Curling Athlete From Howard Co. Competes At National Level

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The pull of the ice called to Sahana Venugopal four years ago when she was a freshman at Reservoir High School.

Venugopal went to an event highlighting different winter sports with her mom. She watched curling but wasn't too interested. But she was interested in the refreshments, she joked.

“I told my mom, if they feed me cookies and hot chocolate every time, I’ll come back,” Venugopal said.

Venugopal decided to join the Potomac Curling Club and learn the sport. She thought it would be easy, but turned out it wasn't.

“It seemed like something anyone could do. Just push the stone down the ice. Simple, right?” she said. “Curling is actually much harder than it looks. There’s a ton of strategy involved, plus you need good balance, core strength, and endurance for the games, which are two hours long."

After two years of curling independently and learning the basics of the sport, Venugopal was selected to join a competitive youth (under 18) curling team in May 2025. She is one of only two girls from Maryland on the five-person team; the other three girls are from Pennsylvania. The Maryland and Pennsylvania contingents practice separately multiple times throughout the week and meet up on weekends to practice together. They also travel throughout the U.S. and Canada for matches, according to the Howard County Public School System.

“It’s definitely a big time and family commitment,” Venugopal says. “It helps that most everyone in my family curls, so we’re all into it.”

That commitment has paid off, as Venugopal and her team have racked up a number of top finishes, including a first-place finish at the U18 qualifiers in December and a fifth-place finish in the U18 U.S. National Championship in January. The team is also ranked third in the international U18 Junior Slam Series out of Ontario, Canada.

“There’s always something new to learn and work on in curling, and if you’re willing to work hard and put in the time, there are possibilities to keep moving to higher levels,” she says, adding that she’d love to find her way to the Olympics someday.