PRESIDENT’S NEWSLETTER

May 2014 Welcome

Inside this issue:

WCF Events 2-3

Event Hosts 4

Media 4

Development 4-5

MA News 5-6

Deadlines 7

The season has now come to an end in the northern hemisphere, and what an incredi- ble past few months it has been. The Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2014 provided the platform to showcase our sport to the world once again and I must congratulate each and everyone involved in the Special points of those events for contributing to an unforgettable experience. interest: Both events highlighted to millions of people around the world, not only the athleticism, skill and strategy involved in our game, but more importantly the ‘Spirit of Curling’ which makes  Sochi 2014 roundup our sport so special. ( p2) In addition to the success of Sochi, new Junior, Women’s, Men’s, Mixed Doubles and Senior  World Championships world champions were crowned. Roundup (p2-3) The last few months, and indeed the season as a whole, have been incredibly busy. However, it  Host confirmed for is refreshing to see the amount of energy and passion evident in all aspects of our sport, which several WCF events has helped curling develop during our time in the spotlight. (p4) I was also delighted to receive a letter from International Olympic Committee (IOC) President  Olympic Celebration Thomas Bach inviting me once more to serve on the IOC Programme Commission, and re- Tour update (p4) cently a further letter appointing me to the IOC Olympic Agenda 2020 Ethics Working Group.  MA Roundup of post Sochi activity (p5-6) You will be able to read more about each competition and the operations of the World Curl- ing Federation (WCF) in our Annual Review which will be published for the 2014 World Curl- ing Congress in Reno, USA in September. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading this latest newsletter and remember, you can read more about each story by clicking on the headline. Page 2 EVENTS May 2014 Newsletter Sochi 2014 Congratulations to all of the medal Sochi 2014 proved to be a huge suc- winners at the Sochi 2014 Olympic cess. Russia put on a first class and Paralympic Winter Games. Games and I’m sure everyone who A special mention must go to the was there and everyone who success of the Canadian teams in watched at home will agree. Sochi. They picked up gold medals in Special thanks must also go to the both the Olympics (men & women) thousands of volunteers who dedi- and Paralympics - the first time any cated their time to making this one nation has won gold medals in all of the most successful Winter three competitions. Games in history. At the Olympics, in the men’s event, As the dust settles on the 2014 Great Britain picked up the silver Olympics and Paralympics we are medals while Sweden won bronze. now already planning for the future, In the women’s event, Sweden re- with preparations for the 2018 ceived silver and Great Britain won Olympic and Paralympic Winter bronze. Games in Pyeongchang, Korea al- ready underway. In the wheelchair curling competi-

tion, Russia took silver - their first Pictured - Canada’s three gold medal winning ever Paralympic Winter Games med- teams. Right - Canada women and men al, and Great Britain won bronze. Photos: WCF/Michael Burns. Below - The Canadian wheelchair curling team Photo: Alina Pavlyuchik

The Sochi 2014 Gold Medallists - Canada Photo: WCF/Richard Gray

World Women’s and Men’s Curling Championships Shortly after the Paralympic Winter Games, the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship 2014 got underway in Saint John, Canada. (pictured right), with a team skipped by , won their sec- ond major championship title of the season (Swiss men are reigning European Cham- pions). Canada picked up silver while Russia won their first ever World Women’s Championship medal as they secured bronze. Following the Women’s Championship, the CPT World Men’s Curling Champi- onship 2014 took place in Beijing, China, the first time that the Pacific-Asia region has hosted a World Men’s Curling Championship. More curling history was made in Beijing. Thomas Ulsrud won a world championship for the first time with his team from Norway (pictured right). Sweden took silver Top photo: WCF/CCA/Michael Burns and Switzerland won bronze. Bottom photo: WCF/Richard Gray May 2014 Newsletter Page 3

World Junior Curling Championships Flims, Switzerland hosted the World Congratulations to Switzerland men ship, although they were hosts in 2006. Junior Curling Championships 2014 for who won the gold medals, while Scot- Russia women won bronze. the third time. land took silver and Norway bronze. Special thanks go to the Flims Waldhaus Although I couldn’t be there in person, In the women’s competition, Canada Arena, their staff and all of the volun- WCF Vice-President Bent Ramsfjell women won gold as they defeated silver teers who yet again proved to be first reported his delight at the level of com- medallists Korea, who qualified, by right, class hosts of international curling petition evident amongst the top junior for their first World Junior Champion- events. curlers from around the world.

The World Junior Curling Championship 2014 medal winners Photos: WCF/Richard Gray

World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship Switzerland finished off the season by claiming another World Championship title by winning the 2014 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Dumfries, Scotland. This win was even more special for the Swiss as this event was the largest participated in the history of the World Mixed Doubles Championship, with a total of 34 teams partici- pating from around the world. Sweden picked up the silver medals while Spain won their first ever World Championship medal by winning bronze. We will shortly be submitting our bid to include the discipline of Mixed Doubles Curling in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games to the IOC, with their decision likely to be taken

next spring. Switzerland’s Reto and , World Mixed Doubles Curling Champions 2014 Photo: WCF/Richard Gray World Senior Curling Championships Congratulations also to Scotland women (left) and Canada men (right), winners of the 2014 World Senior Curling Championships, held in conjunction with the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in the Ice Bowl in Dumfries, Scotland. In the women’s event, Canada picked up silver while USA won bronze. In the men’s event, Sweden took silver and Aus- tralia won bronze. This joint event was the largest ever staged by the WCF, with 74 teams and over 200 athletes in total. Sincere thanks to Dumfries for hosting such a fantastic event, and to the local organising committee, all the sponsors and not least the hundreds of volunteers all of whom contributed to the success of all three of these world championships. Photo: WCF/Richard Gray Page 4 May 2014 Newsletter Hosts announced

The WCF announced several hosts for events over the coming seasons. We’re looking forward to returning to Basel in Swit- zerland for the World Men’s Curling Championship 2016. Tallinn, Estonia, will host their first World Curling Champi- onship in the form of the World Junior Curling Championships 2015 (28 Feb-8 Mar). Denmark will host the European Mixed Curling Championship 2014 in Taarnby Curling Club (13-20 Sep); the 2014 European C-Group will be held in Zoetermeer, Netherlands ( 6-11 Oct) and the European Junior Curling Challenge 2015 will be hosted by Prague in the Czech Republic (3-8 Jan). The World Wheelchair Curling Qualification Event 2014 will be hosted by Lillehammer in Norway (1-6 Nov).

The new Tallinn Arena in Estonia will host the World Junior Curling Championships 2015 Photo: KADARIK TÜÜR ARHITEKTID

Media During the past three months, more trainee journalists and photographers have joined us at our events. Taylor Craig, from Canada, attended the Ford World Women’s Curling Champion- ship 2014 in Saint John, Canada. You can see some of her work on the WCF website: http://bit.ly/latvia1yearon Trainee photographer, Celine Stucki (pictured left), from Switzerland, then joined us in Beijing for the CPT World Men’s Curling Championship 2014. You can see some of her work on the official event website: http://bit.ly/wmccgallery DEVELOPMENT Olympic Celebration Tour (OCT)

As part of the WCF’s OCT programme, all of us to keep up with the action in New Shannon for making them such a great 2010 Olympic silver medallist Cheryl Ber- Zealand. success in the Pacific-Asia region. nard visited New Zealand for three tour Another OCT took place in Japan with If you would like more information about stops over 10 days. 2006 Torino bronze medallist Shannon the Olympic Celebration Tour visit: These stops included eight sessions with Kleibrink, with Tour Stops in Hiroshima http://bit.ly/wcfolympictour over 280 beginner and novice curlers. and Aomori. Over 50% of those who attended were The numbers of participants attending school children. both events was also very good and they In one of those areas, six new teams have ranged from beginner to experienced curl- already registered with more teams ex- ers, aged from 13 to 76 years of age. This pected to register for the school champi- is just another example that curling is a onships. sport for all ages. Local media and the local clubs published The WCF would like to thank the organis- numerous articles and photos through ers and volunteers who helped stage these their social media accounts, which enabled two OCTs and of course to Cheryl and Canadian Olympic silver medallist Cheryl Bernard took part in a hugely successful OCT of New Zealand Photo: New Zealand Curling Association Page 5 May 2014 Newsletter Development Assistance Programme (DAP) The DAP application period for the MAs should note that all projects 2013-14 season is now closed. which have been accepted need to be During this season we have provided a completed by 31 May 2014 and all total amount of $385,000 USD for claims along with all receipts have to 97 different projects organised by 38 be submitted to the WCF office by 15 of our Member Associations (MAs). June 2014. Some of the most recent projects The DAP Program 2014-2015 will include the production of develop- start on 1 June. ment and training resources; launching The guidelines and application form new websites; the creation of a film to will be sent to MAs around that time. promote curling; come and try ses- For more information about the DAP, sions; Olympic Celebration Tour contact WCF Competitions & Develop- events; a feasibility study for a new ice ment Officer Eeva Roethlisberger via: -rink; stone and equipment purchases; [email protected] The Romanian Curling Federation used DAP money rg curling camps and student and junior to build their new website: www.curling-romania.com programmes.

Camps & Courses Junior teams between the ages of 13 and 21 have a fantastic oppor- tunity to learn about team development as well as improve their curl- ing skills at the 2014 Sweetlake Junior Team Curling Camp in Zoetermeer, Netherlands, between 2-6 Au gu st. The camp has a few spaces left for teams and their coaches but the registration deadline is Saturday 31 May. There’s also still some space left on the Prague Adult Curling Camp in the Czech Republic, taking place between 24-28 August. Why not come along and ‘brush-up’ on your curling skills before the start of the new season? Registration deadline is 30 July. Full details about all of our Camps & Courses can be found here: Some of the participants of last year’s Sweetlake Junior Team Camp Photo: Christian Leibbrandt http://wcf-camps-courses.com

Member Association Roundup

Following the Olympics and Paralympics, several MAs have been busy taking advantage of the increased interest in curling over the last few months. The Swedish Curling Association were extremely active during this time. One of their key pro- jects was organising an Olympic day in various locations throughout Sweden, which let people try curling using the street-curling replica system. This replica tool was very popular at a media event held in Stockholm as well, while it was also used to promote wheelchair curling at an event in con- junction with the Swedish Paralympic Committee. Sweden at one of the Junior camps Photo: SCA Sweden held their biggest junior camp ever in Härnösand in February, with around 80 juniors attend- ing. Shortly before the Olympics they also held a club instructors training weekend in Karlstad be- fore concluding the season with a club conference. This was designed to share information between curling clubs, which included a series of workshops designed to help them grow, and discussed the priorities for the Swedish Curling Association. May 2014 Newsletter Page 6

Member Association Roundup The Canadian Curling Association (CCA) used the Olympic ‘fever’ in a couple of different ways. One of those initiatives was a T-shirt campaign called ‘Got Gold?’ where they sold T-shirts online with the help of their Olympians. More than 1,000 T-shirts were purchased by curling fans, raising enough money for the CCA’s ‘For The Love of Curl- ing’ scholarship programme that will award ten $1,000 CDN scholarships to young curlers at Canadian universities and colleges this summer. Their gold medal winning Olympians will also be involved in the Canadian Olympic Committee's Celebration of Excel- lence in June. More information on this event can be found here: http://bit.ly/canadacoe

Canada’s Olympic gold medallists in their ‘Got Gold?’ T-shirts Photo: CCA The Royal Caledonian Curling Club’s (RCCC) Try Curling initiative has been a great success this season with over 5,000 people participating in curl- ing taster sessions across Scotland. Around 4,000 people tried curling in Scotland between 15 February and 9 March alone, with The Welsh Curling Association, supported by RCCC, reporting over 800 at their Try Curling sessions. For more information about the Try Curling initiative, visit: www.trycurling.com

Above: Great Britain skip coaching at a recent Try Curling Session Photo: RCCC

In Japan, TV viewing figures were astounding. Between 10 and 20 million people watched curling during the Olympics, which is great exposure for our sport. The Japan Curling Association (JCA) reported extremely high lev- els of interest in curling and many ‘come and try’ sessions have been really busy since the Games, particularly in curling hubs such as Karuizawa and Sap- poro, but also in Tokyo and other areas of Japan. One of the hugely popular come and try sessions that took place in Karuizawa as recently as May Photo: JCA

In the USA, thanks to NBC’s great coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics, curling was one of the network’s most-watched sports. It was also one of Twitter’s most tweeted about Olympic sports in the USA for the majority of the Games as well. Many new corners of the USA are expressing interest in bringing curling to their cities. Triangle Curling Club in Raleigh, North Carolina, broke ground on their State’s first dedi- cated curling facility while Tempe, Arizona, welcomed the southwest’s first curling-only facility. Hawaii Curling Club begins its preparations to once again host a curling charity event this Autumn and Florida will host a curling competition for the first time in the sport’s history as Jacksonville plays host to the 2016 USA Curling Championships. During February, the USA Curling website received more than 138,000 page views in just the clubs section alone. In addition, approximately 46,000 searches for curling clubs were made on the website’s ‘Find a Club’ area while member clubs have reported great successes at come and try sessions during the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

USA skip John Schuster at the Olympics Photo: WCF/Richard Gray World Curling Deadlines Fe dera tio n PAPERWORK 74 Tay Street Camps & Courses Perth PH2 8NP  Zoetermeer Team Camp 2014: 31 May 2014 United Kingdom  Prague Curling Adult Camp 2014: 30 July 2014 Phone: (44) 1738 451 630 Competitions Fax: (44) 1738 451 641 Email: [email protected]  European Mixed Curling Championship 2014: 31 May 2014  European Curling Championships C-Group 2014: 31 May 2014 Facebook: www.facebook.com/ WorldCurlingFederation  Le Gruyere European Curling Championships 2014: 15 June 2014 Google+: www.gplus.to/  World Wheelchair Curling Qualification Event 2014: 15 July 2014 worldcurlingfederation Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/  Americas Challenge 2014: 31 July 2014 WorldCurlingTV EVENT HOSTS Twitter: @worldcurling Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/ The WCF would like to encourage MAs to submit bids for the following championships. company/world-curling-federation All interest should be submitted to Director of Competitions & Development, Keith Wendorf: [email protected] Follow us The WCF is currently seeking bids for:  World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2015  World Senior Curling Championships 2015  European Curling Championships C-Group 2015  European Curling Championships 2015  European Junior Curling Challenge 2016  World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2016  World Junior Curling Championships 2016  World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2016  World Senior Curling Championships 2016

Next Edition

With our next newsletter due in August, Southern hemisphere good curling as their we’re looking forward to updating you season gets underway. with all of our activity from the next three If you wish to share any suggestions, news months, including Sochi debrief meetings or information about activity regarding in Lausanne and all of our camps and your Association in our next newsletter, courses. Visit our website: please contact www.worldcurling.org During the down season in the Northern [email protected] no later than Hemisphere we will reflect on what was a July 30, 2014. monumental year for curling and look at how we can continue to capitalise on the Yours in curling, increased interest and growth of curling around the world. Our experienced staff are available to assist you with any new projects or pro- motions you undertake to further develop our great sport. We also wish all our colleagues in the