// BONUS ONLINE-ONLY COVERAGE Throw enough gumbo at the wall… By Guy Scholz, for the U.S. Curling News
club, enthusiastic members but a solid three- hour drive from Music City. But in saying that, it was fun to be around Nashville during the Olym- pics. I could hear curling talk in a region which normally is all about Titans, Volunteers, Van- dals, Grizzles and Predators. And it was fun to read and watch local sports clips about our sport, and to read all the Facebook posts from around the country. What has impressed me is the preparations at
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our American based clubs in both attracting new members and preparing for the myriad of calls with people inquiring about curling because of the Olympics. Te interest is here but the facili- ties are so few especially ice time at our Arena clubs (which it must be pointed out make up ap- proximately 44 percent of clubs in the United States, according to Kim Nawyn at USA Curl- ing). But most clubs were getting the incubator ready for possible new members regardless. Te biggest complaint I heard in arena-based curl- ing clubs from Hollywood to Charlotte is that we get all these new people to check our sport out but when we tell them ice time is usually the leſt- overs from hockey and figure skating and costs are fairly high because of low memberships and ice availability, the fallout rate is pretty high. But, clubs keep on keeping on in trying to gain new members.
Tis reminded me of a south-
ern phrase I recently heard which is apropos for our curl- ing clubs and the Olympic in- flux: Trow enough gumbo at the wall and some of it is bound
to stick. I guess that is just a more refined way to say
what us northerners usually put in place of what is thrown at the wall. Te numbers don’t lie, most American clubs do grow in membership aſter the Olympic exposure. Te Midland, Mich., club near Saginaw is a good example. For years they hovered around 120 members then aſter the 2006 Salt Lake City Olympic Games they went up to 210 members and held at the number until 2010, which caused another jump to 240 as well as a
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like living in Tennessee. Te only draw- back is only one official curling club in the state, which is located in Knoxville. Nice
brand new facility comparable to any of the finest clubs in North America. Cindy Wood of the Hollywood Curling Club
kept me posted on what is going on for the Olym- pic influx and shared some of the following, “Te HWCC is closing in on 1,000 Learn to Curl par- ticipants since the beginning of the curling sea- son and the vast majority coming in to learn the sport because of the Olympics. On Feb. 23 we had 150 people show up for one of our many sessions during the Olympics.” What I like about their fee is, it is only $5 per person. Some clubs are charging as much as $20 per session because of ice costs. Te HWCC’s philosophy is bring in as many as they can because it’s an investment for the future. Tey had TV stations such as KTLA5 do special segments on our sport. Tey invited out the LA Kings Ice Crew (women who clean ice during commercial breaks], did numerous videos (check out their Facebook page … great stuff), and are pumping their second annual ce- lebrity spiel. Te LA Kings Ice Crew had so much fun they were talking seriously about entering a team in league play as soon as possible. Both Dallas and San Francisco also brought
in the NHL Ice Crews for their Olympic publicity with the Stars and Sharks plus as many local TV crews as they could muster. San Francisco also brought in players from the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks and the Major League Soccer (MLS) Earthquakes for a challenge match that was covered by local media. Te Earth- quakes’ website featured the challenge match. Tis is not the first time the Sharks have gotten into curling. A couple years back while in Cal- gary they took a team-building day off and drove to picturesque Banff, Alberta, and had an all-day bonspiel with all team members and staff. Tey divided up into provinces, states and countries with my home province of Saskatchewan beat- ing Manitoba in the final. Te manager of the club said he had a tough time getting the play- ers off the ice because they had so much fun, but there was an evening draw to attend to. If I recall correctly, the Sharks laid a beating on both the Flames and the Oilers in the next couple of nights in hockey action. Te two main clubs in Indiana in Fort Wayne
(one of America’s newest dedicated clubs as of January 2014) and the Circle City Club in In- dianapolis both used social media with good re- sponses in addition to getting the daily newspa- pers and TV stations out to do stories on curling.
Fort Wayne ran nightly Learn to Curls through- out the Olympics. Tey threw a ton of gumbo at the wall and I expect they could conceivably double their membership with a new-dedicated facility. On a blizzardy trip from Indianapolis to Fort
Wayne to curl a couple months back, Rob Jen- nings and Melissa Montgomery of Circle City told me about the frustrations of the Olympics. Rob said, “Not that it’s a bad problem but we only have ice for two hours a week so these en- thusiastic new people who come out during the Olympics lose their momentum because of costs and horrible ice times.” Melissa said, “Since New Year’s we have kept a sheet open every week for Learn to Curl and we already know it will be packed out during the Olympics and a few weeks aſter. We have had a lot of people contacting us.” Mark Robinson of Pittsburgh, Pa., sent me
a picture and comments on their efforts during the Olympics. Tey rented a local pond and had more than 400 people, mostly newbies, come out for an aſternoon of curling. Mark said, “It was the most fun our club ever had. Te enthusiasm of the newbies was incredible. We need a dedi- cated facility so badly. All three major TV sta- tions came out and covered the event and gave us great PR.” Te Ardsley Curling Club near New York City,
a longtime dedicated facility, had almost 1,000 people attend Learn to Curls directly because of the Olympics. Stop and consider that number for a minute – 1,000 people. Tis is unheard of for al- most any other sport – post Olympic coverage in any country. Ardsley also had a special guest ap- pearance recently from NHL Hall of Famer Mark Messier, a longtime curling fan who is the chief executive officer of the new Kingsbridge National Ice Center in the Bronx. Tis new facility, which will be the largest in the world, will house a num- ber of rinks with one specifically dedicated to curling. Te Kingsbridge is scheduled to be up and running in 2017. In a Feb. 19, 2014, article in the NY Daily News, Messier was quoted as saying, “We feel there is a great opportunity to grow the sport of curling in our area. We will be a state-of-the-art facility, and everything we need to make it that. Kingsbridge will deliver.” As a newbie Green Carder I was encouraged
by what clubs all over America are doing to get new curlers into clubs. Knoxville had terrific
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