COLLEGE CURLING Strategies for a college curling start-up
By Gordon Maclean, Chairman, College Curling Committee
lege or university students to participate in the USA Curling College Championship and the events that lead up to that championship. Te key points are that the students MUST meet the age and courseload requirements set forth in our College Championship Guidelines; be members of the U.S. Curling Association; must register on the USA Curling playdown registration website before Jan. 31; and the sport must become a rec- ognized on-campus organization at the school to which they belong. Trough the years, those of us who have been
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involved in college curling have noticed that there are common elements to successful start- ups and to their long-term success. Tese points can be summarized: • Student leadership with organizational skills. • Integrate the college club with an established cooperative community-based curling club.
• Find a faculty/staff advisor who is interested in curling.
• Develop an academic reason to curl. • Find an extracurricular draw to bring in new curlers.
Points one and two are essential for start-ups
to happen. Points four and five are necessary for long-term success. Point three is extremely help- ful for startup and essential for long-term suc- cess. Startups work best when points one, two, and
three happen simultaneously. Having any two of the three represents a great start. Colgate Univer- sity actually started when an interested faculty member (Point 3) went looking for curlers and found a student who curled and was willing to start the organizational process (Point 1): "I set up shop at the Fall 2005 student activi-
ties fair at Colgate with a display of curling equip- ment and some videos of the Brier and Scotties. Te student activities fair is an event intended to help students join clubs and activities, especially but not limited to first-year students. I was very lucky in that inaugural year when one of our first- year students identified herself as someone who had curled previously, and she was overjoyed to
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usacurl.org
n my previous article titled “Starting up a College Curling Program” (Curling News, Winter 2014), I discussed what is required for any group of qualifying col-
learn that there was a curling rink nearby in Uti- ca. I convinced her to organize the Colgate Curling Club and run for president. As for most colleges, there is a considerable amount of paperwork to get recognized as a club sport, and it was very impor- tant for that first club organizer to have a faculty or staff member at the college to help navigate the system and help convince administrators that the club was a worthy investment.” – Roger Rowlett, faculty advisor, Colgate Curling Club. In another case, a student with leadership
skills and curling experience took the initiative (Point 1) and worked with the club where she was a member (Point 2) to jumpstart a college club: “In 2012, I started thinking about getting col-
lege and graduate students out to curl and decided to give it a try. I have been a member of Nutmeg Curling Club since fall 2011 and knew some of the instructors as well as who to contact to organize things. I sent out mass emails to the entire gradu- ate student body, tried to help organize carpools, and even secured a few dollars per person to offset the cost of a Learn to Curl (LTC) ($20 - Nutmeg had already reduced the price from $30 just for college students). We had about 20 people come to that first LTC and I kept in touch with those indi- viduals over the summer months and asked them all to come out and join the group as well as attend another LTC that I organized in fall 2012. Tis time we secured a little more money to offset the price, I had been working with Nutmeg to figure out what defined a college curler and how much they would pay per year for membership.”– Kelsey
Schuder, president, Yale Curling Club. Sometimes starting a new college club in a
“non-traditional” curling area may depend on getting an existing community club (Point 3) working with a devoted individual (Point 2) to find students at any nearby school to jumpstart a college program: “In this area of the world, curling is not a tra-
ditional sport. Te roots are very shallow. I’m a firm believer that the community Curling Club will have to drive this level of curling for at least 10 years before the roots are strong enough to take hold. My personal goal for the SW Ohio region is to build some “rivalries” between the local schools (Cincinnati, Xavier, Northern Kentucky, Miami, Wright State and Dayton all have enrollments of over 10,000). How does a six school conference sound? It might be a bit of a dream but there is strength in the alumni type activities as it grows.”– Jonathon Penney, president, Cincinnati Curling Club & member College Curling Committee. Tere you have it. Tere is no single best way to
start up a college curling program. But, if you can bring together at least two of the first three points outlined above, you should have the beginnings you are looking for. n
Volunteers are the heart of what makes our national championships a success. Tank you to the mem- bers of the officiating and organizing crew at the recent U.S. Mixed Doubles National Championship in Eau Claire, Wis., (l-r) Jeff Haas, Jeff Tompson, Fred Fetzer, Scott Klingensmith, and Matt Proehl.
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