GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT // THE LOCAL DRAW Curling wins big in Vegas
By Carrie Benton, U.S. Curling News columnist
in the curling community that is starting to change with the successful hosting of the Conti- nental Cup just a stone’s throw off the strip. Odds are slim that the majority of us will ever curl in the Continental Cup; however, your chances of curling in Vegas improved greatly in 2011 when the first Sin Sity Spiel was held in October of that year. As if a bonspiel in Las Vegas isn’t unique
M
enough, the inaugural Sin Sity Spiel was actually hosted a year before the Las Vegas Curling Club was officially established in January 2012. How can that be, you ask? Read on for a little history. Aſter a bronze-medal performance by the USA
in the Olympic Games in Torino in 2006, the 2010 Olympics generated unprecedented inter- est in curling across the country. Many regions that were interested in curling had no access to curling whatsoever. Las Vegas was a city that was interested in developing a club. Nick Kitinski, chairman of Club Development for the USCA at the time, took to the phones and scheduled an
ost people’s thoughts don’t jump to curling when Las Vegas is men- tioned in a conversation. However,
open house in Las Vegas in August 2010. A loan of two sets of rocks along with volunteers from the Hollywood Curling Club helped to facilitate the open house session, which hosted 80 partici- pants at the Las Vegas Ice Center. Unfortunately, aſter just two curling sessions,
the small group disbanded and the equipment was returned. It seemed that perhaps Las Vegas wasn’t quite ready for curling. By chance, Nick received a telephone call in
2011 that would change the future of curling in Las Vegas. Te Margarita Mix Bonspiel had great interest in securing ice time in Las Vegas for their 2012 Bonspiel. Coincidentally, Las Vegas Ice Center was very interested in hosting a curling tournament. Te thought was, “Why wait until 2012?” In the fall of 2011, the first Sin Sity Spiel was
held. Nick and Cindy Ronzoni from Orange County Curling ran the spiel and hired an ice crew from Utah (Ben Womack and Tim Irish). Te first bonspiel had 34 teams and also included an open house to generate interest for a Las Ve-
gas Curling Club. Te gamble paid off! Te Las Vegas Curling Club was established in January 2012. Te Sin Sity Spiel is now in its fiſth year. Each
year the Spiel is “themed” with names such as this year’s V for Vendetta (a masquerade theme) or 2014’s Vegas Icons which saw the likes of Elvis, Sinatra, and Liza take to the ice. With a firmly established club and success-
ful bonspiels in their brief history, the Las Vegas Curling Club has now set a goal of securing its own dedicated facility by 2018. Starting with a fundraiser during this year’s Continental Cup, the group hopes to raise enough funds to host their 2018 Sin Sity Spiel in their own facility just as the Men’s World Championship hits Las Ve- gas. If you are interested in donating to the Las
Vegas Curling Club fundraiser, please visit www.
gofundme.com/lasvegascurling. Q A special thank you to Nick Kitinski for con-
tributing information for this article. Have a story idea for Carrie? Send her an email at camben-
ton1@gmail.com. Due to space limitations, we’ll cover just one or two events per issue, but we’ll keep a reserve of your suggestions, so your event could be featured in any upcoming issue.
Keeping curling safe Te USA Curling SafeSport program was introduced in 2013 to raise awareness about miscon-
duct in sport and institute prevention and response measures for the curling community. Details about the program, which includes background checks and online training, are outlined in the USA Curling SafeSport Handbook, which can be found online at,
http://www.teamusa.org/USA- Curling/Sport-Education/SafeSport/USA-Curling-SafeSport-Handbook. Reports of abuse or harassment can be made to USA Curling by (1) clicking the “Report an
Incident” link on the USA Curling website,
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Curling/Sport-Edu- cation/SafeSport; (2) emailing
SafeSport@usacurl.org; or (3) calling (888) CURLERS (287-5377) and speaking to a designated SafeSport coordinator. SafeSport coordinators include the Chief Executive Officer, Director of Growth & Development, Development Associate, and Event Ser- vices Manager. Each complaint is taken seriously and processed according to the procedures outlined in the
Be sure to watch Curling Night in America
on NBCSN. Nine episodes will air. Here is the remaining schedule (all times ET): Feb. 5 (double feature), 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. Feb. 12, 10 p.m. Feb. 19 (double feature), 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. Feb. 26, 10 p.m.
USA Curling SafeSport Handbook. Te organization strives to ensure that all complaints are han- dled in a manner that, to the greatest degree possible, protects the rights of all parties. Anonym- ity of the complainant is protected to the fullest extent possible. Attempts by any individual to retaliate, punish, or in any way harm any individual(s) who reports a concern in good faith are not tolerated. Questions about the program can be emailed to Rick Patzke at
rick.patzke@
usacurl.org or Kim Nawyn at
kim.nawyn@
usacurl.org. Q
USA Curling (( 5
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