CHAMPIONSHIPS
New arena championship event set to debut in July
By Jonathan Havercroft, Chairman, USCA Arena Curling Committee
Tis new championship will take place July 18-21 at the Fort Wayne Curling Club in Fort Wayne, Ind. “Te Fort Wayne Curling Club is excited that the USCA has initiated a
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new Arena Championship to provide many of the newest curling clubs in the United States, like us, the ability to compete against clubs of similar circumstances,” said Craig Fisher, Fort Wayne Curling Club president and chairman of the 2013 Arena Curling National Championships. Te event will feature 32 teams, with men’s and women’s divisions, and
the hopes of growing the event in the future. To be eligible to enter, team members must all be dues-paying, league-playing members of the same arena curling club. “Tis club has done great things over its two-plus years of existence in-
cluding hosting three bonspiels of 40 teams or more, two cashspiels, two Challenge Cups, wheelchair clinics, special needs programs, etc., but we are most excited about the opportunity to host the inaugural Arena Cham- pionships as a way to raise the profile of curling in our area, energize our membership about competitive curling and support the growth of this great sport,” Fisher said. “We are thankful for the support of our bid partners who have helped bring this event to Fort Wayne, including the Lutheran Health Sports Center and Visit Fort Wayne.” Te USCA launched this championship to meet the needs of its mem-
bers in arena curling clubs. Arena curling is the fastest growing segment of the USCA, with 53 clubs and 2,627 members. While arena curlers are oſten some of the USCA’s most enthusiastic members, there are several unique obstacles that arena curling club members face that make it difficult for them to compete in USCA events. Among these challenges are: • Difficulty in accessing practice time •
Poor quality of arena ice
• Being located in areas that are quite a distance from bonspiels • High cost of arena ice • Difficulty of booking ice time for playdowns • Non-traditional curling season (i.e., curling in late spring and sum- mer months)
With these obstacles in mind, the USCA has designed an arena cham-
pionship that is strictly for arena curlers. Te event will have a modified double knockout format for 16 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams in their respective divisions. Tis four-day event will be a great way to keep cool during the summertime and will include special clinics for the participants on arena ice making and curling skills. Due to time and space constraints, and because we’re unsure of the inter-
est and participation levels of arena curlers, the size of the field has been limited to 32 teams for the inaugural event. One of the goals of this event is to promote women’s arena curling. As such, we have developed a unique
he inaugural United States Curling Association Arena Curling National Championship, an event designed specifically for curl- ers who utilize arena curling facilities, will debut next summer.
registration process that will ensure regional diversity and full participa- tion of women’s curling teams in the championship. For this event, each club can enter one men’s team and one women’s
team. It is up to the club to determine its representatives. Clubs can ac- complish this either through an internal playdown or by using records from their club’s regular league schedule to determine the most deserv- ing entries. Each region is assured of at least one entry. If more than one arena club within a region enters a team, then the entry will be awarded to whichever club entered both a men’s team and a women’s team. In the event more than one club in a region entered a team for both divisions, then the region’s entrant will be determined by selecting the club entry at random. Any remaining open slots in the events will be selected at random from all the entries received that did not win a berth through the first selection. Te registration fee for the event is $400 per team. Full details of the selection process can be found within the USCA Arena Championship rules posted online at
www.usacurl.org on the “Championships” page. Pre-registration is required. Club presidents will be required to pre-
register teams by using the pre-registration form that can be found on the “Championships” page of the USCA website at
www.usacurl.org/curlin- grocks. Te pre-registration deadline is April 15, 2013. Te teams that are selected to compete in the event will need to complete their online registra- tion through the SportsSignup system before May 22, 2013. Get your teams together today and join us next summer in Fort Wayne, Ind., for the inaugural USCA Arena Curling Championships. n
2013 Arena Championships Pin Design Contest
Are you creative? Do you have an artistic flair? How would you like to
have your design chosen as the official pin for the inaugural Arena Curl- ing Championships to be held in July 2013? Te contest is open to any USCA member. All designs must be received at the USCA office by no later than Feb. 1, 2013. Te winner will be awarded a $25 giſt certificate to Team Fan Shop, USA Curling’s official online store, as well as five of the official Arena Championship pins. Design requirements: •
Limited to four colors
• Must have the words “2013 USCA Arena Curling Championship” or the USA Curling logo incorporated
• Must be no larger than 1.5" in scale • Must be submitted as a PDF, JPEG or EPS file • Must include a short narrative explaining what is symbolized in the design
Entries should be emailed to Christy Hering at the USCA office at
christy.hering@usacurl.org. Please include your name, club affiliation, address, phone number, and email address.
USA Curling (( 21
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