In October 2024, Aksarben Curling's Team Ridder competed at the 2024 USA Curling Arena National Championship at the Wausau Curling Center in Wasau, WI.

After going 2-3 in pool play, Team Ridder earned a spot in the quarterfinals qualification game based on head-to-head tiebreakers. In the qualification game, they defeated Wine Country Curling's Team Betts to earn a spot in the semi-finals. There, Team Ridder won a pool play rematch against Cedar Rapids Curling's Team Tesch to advance to the finals. Team Ridder then played Wine Country Curling's Team Spangler in the gold/silver game. Team Spangler ultimately prevailed and Team Ridder won the silver medal!

Congratulations to Team Ridder's Nic Ridder, David Hill, Doug Michel, Sean Morrison, and Nic Swiercek!

Special thank you to all of the Aksarben Curling members who cheered on Team Ridder remotely from Omaha at home and at our livestream watch parties! We truly had the gold medalists of cheering back home!

Congratulation to all of the 2024 USA Curling Arena National Champions:

Men's division
Gold: Team Spangler (Wine Country Curling, Mountain Pacific Curling Association)
Silver: Team Ridder (Aksarben Curling, Mid-America Curling Association)
Bronze: Team Curtis (Rocket City Curling, Grand National Curling Club)

Women's Division
Gold: Team Asis (Silicon Valley Curling, Mountain Pacific Curling Association)
Silver: Team Segovia (Houston Curling, Mid-America Curling Association)
Bronze: Team Feldman (Wine Country Curling, Mountain Pacific Curling Association)

Thank you to all of the amazing hosts at the Wausau Curling Club, all of the ice technicians who made the ice amazing all week, and all of the staff and officials at USA Curling for running such a great event!

Join us for our annual fall fun spiel, the Bone-Spiel! Our season-opening tournament offers fun, costumes, and prizes, with broomstacking afterward. Costumes are encouraged but not required. Prizes will be awarded to the best individual and team costumes (Check out some of the costumes from 2021, 2022, and 2023).

Saturday, October 19

• Time: 2pm-7:30pm
• Format: 3 90-minute / 6-end games (whichever comes first)
• Broomstacking afterward
• 40 people / 10-team max
• Prizes for best individual costume and best team costume!
• Prize top performing team (points for games won and number of ends won)

Draw times

• 2pm
• 4pm
• 6pm

Register online.

The 2024-2025 curling season kicks off in September! Here's a preview of our upcoming season:

Throughout the history of Aksarben Curling, Sigrid Festersen led, served, and provided continuity from one generation to the next. She saw our organization through successes, setbacks, building moves, and explosive growth. Our Sigrid Festersen Volunteer of the Year Award provides a way for us to honor Aksarben Curling members who go above and beyond in the same spirit as she did.

This year, the Aksarben Curling Board of Directors voted to honor Nic Ridder with this award.

If you’ve helped with any of our Learn to Curls, it’s likely that Nic was there – in a pair of very bright pants, armed with helpful tips and advice and meeting his quota of fitting in two curling puns. And while he’s helped so many new curlers slide out of the hack with their first rock, he’s also the key driving force behind organizing our league operations.

No matter the number of teams and number of weeks, Nic can put together a structure for how a league should run. He’s been instrumental in mapping out ways to get more curlers into popular leagues by adding bye weeks.

More structured leagues and better ways of naming a champion for each goes a long way in raising the overall competitive level within our organization, which in turn helps with retention as our curlers become more experienced.

We’ve leaned in to his expertise as we map out what leagues will look like with our future jump to dedicated ice, and the additional curlers and leagues that will bring. Our leagues and learn to curls are at the core of what we do, and we couldn’t do either without Nic.

While it seems like Ridder has been around forever, he only started curling back in 2018. He was quick to jump in and help where needed – offering not only ideas on where we could improve operations, but giving time and passion to every project he helps with. He perfectly illustrates the power of our volunteers, and we’re lucky to have him.

About Sigrid Festersen
Throughout the history of Aksarben Curling, Sigrid Festersen led, served, and provided continuity from one generation to the next. She was a terrific curler and an advocate for women's curling everywhere. She saw our organization through successes, setbacks, building moves, and explosive growth.

All future success of curling in Omaha can be traced back to a foundation Sigrid was so deeply involved with. While we lost Sigrid in 2022, Sigrid’s spirit lives on within our organization.

Read more about Sigrid Festersen and her legacy with Aksarben Curling.

On April 12-14, 2024, Aksarben Curling hosted its Season Championship bonspiel at Baxter Arena. The event featured sixteen teams including the champions of our 10 fall and winter leagues, our top college league team, the 2022-2023 defending champs, and four wild card lottery teams.

Teams competed for the Katie Beck Championship Cup, our annual trophy honoring the legacy of Katie Beck, one of Aksarben Curling's most accomplished curlers. Read more about Katie Beck's legacy and curlers' memories of Katie Beck.

Teams played in 4-team groups that broke into semi-finals and finals. Participating teams included:

Group A
Naughty or Ice (Winter Sunday 6:45pm)
Wire Wombats (Winter Tuesday 8pm)
Stone Cold (Team Aksarben - defending champs)
Cobra Kai Curling (Wild Card)

Group B
Team Anderson (Winter Sunday 2:15pm)
Sixteen Stones (Fall Friday 7pm)
Taken for Granite (Fall Tuesday 8pm)
Little Raise of Sunshine (Wild Card)

Group C
No Stone Left Unturned (Wild Card)
Buff N Stuff (Fall Sunday 2:15pm)
The Bee's Knees (Wild Card)
Moore Trash (Fall Sunday 6:45pm)

Group D
UNO Curling (College League)
RockSteady (Fall Sunday 4:30pm)
The Ice Is Right (Winter Friday 7pm)
Hollaback Curls (Winter Sunday 4:30pm)

Congratulations to our season champions!

2023-2024 Season Champions
Buff N Stuff
Steve Jaixen (second), Buffy Linke (skip), Chris Becher (vice), Scott Jordan (lead)

2023-2024 Season Championship Runners-Up
Naughty or Ice
Alex Wilson (lead), Amanda Wilson (skip), Nic Ridder (second), Meredith Daniels (vice)

2023-2024 Season Championship Third Place
Taken for Granite
Sean Morrison (lead - subbing for Mo Shukry), Matt Suder (skip), Jeff Friesen (vice), Doug Johnson (lead)

2023-2024 Season Championship Semi-Finalist
RockSteady
CaSandra Johnson (vice), Steve Kraft (skip), Rob Latimer (second), Kristen Peterson (lead)

We facilitated six leagues in the winter of 2024: three 9-week Sunday Leagues, a 10-week Tuesday League, an 8-week Friday League, and a 5-week Saturday Doubles League.

Let’s have a round of applause for all of our 2024 Winter League champs! Each of the champions (outside of the Doubles league) qualified for our 2023-2024 Season Championship on April 12-14, 2024.

2024 Winter Sunday 2:15pm League champ
BuffNStuff
Chris Becher, Steve Jaixen, Scott Jordan, Jenn Becher, Buffy Linke (not pictured)

2024 Winter Sunday 4:30pm League champ
Hollaback Curls
Matt Manderfeld, Aaron Adams, Doug Michel, Lois Imig

2024 Winter Sunday 6:45pm League champ
Naughty or Ice
Alex Wilson, Amanda Wilson, Meredith Daniels, Nic Ridder

2024 Winter Tuesday 8pm League champ
Taken for Granite
Nicholas Bjornson, Jeff Friesen, Matt Suder, Doug Johnson

2024 Winter Friday 7pm League champ
The Ice Is Right
Blake Anderson (sub), Michael Feit, Greg Tunink, Ray Koza, Randy Brodner (not pictured)

2024 Winter Saturday Doubles 4:15pm League champ
McCright? More Like McWrong!
Jay Dykes and Joe McCright

Knowing where to stand Part 2—Skip's Edition

In our last tips newsletter, we shared information about where to stand during a curling match. This time, we want to focus on some best practices for skips during the game.

WHEN YOUR TEAM IS THROWING
The skip should be the only person in the house when their team is throwing. Skips typically call line from the tee-line of the house, though on some sheets you may have to move forward so as not to move into a neighboring house or to better see the broom.

As the rock approaches the house, the opposing skip may move forward to sweep a heavy rock out, or to sweep one of their own rocks if it gets bumped towards the house.

Be mindful of where your opponent skip is and try not to be in the way of their sweeping. As soon as the rocks come to rest, step out of the house and give control of the house to the other team.

WHEN YOUR TEAM IS WAITING
When the opposing team is throwing, the skip should stand behind the house. Typically, you’ll stand behind the throwing team’s skip so that you can view the line the opposing team’s rock is released on.Stand still so that you don’t distract the person throwing the rock. Be sure to hold your broom off the ice.

The opposing skip may sweep an opponent’s stone when it crosses the tee line, so you may move into the house as the rock comes into it. If the opposing team’s skip is communicating with their team or concentrating on the rock, they may not realize you’re there. It can be helpful to give them a heads up that you’re moving into their space to sweep (e.g., “on your left!” or “right behind you!”).

PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF PLAYERS ON OTHER SHEETS
As some of our sheets fall considerably in one direction (i.e., “negative ice”), it may be necessary to call a line outside of your house. This is common on sheet 2 this season.

Rather than set your broom in a neighboring house, please place your broom no farther than halfway between the two houses and then walk forward to call a wider line (e.g., just in front of the house).

A NOTE FOR SWEEPERS
If you’re playing on sheet 2 or sheet 4 where most of the rocks are being thrown towards sheet 3, please stand and walk on the opposite side of the sheet (i.e., the “low side” of the sheet).

This helps you stay out of the line of sight between the opposing team’s skip and the person throwing the rock.

We've received some good feedback from members this season requesting helpful tips around etiquette, pace of play, shot calling, and more.

We recommend two standing resources you can always check out on our website:

1. Our handy Member Handbook, which has lots of great info about our organization, rules of curling, ice prep guidelines, etiquette tips, and more! (this is a living document that we're continuing to update)
2. Video tips with Jamie Sinclair. On our website you can find nearly two dozen short videos (2-5 minutes each) about curling covering delivery, strategy and shot calling, alignment, timing, and a lot more.

This week's tip: Knowing where to stand

When 40 people are on five sheets at a league game, it's important to be aware of where you are on the ice.

It's easy to accidentally be in the way of sweepers on another sheet, or in someone's line of sight between the hack and their skip. In addition, we want to make sure that the team throwing a rock can do so without the distraction of a lot of movement on their sheet.

The illustrations below share some common etiquette guidelines for where to stand and what to watch out for during games.

(You can find these figures and more in our Member Handbook's Appendix B: Curling Etiquette & Pace of Play Tips!)

We're coordinating three Spring Leagues this season:

• Spring Mondays at 7:00 PM: 8 weeks starting March 11
• Spring Tuesdays at 7:00 PM: 6 weeks starting March 26
• Spring Fridays at 7:00 PM: 4 weeks starting March 22

Registration opens on Saturday, February 10 at 11:00 AM.

Registration will be first-come, first-serve. You don't have to have a full team — our league coordinators will help form teams!

By Maliik Jones, UNL Journalism & Mass Communications

With the 2023-24 College Curling season coming to a close, let’s take a look at the Emerging region’s championship results. Coming into the Cornhusker College Bonspiel, ten different universities participated at the John Breslow Ice Hockey Center on January 19-21. Even though this was an Emerging region event, some teams participated from the Midwest region. The top Emerging region team received a place in the USA Curling College National Championship on March 8-10, 2024.

Participating universities and their position within their respective region (as of 1/10/2024):

Emerging
#2 Nebraska-Lincoln – 17 Points
#4 Arizona State – 5 Points
#5 Bowling Green – 5 Points
#6 Nebraska-Omaha – 4 Points
#7 Creighton – 1 Point
#8 Denver – 0 Points

Midwest
#1 Wisconsin-Madison – 36 Points
#2 Wisconsin-Stevens Point – 33 Points
#3 Minnesota – 29 Points
#6 Michigan Tech – 16 Points

Each team played four matches in the first two days. Then, the results from those matches placed the top 8 teams into Sunday's finals matches: the 1st Event, Emerging Region Qualifier, which granted the winning team a chance to compete in the national championship, the 2nd Event, and the 3rd Event.

Each team’s final record was the following:

Arizona State University competed against Denver 2 for the Emerging Qualifier, and ASU came out on top to earn their spot in the National Championship. This will be ASU’s first ever USA Curling College National Championship!

The rest of the Emerging region’s positions at nationals will be decided by the top regular season points finishers. Due to the region's size, the Emerging region will only have two other teams qualify through points. The current top two points leaders are the University of Toledo with 21 points and local team the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with 17 points.

There are two more regional championships to be held for the Northeast on February 9th and the Midwest on February 10th. These regions will have the top two teams qualify for nationals through their respective events. For the remaining national championship positions, the top two points leaders from the Midwest and the top seven points leaders from the Northeast will qualify. The USA Curling College National Championship will be held on March 8th in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.

If you are interested in learning more about curling or how to start college curling at your school, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

We facilitated five leagues in the fall of 2023: an 11-week Tuesday League, three 11-week Sunday Leagues, and a 9-week Friday League.

Let’s have a round of applause for all of our 2023 Fall League champs! Each of the champions qualified for our 2023-2024 Season Championship on April 12-14, 2024.

2023 Fall Sunday 2:15pm League champ
BuffNStuff
Scott Jordan, Buffy Linke, Jenn Becher, Chris Becher, Steve Jaixen

2023 Fall Sunday 4:30pm League champ
Rock Steady
CaSandra Johnson, Doug Johnson, Rob Marcuzzo, Steve Kraft

2023 Fall Sunday 6:45pm League champ
Moore Trash
David Steinhauser, Doug Moore, Matt English, Randy Kruger

2023 Fall Tuesday 8pm League champ
Taken for Granite
Harry Suder, Matt Suder, Doug Johnson, Jeff Friesen

2023 Fall Friday 7pm League champ
Sixteen Stones
Matt Mickeliunas, Nic Swiercek, Dusty McIver, Eric Rodawig, and Tonya Carroll (not pictured)

Let's also give a round of applause to our 2023 Fall League runner-ups!

2023 Fall Sunday 2:15pm League runner-up
Leave No Stone Unturned
Ashley Hoover, Nick Allmaker, Molly O'Brien, Skyler Barton (not pictured)

2023 Fall Sunday 4:30pm League runner-up
Always Pick Red
Hanna Frekot, Paul Bernady, Jeff Tiemann, Kathy Weber

2023 Fall Sunday 6:45pm League runner-up
Naughty or Ice
Alex Wilson, Amanda Wilson, Meredith Daniels, Nic Ridder

2023 Fall Tuesday 8pm League runner-up
Little Raise of Sunshine
Matthew Truesdell, Lisa Truesdell, Kaeli Samson, Nic Swiercek

2023 Fall Friday 7pm League runner-up
The Ice Is Right
Ray Koza, Michael Feit, Bruce Nelson

The 2023-2024 curling season is here! We will have six recreational leagues plus our youth/juniors program:

Winter Leagues — Priority registration runs Monday, November 13 through Sunday, November 26; general registration opens Saturday, December 2 at 10 AM.

• Winter Sundays at 2:15 PM: 9 weeks starting Jan 7 — FULL
• Winter Sundays at 4:30 PM: 9 weeks starting Jan 7 —FULL
• Winter Sundays at 6:45 PM: 9 weeks starting Jan 7 —FULL
• Winter Tuesdays at 8 PM: 10 games over 10-12 weeks starting Jan 2 — FULL
• Winter Fridays at 7 PM: 9 weeks starting Jan 5 — FULL
• Youth/Juniors Curling Saturdays at 2 PM: 8 weeks starting Jan 13
• Winter Saturdays DOUBLES at 4:15 PM: 5 weeks starting Jan 13
• Winter Newcomers Instructional League Saturdays at 4:15 PM: 3 weeks starting February 17

Always fascinated by curling but never tried it out? Now's your chance!

Take the first step into curling with Aksarben Curling at Baxter Arena in Omaha! All ages and abilities can give curling a try.

We offer three types of events:

1. Try Curling (shorter 75-minute session)
2. Learn to Curl (two-hour session with additional instruction and gameplay)
3. Instructional League (four-week learn to curl and mini-league with coaches)

Our public events have concluded for the 2026-2026 season. The bulk of our events occur from September through April each year. Stay tuned for events starting in the fall of 2026!

Subscribe to our emails or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky or X to learn about our next Learn to Curl events!

The 2023-2024 curling season is here! We invite you to sign up for our first set of leagues:

September Leagues — Registration opens Saturday, August 12 at 10am

• September Tuesday 7pm: 4 weeks starting Sept 5 -- 73% full

Fall Leagues — Registration opens Saturday, August 26 at 10am

• Fall Sundays at 2:15pm: 11 weeks starting Oct 1 -- 100% full
• Fall Sundays at 4:30pm: 11 weeks starting Oct 1 -- 98% full - 1 free agent spot remains
• Fall Sundays at 6:45pm: 11 weeks starting Oct 1 -- 100% full
• Fall Tuesdays at 8pm: 11 weeks starting Oct 3 -- 100% full
• Fall Fridays at 7pm: 9 weeks starting Oct 6 -- 100% full

We're so excited for the the upcoming 2023-2024 curling season kicking off in September! Here's a preview of our upcoming season:

On April 15-16, 2023, Aksarben Curling hosted its inaugural Season Championship bonspiel at Baxter Arena. The event featured the top performing team from each Fall and Winter League plus a wild card lottery team and a wild card college team.

Teams competed for the inaugural Katie Beck Championship Cup, our new annual trophy honoring the legacy of Katie Beck, one of Aksarben Curling's most accomplished curlers.Read more about Katie Beck's legacy and curlers' memories of Katie Beck.

Teams played in a 3-team pools that broke into semi-finals and finals. Participating teams included:

Little Raise of Sunshine: Fall Tuesday 8pm champs
Sweeping Swine: Fall Friday 7pm champs
Sweep Dreams: Fall Sunday 2:15pm champs
Eh Team: Fall Sunday 4:30pm champs
Silver Snakes: Fall Sunday 6:45pm champs
Stone Cold: Winter Tuesday 8pm champs
Curl Power: wild card lottery
Rolling Stones: Winter Saturday 4:15pm champs
Stop, Drop & Curl: Winter Sunday 2:15pm champs
Stone Cold: Winter Sunday 4:30pm champs
Sheets & Giggles: Winter Sunday 6:45pm champs
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Curling Club: college league wild card

Congratulations to our season champions!

2022-2023 Season Champions
Stone Cold
Paul Foley (lead), Ralph Roza (second), Jeff Lueders (vice), Nick Allmaker (skip)

2022-2023 Season Championship Runners-Up
Silver Snakes
Alex Wilson (lead), Amanda Wilson (skip), Meredith Daniels (vice), Randy Brodner (second)

2022-2023 Season Championship Third Place
Sweep Dreams
David Hill (Skip), Nic Ridder (fourth), Doug Michel (vice), Adam Leong (lead)

Did you know that you can earn a gold, sliver, or bronze medal in curling in Nebraska?

This summer, you can compete for gold in the Cornhusker State Games on July 29-30 at Baxter Arena in Omaha!

There will be two divisions: Novice 5&U (5 years or fewer experience) and Open (any combination of experience).

Non-Nebraskans eligible to participate provided that their state of residence does not provide a State Games Curling event.

Register for the 2023 Cornhusker State Games!

Registration will take you to the Cornhusker State Games registration page. If planning to register as a team, please email team info to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Pre-Tournament Instructions: 11:30 a.m.
Competition Begins: 12 p.m.

Registration Fees
$105 per participant until Feb. 21 (includes free shirt)
$110 per participant until April 21 (includes free shirt)
$115 per participant until June 21 (includes free shirt)
$115 per participant until July 11

While Aksarben Curling helps facilitate this event, please note that this is not a traditional Aksarben Curling bonspiel. The event is run by the Nebraska Sports Council.

Aksarben Curling is, and always has been, a volunteer led organization – we literally couldn’t do what we do without people stepping up to keep things going. Our new Sigrid Festersen Volunteer of the Year award provides a way for us to honor Aksarben Curling members who go above and beyond.

Throughout the history of Aksarben Curling, Sigrid Festersen led, served, and provided continuity from one generation to the next. She was a terrific curler and an advocate for women's curling everywhere. She saw our organization through successes, setbacks, building moves, and explosive growth.

All future success of curling in Omaha can be traced back to a foundation Sigrid was so deeply involved with.

Sean Morrison, past Aksarben Curling President, shared that at the time he first proposed this award, the vision was that Sigrid would be able to present it to the first winner. Sadly, we lost Sigrid in 2022 and couldn’t make that happen. But, Sigrid’s spirit lives on within our organization.

When the Aksarben Curling Board of Directors met to nominate a volunteer to receive this award, it was unanimous – we wanted to honor Nancy Myers. Nancy exemplifies all the best of what Aksarben Curling is. She's always willing to share her knowledge, and her love for the sport is evident in everything she does.

We couldn't be more honored to be able to present Nancy with our first Sigid Festersen Volunteer of the Year award. 

We asked those that have worked alongside Nancy to share a bit more about her, and what she has done for our community. If you’d like to add to this, please email your quote This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Looking for a way to beat the heat? Come curl with us in our 6-week Summer Tuesday 7pm Curling League!

This will be a fun, casual league and great for newer curlers. It’s a nice way to beat the heat, keep up your curling form, and get to know other curlers at post-game broomstacking on the patio at Kinkaider Brewing Co.

Play will take place on the following dates:

• June 13
• June 20
• June 27
• July 11
• July 18
• July 25

Registration opens on Saturday, May 6 at 10am.

Register online!

Katie Beck, an Aksarben Curling member, was a three-time World Junior Curling Champion medalist, earning gold, silver, and bronze medals. Beck was one of Aksarben Curling's most accomplished curlers. In 2005, she was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma and died in 2006 at the age of 24.

To help honor the memory of Katie Beck and her many accomplishments, the Aksarben Curling Board of Directors decided to name our new season championship cup after her: the Katie Beck Championship Cup.

Beck is remembered fondly by many curlers, both among Aksarben Curling and across the country. USA Curling created the Katie Beck Memorial Award, which has been given to junior curlers who exemplify Beck’s characteristics, including coachability, good sportsmanship, positive attitude, and commitment to competitive junior curling.

We invited curlers to share their memories of Katie Beck so we could share them with our curling community.Read on to learn more about Katie Beck.

If you have memories of Katie Beck that you would like to share please send them to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..