// ZAMBONI TRAX
By Brad Whitlock, U.S. Curling News columnist,
Brad.Whitlock@outlook.com
slot for many arena clubs – Friday night at 8:30 p.m. – turns out to be a real detriment for the Curling Club of Houston. “We really struggle on Friday nights in the fall because of high school football,” laments Carl Schaeper, club president. So, how do you get the public focused on curl-
Under the Friday night lights I
f you live in Texas and offer curling on Fri- day nights, you are likely to be very lonely. What might be considered a good time
ing when one of the largest sports phenomena in the world plays out around you in the fall of each year?
Raising visibility To grab some of that focus, the Houston club
is running TV commercials. “Ice time is avail- able to us, our problem is actually getting people in the door. Tat is something we need to work on. It’s not the problem most clubs are facing. We can get ice time at decent times on Friday and Saturday nights,” says Schaeper. So the club has gotten creative by running
TV ads during broadcasts of NBCSN’s “Curling Night in America.” Although the intent was cer- tainly to bring in new recruits to their Learn to Curl sessions, Schaeper fesses up that there was an ulterior motive on their mind – the 2018 Win- ter Olympic Games. Working to make the ad usable in multiple sit-
uations, there wasn’t a lot of specific information (e.g., no dates) included. Tis allows them to air not only on “Curling Night in America” but also to use the piece in general promotional situations for the club as well as use it as the next Winter Olympics draws near (along with the anticipated flood of interest in curling). “Ultimately, in the back of our mind is to use
this piece to make that Olympics flood of people as large as possible,” adds Schaeper. Club background
Started in 1973, Houston has one of the oldest
continuously operated arena clubs in the USA. Tey are actively working on three main goals
over the next 18 months: t
t
Expand the base membership and cur- rent league members, including bringing the current league up to 10 teams.
Increase their community involvement
through the Canadian expat community, as well as the local Veteran’s Administra- tion and charitable organizations such as Star Skaters.
t Aſter the Olympics, go back to offering two nights of curling each week.
Schaeper says they have finally found a rink
with which they can work. “Our arena situation is actually decent. Tey have a Zamboni with la- ser level and the ice, for arena ice, is pretty con- sistent,” he said. “Tey are willing to talk and lis- ten about how to prepare the ice. And they have a decent warm room.” So, conditions are not the problem. “For us, it’s
getting more people in the door, and it’s tough to commit to and to run Learn to Curl sessions given the cost of the ice. It’s a gamble to ensure we get enough people in to cover ice costs, ” remarks Schaeper.
Entering the commercial world How were they able to produce and afford a
commercial? “We hired a company that works with Comcast, the local cable provider, to pro- duce the ad. So this wasn’t a homegrown produc- tion, it was a professionally produced ad,” says Schaeper. Te membership was informed of the project
and GoFundMe was used to collect donations to cover production costs. Billy Reynolds, the club’s vice president (who
was also featured in the commercial) adds, “We also worked with the arena (Bellerive Ice Center)
to defray some costs. We put in a plug for the are- na in the ad. We also ran three LTC sessions af- ter ‘Curling Night in America’ and split revenue from that with the rink.” Although they didn’t get the number of people
out to the rink that they were hoping for, they definitely saw increased website traffic following the airing of each spot. “We got started late in the ‘Curling Night in America’ series, so we only ran the commercial five times and not until the last few weeks,” explains Schaeper. Tey plan to air the commercial on “Curling Night in America” again next season. Overall , it was a bit of an experiment, a defi-
nite learning situation, and good preparation for the future. Even better – they’re ready to generate some serious Olympic buzz in the Houston area 18 months from now. Maybe someday “Friday Night Lights” will
mean, in Houston at least, everyone gathering at Bellerive Ice Center for curling. (To view the club’s commercial, go to their homepage
www.houstoncurling.com).Q
Save even more with Experticity partnership
Get all your favorite gear at a fraction of the
price. Just another reason it pays to be a mem- ber of USA Curling. USA Curling recently partnered with
Experticity.com (formerly Pro-
motive.com) to bring members exclusive dis- counts of up to 70 percent off of retail pricing. Trough this partnership, we just unlocked 40 additional brands for you to enjoy includ- ing Briggs & Riley, CAT Apparel, Moji, Kly- mit, Wilson Sports, Point 6 and many more. Check it out and stay tuned for more brand announcements coming soon. Go to
https://www.experticity.com/ and en-
ter the code: 4D34-66AB-DAED-F443. Click redeem and start enjoying your access.
USA Curling (( 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32