OGDEN -- Michael Dellos volunteered for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics because it seemed like the chance of a lifetime. He chose The Ice Sheet, the curling venue in Ogden, because it was closest to his North Ogden home.
A decade later, Dellos, 60, is a curling athlete with 10 years of experience, and he's friends with countless other enthusiasts from around the world. Dellos competes as a member of the Ogden Curling Club, which has its league competitions on Tuesday nights at The Ice Sheet.
He has traveled to competitions around the United States.
"I thought it would be a good life adventure and I might meet a few people," Dellos said. "I watched the Junior League Nationals to learn about curling, and I sat by people who knew what was going on and were excited to explain.
"It's like chess on ice," he said. "There's a lot of strategy involved. You sweep to keep the straight line going, to make the stone go further. The first time I watched it, I was totally intrigued."
Dellos had spent many years driving his daughters to soccer games, but the girls grew up and moved on.
"I thought I needed something to do, and I found it. It's been a life-changing experience for me," he said.
The Ice Sheet has blossomed since its Olympic debut.
Mike Caldwell, Ice Sheet director for nearly a decade before he left the job to become Ogden's mayor last month, remembers being hired in 2001 by the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee to manage the family area of The Ice Sheet.
After a month on the job and well before the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, the committee transferred Caldwell to the opening and closing ceremonies committee. But he kept an eye on events at The Ice Sheet.
"Curling is definitely a unique, fun, very social sport," Caldwell said.
"Charles Barkley talked about curling as dusting, and he said, 'My granny can dust. Is that really an Olympic event?' Caldwell recalled with a laugh. "But curling got more broadcast time, more competition time, than any other sport."
The Weber County commission hired Caldwell as Ice Sheet director after the Olympics.
"I was a Weber State grad, and I grew up in Ogden," Caldwell said. "I didn't know ice skating or ice hockey, but I had optimism from the games."
The Ice Sheet has since blossomed into a venue that is busy nearly around the clock, Caldwell said.
"Last year, there were 211,000 individual visits to the facility," he said. "There is great support here for The Ice Sheet, and it is very well utilized, sometimes from 5 a.m. to after midnight."
Besides club curling competition, The Ice Sheet hosts regional and national skating competitions, league hockey and special events such as the Dew Tour.
The Ogden Mustangs, a semi-pro hockey team, relocated to Ogden from Bakersfield, Calif., and has a season that includes 32 home games.
The rink also hosts skating for the general public, and special interest groups including Boys & Girls Club participants, special needs children and adults, and at-risk teens.
Twenty-five school groups have come to skate at The Ice Sheet so far this school year, said Todd Ferrario, the facility's current director.
"When we had multiple groups, there were up to 300 skaters at a time," he said.
"If you fell down at that time, you'd probably still go around in a circle."
Ferrario said there's a good chance that The Ice Sheet will have an even bigger and better future.
A discussion is under way among Weber State and Weber County officials and the RAMP grant committee to erect a second building adjacent to The Ice Sheet, which is on the WSU campus, just northwest of the Dee Events Center.
The proposed $7.5 million building would have a second skating area on the ground floor, and the upper floor would have an artificial turf practice field to be used by football and soccer teams.
"We will probably have a clearer picture of where we are going with it in the next month or two. It's been in the works for about 18 months. It would allow us to expand our programs instantly by 50 percent and give us additional space to add programs," Ferrario said.
Caldwell said he'll always be grateful that the games came to his hometown.
"The Olympics absolutely change the psychology of our community," he said. "It was a fantastic experience. There's talk of another Olympic bid out there, and I think Utah is in a far better position to host than anyone else."
And he's ready to welcome a sport back to The Ice Sheet.
Well, almost ready.
"Did I ever learn to skate?" Caldwell said.
"Well, no. I can get around the rink, but it's not pretty."
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