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Marquette senior is U.S. champ of underground “chess on ice”

By Matthew Bin Han Ong, Comm '12 | Photo courtesy of USA Curling

Marquette is home to America’s top female curling athlete of the year. But there’s a good chance that many of senior Alexandra Carlson’s classmates don’t have a clue about curling.

She’s used to explaining. “It’s such an underground sport in the U.S., but in Canada, everyone knows about it and follows it on TV all winter,” she says.

No, curling is not about using a hot iron to make ringlets in your hair. And it certainly doesn’t involve flexing your biceps to see if they’ve grown bigger since that last workout.

“Curling is a winter sport on ice with the goal of getting your rock to the center of a target,” explains Carlson, who was recently named 2010 Top Female Athlete by the U.S. Curling Association.

In the March 2010 Junior World Championships in Flims, Switzerland, the 22-year-old led Team USA to an incredible 9-7 victory in a bronze medal match against the Swiss — breaking America’s eight-year losing streak at the championship.

“Their success in the 2009-10 season is testament to the hard work Alex and her teammates put in to stay at the top of their game while also staying focused on their college careers,” says Terry Kolesar, U.S. Curling Association’s director of communications. “Alex stood out as the obvious choice for our award.”

When she was just six weeks old, the Minnesota native made her first appearance at her local curling club where her parents were also active members. Carlson started playing in juniors when she got big enough to push the rocks. According to her, curling is called “chess on ice” for a good reason — it requires planning and precision.

“I like that it’s strategy. It’s like biathlons — you have to use your muscles to ski and aim accurately at the same time. In the same way, curling is a very all-encompassing sport,” says the aspiring bioelectronics engineer.

And the hardest part, Carlson says, doesn’t only involve the conventional sporting requirements of strength and agility.

“The challenge is to keep growing faster than your opponents. A little improvement can make a great difference, and it can be technical or strategic,” she explains. “I spend a couple hours a week in on-ice practice and some more time at the gym to be generally physically fit.”

So what about the inevitable fame, fortune and promise of an illustrious professional curling career? Carlson doesn’t think so.

“Curling isn’t like professional sports — there’s no such thing as professional curling because there’s not enough money on the line to make a living,” she says.

But the rising star does have her eye on the next Winter Games.

“I would love to go to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia,” Carlson says. “You do it because you love it, not because of the money.”