That was the vote of confidence Anthracite Curling Club co-founder Dave Cawley gave me before I put my right foot into the hack &#8212; think of a starting block in track &#8212; and put my left foot on the slider &#8212; a piece of Kevlar that allows you to slide on the ice &#8212; to slide my first-ever stone.</p><p>Times Leader content coordinator Patrick Kernan tagged along as we attempted curling for the first time last weekend at the Toyota Sportsplex.</p><p>Needless to say, I found myself staring at the ceiling roughly 45 minutes later. Think Charlie Brown trying to kick a football and Lucy van Pelt &#8212; yes, that&#8217;s her last name &#8212; pulling the ball away at the last second. The worst part is, I don&#8217;t even know how it happened.</p><p>Patrick did not fall, however.</p><p>By this point you probably figured out I did not die, but instead came away with my legs on fire and a slightly sore back.</p><p>That&#8217;s curling for you.</p><p>However, Cawley and the club&#8217;s president, Jennifer Dobo, promise that curling is for everyone and anyone. The Anthracite Curling Club itself has had members as young as 12 and as old as their late-60s playing.</p><p>Their club is even wheelchair-friendly, with specialized equipment to assist those in wheelchairs.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no limit and actually it&#8217;s gender-friendly, where as there&#8217;s no advantages of being male or female. Equal grounds, equal ice,&#8221; Dobo said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve curled against people up in their 80s, who kicked our butt, but they had been curling for about 60 years. So that was exciting.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Before we started the club I went down to Philadelphia to learn and the guy who taught me was 85,&#8221; Cawley added.</p><p>Cawley, who started the club with his brother-in-law Matt Lyons in Feb. 2006, during second week of the Winter Olympics in Turino, had an affection with curling dating back to his days growing up in Buffalo, watching the sport on TV every Sunday. After coming to northeastern Pennsylvania for college, Cawley never ended up leaving.</p><p>After purchasing the hockey package over a decade ago, Cawley remembers how fond he was of the sport and got busy.</p><p>&#8220;Once we starting getting the hockey package, I used to watch &#8216;Hockey Night in Canada&#8217; so I started to see commercials for (curling) again,&#8221; Cawley said. &#8220;I said, &#8216;I knew we have ice.&#8217; We actually started up in Pittston and I said to my brother-in-law, Matt, &#8216;We should start a curling club.&#8217; And he said, &#8216;What the hell is curling?&#8217; So I showed him some videos on YouTube and he said, &#8216;Yeah, that seems stupid enough, we can do that.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Curling quickly turned from a sport Lyons knew almost nothing about to a passion. He&#8217;s a recruiter for the club and has even gone to the lengths of creating stones out of spare tires and casters and played out on the asphalt when ice wasn&#8217;t available.</p><p>&#8220;At any chance I&#8217;ll get, if someone will listen to me, I&#8217;ll talk to them about curling and say, &#8216;Yeah, you have to come out and try this. Anybody can do this,&#8217;&#8221; Lyons said.</p><p>Dobo, like many of the club&#8217;s members, searched out the Anthracite Curling Club after the Winter Olympics. According to both Cawley and Dobo, the club&#8217;s membership is at its peak shortly after every Winter Olympics because fans go searching for &#8220;Wilkes-Barre curling clubs&#8221; online and the Anthracite Curling Club often comes up.</p><p>People find their Facebook page, too. The club is one of five Pennsylvania clubs, according to Lyons. The other four reside in Philadelphia, Bucks County, Pittsburgh and Happy Valley.</p><p>&#8220;After the most-recent Winter Olympics I joined and fell in love with it,&#8221; Dobo said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a fun group of people to hang out with.&#8221;</p><p>Curling has provided Anthracite Curling Club member Kathleen Lyons Cruz an activity that her body cannot restrict her from. The 45-year-old has Parkinson&#8217;s disease and curling has provided her an avenue of physical therapy. She was even able to bring her four children along with her for the first time last Saturday.</p><p>Lyons Cruz was recruited by Lyons six months ago.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s good for my physical therapy and a lot of exercise, which is what I have to do &#8212; stretching my legs. It makes me feel good that I can do it. With Parkinson&#8217;s, I can&#8217;t do a lot of things, but I can do this every week and it makes me feel good.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m hooked. I&#8217;m hooked. I&#8217;m here at 11 o&#8217;clock on a Saturday night. I&#8217;d rather be home in bed.&#8221;</p><p>It also gives Lyons Cruz an opportunity to bond with her children.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re happy to see, &#8216;What does mommy do when she goes out,&#8217;&#8221; Lyons Cruz said. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited they were pretty good.&#8221;</p><p>It doesn&#8217;t take much to become a member of the Anthracite Curling Club. Aside from a yearly $130 fee for adults, and $120 for students, and a nightly $20 ice fee, the club provides the sliders that you slide on, the brooms, the stones. All Cawling and Dobo recommend people bring is warm and athletic clothing and athletic sneakers.</p><p>&#8220;We have everything you need to start out with,&#8221; Cawling said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not like other sports where you need lots of equipment. &#8230; Basically what you&#8217;re paying for is the ice time.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The neat thing about the membership is, if you&#8217;re in a different area &#8212; if you go down to Atlanta &#8212; there&#8217;s a club down there you can call up and maybe get in and help sub on a team there,&#8221; Dobo said. &#8220;You could go anywhere in the United States to curl.&#8221;</p><p>If there&#8217;s anything Dobo wants to impress upon future curlers, it&#8217;s that you should never be afraid to try. Operating every other Saturday through March, the Anthracite Curling Club is welcome to all &#8212; no matter the skill level.</p><p>&#8220;Definitely do not to be afraid (to try),&#8221; Dobo said. &#8220;&#8216;If you were like, &#8216;Oh, I really wanna do that, but there&#8217;s no way I can walk on the ice.&#8217; There&#8217;s all abilities here and we&#8217;re open arms and we&#8217;re here to help grow, and grow our club. We&#8217;re all here to learn and support one another. It&#8217;s a friendly atmosphere. It&#8217;s competitive, but not to the point where (it&#8217;s over the top). Afterward we go out and have a couple drinks and enjoy ourselves.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Stacey Jackson of West Wyoming, center, delivers her stone as broomers Jason Snyder of Clarks Summit, left, and Chris Nardi of Mountain Top follow during a recent session of the Anthracite Curling Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Stacey Jackson of West Wyoming, center, delivers her stone as broomers Jason Snyder of Clarks Summit, left, and Chris Nardi of Mountain Top follow during a recent session of the Anthracite Curling Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Brennan Cruz, left, and sister Noelle Cruz, both of Hamlin, broom a moving stone during a recent session of the Anthracite Curling Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.   Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Brennan Cruz, left, and sister Noelle Cruz, both of Hamlin, broom a moving stone during a recent session of the Anthracite Curling Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.   Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Luke Dubin of Lancaster, center, prepares to deliver a stone as broomer Cory Simo of Ephrata, left, follows along during a recent session of the Anthracite Curling Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature3-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Luke Dubin of Lancaster, center, prepares to deliver a stone as broomer Cory Simo of Ephrata, left, follows along during a recent session of the Anthracite Curling Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature4-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Anthracite Curling Club President Jennifer Dobo of Jefferson Township, left, lines up her teammate on the target during a recent session during a recent session at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature4-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Anthracite Curling Club President Jennifer Dobo of Jefferson Township, left, lines up her teammate on the target during a recent session during a recent session at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature5-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Anthracite Curling Club founder Dave Cawley of Scranton gathers the stones for thext round during a recent session at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature5-1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Anthracite Curling Club founder Dave Cawley of Scranton gathers the stones for thext round during a recent session at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption4><photoCredit4></photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature6-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Curlers participate in a recent session of the Anthracite Curling Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CurlingFeature6-1.jpg</photo5><caption5>Curlers participate in a recent session of the Anthracite Curling Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption5><photoCredit5></photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>A pair of TL staff members dip toe on ice</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW</strong></p><p><strong>Phone Number: </strong>(570)266-7978</p><p><strong>Website:</strong> anthracitecurling.com</p><p><strong>Facebook:</strong> facebook.com/AnthraciteCurling</p><p><strong>Membership:</strong> $130 for adults; $120 for students; $20 ice fee</p><p><strong>Open Houses: </strong>5 p.m., March 25 at Toyota Sportsplex; 7 p.m. March 28 at Toyota Sportsplex</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> 2o50XjCjEE0</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o50XjCjEE0</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;">Times Leader sports reporter DJ Eberle and content coordinator Patrick Kernan give the sport of curling a try.</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Patrick Kernan | Times Leader</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Anyone can curl, even a Times Leader sports reporter