BONUS ONLINE-ONLY COVERAGE //
numbers for their Learn to Curls that extended two months past the Olympics. Te new Four Seasons Club in Blaine, Minn., continues to bring in new members. Tis is just a snapshot of the good things I am talking about and commu- nicating with my new American curling friends. Eau Claire, Columbus, Seattle, Charlotte, Mi- ami, Cedar Rapids, Colorado Springs to name only a few that are seeing similar results. I have tried to focus mostly on the non-traditional American markets but these reports are coming in from all over your great country. Let’s review because this is good stuff. I keep
asking what are you doing to bring people in? • Club website •
Facebook (this is huge)
• Media: TV, radio and newspaper • NHL Ice Crews (maybe there will be a Sharks, Kings and Stars bonspiel coming soon)
• Catchy videos • Billboards (Hollywood) • Water cooler talk But the biggest selling pojnt, which is good
news – curling sells itself and people want to try the sport. U.S. clubs are making themselves known through a number of ways to let people know their clubs exist. So many of these new people trying curling aſter the Olympics didn’t know curling clubs were in their communities or close by. Te big take home is: THROW ENOUGH
GUMBO AT THE WALL AND SOME OF IT WILL STICK!!! Supplementary positives from Music City Nashville has a club but hasn’t been active for
almost five years. Why? Too many core mem- bers moved away, ice fees, and ice time. Tere is a set of stones at the Centennial Arena close to Vanderbilt University just waiting to be deliv- ered. With Nashville being one of the most reli- gious cities in North America people keep telling me it’s used to revivals. Curling could be the next revival in Nashville. Tere is interest in the sport. People like to watch it but like everywhere else we need to get spectators on the ice. I frequent coffee shops and sports bars, and it
was so nice to hear people talking curling dur- ing the Olympics. Te local TV and radio sports shows would talk about it during their Olympic coverage. Was it always positive? Mostly, except for one unnamed redneck sports reporter who felt if there wasn’t blood from a hockey stick or a forearm from a steroided-up defensive lineman it wasn’t a sport. My first thought was: “Let’s get him on the ice.” I would almost bet aſter his first wipeout he’d see a little blood. His co-anchor
looked a tad embarrassed, thank goodness. But other than that I think I set a personal record in explaining to people the basics of our sport. One of my favorite moments was watching
an Olympic playoff game with singer/songwrit- ing legend Rodney Crowell, a recent Grammy winner. We take so much for granted when we watch the game and then he blurts out, “Hey, he’s putting a rotation on the stone to go in the di- rection he wants (honest, I thought I explained that one). It’s like he’s throwing a curve ball for it to go counterclockwise (a.k.a – out turn) and a screwball/slider for it to go clockwise (a.k.a - in turn). … Wow that guy just threw a fastball (a.k.a - high hard one).” Mr. Crowell really ap- preciated the strategy and the precision involved. He wants to try it out. His wife, Claudia Church, said that during the last Olympics they were out for dinner with a bunch of musicians who were all getting caught up in the sport. None of them had ever curled but they were getting salt and pepper shakers from neighboring tables talking strategy and situations they had seen during the Olympics. I walked into an arena in Franklin, Tenn., look-
ing for the Nashville curling rocks. I was walking around with the Tennessee-born head main- tenance man. He was another self-proclaimed football guy who commented, “Te Olympics were so good. Most of my friends and I watched the big three: hockey, curling and snowboarding. Te team sports are always good, snowboarding is a rush, but that curling drags you in.” Ten there is 15-time Grammy winner Ron
Block of Alison Krause and Union Station who is married to Kurt and Marcy Balderston’s sister Sandra. Big time curlers out of Alberta. Kurt and Marcy are former Canadian mixed champs, Mar- cy has been to multiple Scotties and Kurt com- peted in his first Canadian Seniors last month. Ron, a Californian, has never thrown a rock but enjoys the sport. His wife, Sandra, is one of Ten- nessee’s best curlers and was pretty good when she lived in Alberta. Ron loves to sit down with the Balderston clan and talk curling. Ron says, “Teir passion for the sport intrigues me. And their unbelievable commitment to mastering the fundamentals is an example to me to continually work on my own musical fundamentals.” I keep hearing from so many sources that
curling is on the cusp of becoming more main- stream in the U.S. I believe the sport is gaining more and more traction all the time. We need to keep throwing enough gumbo at the wall and be part of this continued growth spurt. Who knows, maybe the core of Team USA at the 2022 or 2026 Olympics will be folks raised on actual gumbo. n
// CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR CONTINUED.
2015
MARCH 7-14 2015 U.S. Club National Championships
Fargo, N.D.
MARCH 14-22 2015 World Women’s Championship Sapporo, Japan
MARCH 21-28 2015 U.S. Mixed National Championship
Site TBA
MARCH 28-APRIL 5 2015 World Men’s Championship Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
DEC. 2-6, 2015 2016 U.S. Mixed Doubles Championship
Site TBA 2016
JAN. 6-10 2016 Nationals Challenge Round
Sites TBA
JAN. 16-23 2016 U.S. Junior National Championships Willmar, Minn.
JAN. 27-31 2016 U.S. Senior National Championships
Site TBA
FEB. 6-13 2016 U.S. National Championships Jacksonville, Fla.
FEB. 12-21 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games
Lillehammer, Norway
MARCH 5-12 2016 U.S. Club National Championships Site TBA
MARCH 19-26 2016 U.S. Mixed National Championship
USA Curling
USA Curling (( 37(( 5
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