HIGH PERFORMANCE
New format on how to qualify USA’s world championship teams
Editor’s note: Te following information was
circulated in the U.S. curling community in the spring of 2013, but is being reprinted here by re- quest with the 2014 National Championships on the near horizon.
By Derek Brown, Director of High Performance
menting a program to achieve the organization’s mission of attaining long-term international competitive success. World championship performance leads to
T
Olympic qualification, which is the most impor- tant thing for the USCA in terms of fulfilling its two-fold and complementary mission: to grow the sport and to win medals. Without Olympic qualification, the USCA will be severely ham- pered in trying to fulfill its mission. Performance in the men’s, women’s and ju-
nior world championships and World University Games is also a key measurement used by the U.S. Olympic Committee when assessing the value of its significant annual investment in the USCA’s high performance program. Terefore, the USCA must send and support the best teams possible to these world championships, especially as the rest of the world’s competitors place ever- increasing importance on international success.
he U.S. Curling Association (USCA) High Performance Program staff is charged with developing and imple-
World performance relates directly to both high performance and grass roots development, and is of paramount importance. Aſter consistent success in the early days of
men’s world championship curling, USA’s re- sults in men’s and women’s world championship and Olympic Games have not kept pace with the competition: • One men’s world championship medal (bronze) in the past 20 years.
• Te last men’s world championship gold medal was 36 years ago.
• One women’s world championship gold and three silvers in the past 20 years.
• One Olympic medal (bronze) for men and women in the past four Olympics.
Te barometer of success is no surprise: Te
Canadian men and women have each medaled 17 out of the past 20 years at worlds. Te decision to change the qualification sys-
tem for Team USA from 2014 onward has not been taken lightly and a number of athletes, coaches and USCA Board members have been involved in this decision-making process. Tis type of system has been used in other countries and is aimed at getting all USA teams out com- peting regularly both in the U.S. and interna- tionally. With more teams competing regularly, the USCA expects to see an organic growth and improvement of U.S. teams on the Order of
Merit (OOM), and in turn Team USA regularly competing for medals at world championships and Olympic Games. Moving to a points system allows the USCA
to achieve the following strategic goals set by the Board of Directors: •
•
Pursuit of “sustained competitive excel- lence”
“Two-track system” (HP Program and self-formed teams)
• Open to all (Ted Stevens Act, “athlete’s right to compete”)
• USA’s world championship representa- tives will be decided “on the ice”
Te decision to change the selection process
for USA’s worlds teams has been made by the High Performance staff and the High Perfor- mance Advisory Group, with the unanimous endorsement of the USCA Executive Committee that HP staff have the authority to make these decisions. One key directive of the USCA Execu- tive Committee is also included in the process: Te national championships will remain a
significant component of the world team qualifi- cation process. To view the USA world champi- onships team qualification process for 2014, visit the High Performance section of the USA Curl- ing website at
www.usacurl.org as well as the digital edition of this publication, which more than 11,000 readers receive electronically. n
Dues and rosters deadline is Jan. 31
and submitting dues for 2013-14. Tese notices are being sent to any club and region presidents, treasurers, and membership roster coordinators for whom we have e-mail addresses. Te rosters and dues materials also will be available on our website at
www.usacurl.org. Included in this packet is information about our prize drawing for clubs that submit dues and rosters in advance of the deadline this year (by Jan. 15). Additional entries for this drawing will be awarded to those who complete our annual diversity survey by the same deadline. As we strive to find ways to foster better com-
A
munication with our 16,000-plus members, e-mail addresses are becoming increasingly im-
s in past years, USA Curling is using e-mail to distribute its packet of infor- mation for filing membership rosters
portant. We use members’ e-mail addresses for forwarding important announcements; promot- ing member benefits such as instructor, ice tech- nician, and officiating courses; and distributing Stone Soup and the digital editions of our Curl- ing News. Please encourage your members to provide their e-mail addresses to us this season. One way for members to keep their contact
information current is by establishing a user- name and password through the USA Curling member database. By updating your personal information on a regular basis, you will help to ensure timely receipt of the Curling News and other important announcements from the USA Curling office. We want to personally con- nect with every USA Curling member, and this helps us to effectively do that. For step-by-step instructions on how to establish login access to
your membership account, please e-mail christy.
hering@usacurl.org. Once again, we are asking all clubs to update
their rosters using USA Curling’s online mem- bership database,
www.associaiton-data.com. If you would like to update your roster via bulk up- load, this must be completed by the USA Curling office. Uploads can be sent to Christy Hering. If you have any questions about, or need assis-
tance with any part of the filing process, please contact Christy Hering at the e-mail address listed above, or by calling 888-287-5377, Ext. 209. Te USCA Membership Database has been designed and built with the assistance of USA Curling sponsor AtomAmpd, and will continue to evolve to meet the needs of our organization and members. Your suggestions for improve- ments to the database are welcome. n
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