www.worldcurling.org - World Curling Federation

May 2016
INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Events

Development

Your News

Other News
CONNECT WITH WCF
@worldcurling
/WorldCurlingFederation
/WorldCurlingTV
/world-curling-federation
WELCOME
The
World
Curling
Federation is now 50, and
with the 2015/16 season
behind us we have a chance
to reflect on the past 12
exciting months!
 Mixed Doubles has
officially joined the Olympic
Winter Games cycle with
the first event for Olympic
Qualification being played –
in Karlstad, Sweden;
 Five Member Associations have collected Gold medals throughout 2016’s eight
World Curling Championships – well done to Russia (Wheelchair and Mixed
Doubles), Scotland (Junior men and Senior women), Canada (Junior women and
Men’s), Switzerland (Women’s) and Sweden (Senior men);
 There have been three new inductees to the World Curling Federation Hall of Fame;
 And, the sport has faced one of its most challenging debates in its history, with brush
head technology and sweeping technique featuring prominently.
At the end of May a Sweeping Summit will be held near Ottawa, Canada to determine
how our sport moves on from these challenges ensuring the best future for curling.
Contact Us
World Curling Federation
3 Atholl Crescent
Perth PH1 5NG
Scotland, UK
+44 1738 451 630
[email protected]
www.worldcurling.org
Through a process which will involve international athletes, sport experts, ice
professionals and other important stakeholders our aim is to have new regulations
proposed for approval by the Members at the WCF's Annual General Assembly - to
be held in September in Stockholm, Sweden.
Looking back, our 50th anniversary celebration held in Basel, Switzerland was a real
highlight of the year. We were joined by president of the International Olympic
Committee, Dr Thomas Bach (pictured above) and we appreciated him and all the
Member Association representatives and guests who were able to join us.
On a personal note, I was delighted to be appointed as a member of the Coordination
Commission Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
You will find more information on the activity of the World Curling Federation and
you, our Member Associations, throughout this Newsletter. I hope you enjoy reading
this edition, and remember you can read more about each story by clicking on the
images.
www.worldcurling.org
Photo: © WCF / Richard Gray
EVENTS
Exciting curling season draws to a close after World Championships
The curtain has now come down on the
2015/16 season where nine World Curling
Championships were held and two medal
disciplines – Mixed and Mixed Doubles
curling – were competed for at the Youth
Olympic Games (YOG) in Lillehammer,
Norway.
The season began with Norway winning
Gold at the inaugural World Mixed Curling
Championship in Berne, Switzerland, last
September.
Then in February, Canada’s Mary Fay
collected Gold in the Mixed event at the
YOG, while the pairing of Philipp Hoesli
(Switzerland) and Yako Matsuzawa (Japan)
won the Mixed Doubles Gold medals.
Throughout the 2016 World Curling
Championships 13 Member Associations
collected 24 medals. My congratulations go
to all these winners.
The first World Championship of the new
year was the World Wheelchair Curling
Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland
where Russia won their second
consecutive Gold medal, skipped by
Andrey Smirnov. Norway collected Silver
medals and Korea Bronze.
Next it was the World Junior Curling
Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark
where Canada’s Mary Fay topped the
podium again. Scotland skip Bruce Mouat
led his team to the men’s Gold. USA won
Silver in the women’s and men’s
championships. Korea took the women’s
Bronze medals, while Canada picked up the
men’s Bronze medals.
There was a third consecutive Gold medal
for Switzerland’s women – with skip Binia
Feltscher at the helm this year – in Swift
Current, Canada. Japan, who lit up this
www.worldcurling.org
World Women’s Curling Championship, with their animated style of play and
smiles, won their countries first medal, Silver, while Russia women won Bronze.
In the World Men’s Curling Championship, Canada won Gold, under skip Kevin
Koe, while Denmark, skipped by Rasmus Stjerne, won its first ever Silver medal
– Denmark’s first medal since 1990. In Basel, Switzerland USA won Bronze.
In Karlstad, Russia pair Anastasia Bryzgalova and Alexander Krushelnitskiy won
Gold. China won Silver and USA took Bronze. This event saw World Curling
Championship debuts for Qatar, Luxembourg and Serbia and first appearances
at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship for Belgium, Israel and
Lithuania.
In the World Seniors it was Scotland’s women and Sweden’s men who topped
the podium. Germany’s women took Silver and Sweden Bronze. In the men’s it
was Canada who won Silver and Ireland Bronze.
Finally, Slovenia hosted a successful European C-Division event in Ljubljana,
which was its first international curling championship. Well done Belarus and
Lithuania women and Estonia and France men who have qualified for the Le
Gruyère European Curling Championships 2016 in Glasgow Scotland.
For results, standings and
http://worldcurling.org/events
galleries
from
2015/16
events
visit,
Photos: © WCF / Richard Gray, Mike Burns, Céline Stucki and Alina Androsova
EVENTS
Event bidding
The WCF would like to encourage
Member Associations to submit
bids
for
the
following
championships in the 2016/17
season and would advise that all
interest is submitted as soon as
possible to the Director of
Competitions and Development,
Keith
Wendorf:
[email protected]
The WCF is currently seeking
bids for:

Pacific-Asia Curling
Championships 2017

Olympic Qualification Event
2017

World Junior-B Curling
Championship 2017

European Curling
Championships C-Division
2017
Please be reminded of the
deadlines for the following events:

WMxCC 2016: Kazan, RUS:
Team entries to be submitted
by Wednesday 1 June 2016

PACC 2016: Uiseong, KOR:
Team entries to be submitted
by Wednesday 15 June 2016

ECC 2016 (A and B-Division):
Braehead, SCO:
Team
entries to be submitted by
Wednesday 15 June 2016

WJBCC 2017: Oestersund,
SWE: Team entries to be
submitted by Wednesday 15
June 2016
www.worldcurling.org
EVENTS
New inductees in the WCF Hall of Fame
Canada’s Warren Hansen (pictured above left) and Sweden’s
Elisabeth Högström (pictured above right) have been inducted into
the World Curling Federation Hall of Fame, while Franco
Zumofen of Italy will be inducted at the summer bonspiel in
Cortina, Italy.
Throughout an international playing career that spanned more
than a decade, Högström – who was inducted as a ‘curler’ in her
hometown in Karlstad, Sweden – represented Sweden at four
World Women’s Curling Championships, the 1988 Olympic
Winter Games in Calgary, Canada – where curling was an
exhibition sport – and seven European Curling Championships.
Hansen – who was inducted as a ‘builder’ at the World Men’s
Curling Championship 2016 in Basel, Switzerland – has made She won six Gold medals – one at the 1981 World Women’s in
influential contributions to the development of curling for more Perth, Scotland and a further five at the European Curling
Championships in 1976, 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1988. She added to
than 50 years.
this tally with four Silver medals. These were won at the World
His contributions have been multi-faceted, from developing many Women’s in 1980 in Perth, Scotland and 1982 in Geneva,
of the umpiring procedures in use today as well as establishing Switzerland; and one each at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games
coaching, officiating and ice making guides. Many of the marketing and the 1981 European Curling Championships.
and design features – four sheets of ice for championships and
events held in large ice-hockey arenas – of national and This is the fifth year the World Curling Federation has accepted
international competitions that make up the spectacle that we nominations for induction into the Hall of Fame, which is
described as the highest ‘non-playing’ honour that the World
know and love today can be attributed to Hansen.
Curling Federation can bestow. This recognises outstanding
As well as playing a significant role in developing Curling Canada’s achievements and contribution to World Curling.
Canada Cup and Continental Cup he worked hand-in-hand with
Calgary’s Ray Kingsmith in producing and presenting the proposal Prior to 2012, the WCF awarded the World Curling Freytag
to the 1988 Winter Olympic Committee that resulted in curling Award, named after the late Elmer Freytag of the U.S. Curling
being accepted as a demonstration sport in the 1988 Olympic Association, who was a founding member of the International
Winter Games, and which amongst other initiatives eventually led Curling Federation (now the WCF).
to curling becoming a full medal sport in 1998.
For more information on the World Curling Hall of Fame go to,
http://worldcurling.org/world-curling-hall-of-fame
www.worldcurling.org
Photos: © WCF / Richard Gray and Hamish Irvine
DEVELOPMENT
Our Competitions and Development Officers (CDO) are responsible for growing and developing curling around the world. Here
are some highlights from the past few months, plus opportunities for you, our Member Associations, to get involved with.
Florida hosts annual Coach Mentoring Programme
The annual WCF Coach Mentoring Programme for 2015/16 was held
in Jacksonville, Florida at the USA Curling National Championships. Bill
Tschirhart from Canada was the lead instructor and was assisted by
WCF Competitions and Development Officer Scott Arnold.
The nine participants enjoyed watching two of the championship’s playoff games as well as three full days of learning. Sessions included time
with USA Curling’s High Performance Director, Derek Brown, the
Chief Ice Technician, Dave Staveteig, and the Chief Umpire, Ken
McPartin, as well as on-ice and in-class learning.
To date, the Programme has had 44 graduates from ten different
Member Associations (Canada, USA, China, Italy, Romania, Austria,
Netherlands, Estonia, Israel and Finland) and our facilitators have had
nine national coaches (Canada, Switzerland, Russia, Sweden, Turkey,
Austria, Denmark, Latvia and USA) help in round-table discussions
about coaching at a major championship.
For more information and dates of future WCF Camps and courses
visit, http://wcf-camps-courses.com/
Following on the success of the Business of Curling Symposium
hosted by the Evergreen Curling Club last year, we have again
partnered with U.S. Curling Association (USCA) to bring the
Business of Curling to The Milwaukee Curling Club on 4 and
5 June 2016.
For those that have never attended a Business of Curling
Symposium, the following testimonial is from a Club President
who attended the symposium last year:
www.worldcurling.org
“I had the privilege of attending the Business of Curling
Symposium this past weekend at the Evergreen Curling Club.
The information presented by Darrell Ell and Kim Naywn was
very informative and beneficial to arena and dedicated clubs.
Their ability to not only present the materials, but to engage
the group in various discussions resulting in excellent exchange
of ideas; common problem areas; and solutions. The WCF and
USCA partnership for the Symposium is an excellent venture
to help grow and develop curling throughout the World. This
is one more major benefit available to member clubs and their
curlers which I highly recommend.”
If you haven’t already registered for this symposium you can do
so here.
To host a Business of Curling Symposium in your Member
Association
or
in
your
club,
contact
CDO
[email protected]
Photo: © WCF
DEVELOPMENT
Olympic Celebration Tour visits Four Seasons Curling Club, Minnesota, USA
Hosts, Four Seasons Curling Club, organised Learn to Curl
Clinics and Junior Clinics. They also made sure to invite some
special guests, corporate sponsors and others to a special
Friday night session which was also a fundraiser for their junior
programme. The guests were all able to get up close and
personal with David and Michael and this fundraiser raised
more than $800 for their Junior Curling Programme. Since the
OCT event Four Season have spent two days visiting 19 school
classes with close to 600 students getting the opportunity to
learn more about curling using the Floor Curling equipment.
2014 Olympic Winter Games Silver medallists David Murdoch
(pictured above) and Michael Goodfellow (pictured right) joined
Competitions and Development Officer Darrell Ell at the Four
Seasons Curling Club as they played host to the third Olympic
Celebration Tour event of the season.
Special thanks to our Olympic Celebration Tour partner The
Foundation for Global Sports Development for another great
season of Olympic Celebration Tour stops and we look forward
to continuing again next season.
We are looking for hosts for next season so if you are
interested in hosting an Olympic Celebration Tour contact
CDO, [email protected]
Thanks to Rock Solid Productions and their Floor Curling kit
and David and Michael for helping over 500 students learn
about sweeping, throwing and the great game of curling.
Physical Education teacher Julie from the Oakview Middle
School sent us this comment after the visit: “Our students and
staff were really thrilled and impressed by the presentation by
the group of curlers. In fact, we still have many people talking
about that day. Thanks to the Four Seasons Curling Club, WCF
and the Olympians for bringing this great programme to our
school!”
UPCOMING: camps and courses
For all up-to-date information on WCF camps and courses visit , http://wcf-camps-courses.com/
BOOK NOW: places are still available for the Adult Camp in Prague between 21 and
25 August 2016!
www.worldcurling.org
Photos: © WCF
EVENTS
Learning and innovative year for Hong Kong
Curling Association
Curling history made in Qatar
From Rahma Khaled Al-Tahrawy, Qatar Curling Federation
From John Li, Hong Kong Curling Association
Stepping into its second curling season, the Hong Kong
Curling Association (HKCurling) focused its efforts in
developing teams for international curling competitions.
With the support from WCF’s Development Assistance
Programme (DAP) and the Korea Curling Federation, the
men’s and the men’s junior teams were able to train in the
Gyeongbuk Curling Centre. Marking history was the
participation of Hong Kong teams in the Pacific-Asia Curling
Championships (Almaty, Kazakhstan) in November 2015 and
the 2016 World Junior-B Curling Championships (Lohja,
Finland) in January 2016. It is certainly a learning year for
HKCurling!
The lack of curling ice in Hong Kong is an impediment to
local curling development. Negotiation with local ice rinks
and seeking lands to construct dedicated ice are still
underway and there is positive progress. Development of
floor curling continues with an aim to foster the spirit of
sport-for-all and to serve as a springboard to curling.
Training of 120 floor curling instructors and the reach to all
walks of life in its first year of development form a solid
foundation to fulfil these aims. Given the foreseeable
developments in floor curling, HKCurling has decided to
separate the two sports (curling and floor curling) by
establishing the Hong Kong Floor Curling Association in
February 2016. HKCurling and HK Floor Curling will work
in close partnership to bring curling to more people in Asia
and around the world.
www.worldcurling.org
The first curling stone has been delivered in Doha. This was a
historical moment when Qatari athletes could try the game of
curling for the first time. This 500 years old wonderful game
finally has arrived to Qatar and this is just the beginning!
It was a remarkable milestone in the region as well when Mr.
Rashed Majed Al-Sulaiti the president of the Qatar Curling
Federation and Mr. Adel Shireda Al-Mutlaq, the General
Secretary opened the first practice (pictured above). Lajos
Belleli the National Coach of Qatar had the honor to deliver
the very first stone.
After this Qatar pair, Yazid Alyafei and Maryam Binali, competed
at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2016 in
Karlstad, Sweden.
Curling shows the growth of popularity in
Siberia
From Olga Zharkova, Russia Curling Federation
Another dedicated curling facility was opened on 19
February in Krasnoyarsk. The Curling Hall has three sheets
of ice and it is the second curling facility in the city that will
host the Winter University Games in 2019.
The new arena will boost the growth of curling in
Krasnoyarsk the same way as it was with their neighbours
from Novosibirsk – since the opening of the Penguin Curling
Club in October they have had more than 5000 people
coming to try the sport.
Hong Kong photo: © WCF / Alina Pavlyuchik
All other Your News photos: Courtesy of Member Associations
EVENTS
An open air curling tournament was held on the frozen
surface of the oldest, largest and deepest lake in the world
– Lake Baikal (pictured below). Six mixed teams from different
parts of Russia played for the first Baikal Curling Trophy. The
event was organised to attract attention to the development
of curling in the Irkutsk Region where people still curl
outdoors. The event had a great success and it is hoped it
will become an annual tradition.
Slovenia Curling Association reach out to
European athletes on anti-doping
From Nina Kremžar, Slovenian Curling Association
Member Association tickets for Le Gruyère
European Curling Championships 2016
The Slovenian Curling Association recently held their first
international curling event, the European Curling
Championships C-Division, in Ljubljana. As well as the action
on the ice Slovenian Anti-Doping Organisation attended
(pictured below) and reached out to almost 120 athletes and
coaches from 15 different countries sharing their mission to,
“Create a generation of athletes who believe in their abilities
and to succeed requires no prohibited substances and
methods. Create a generation of accompanying staff, who
understood that the athletes with whom they work, achieve
their goals without the use of prohibited substances and
methods.”
From Stuart McLean, Royal Caledonian Curling Club
The Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2016 are
coming to Braehead, Scotland next season. Tournament
passes giving sports fans access to every session of play from
19-26 November are now on sale and available to buy online.
For more visit, www.worldcurling.org/ecc2016/tickets
You can select from two options: Premium Tournament
Passes and standard Tournament Passes. Both give you
access to every session of European Curling Championship
action at intu Braehead Arena and Premium Tournament
Passes include premium seating – best views behind the
house – for the men’s and women’s finals on 26 November.
Why not immerse yourself in a week of top flight curling and
enjoy everything that intu Braehead’s world-class retail and
leisure destination has to offer. Individual session tickets will
go on sale in the autumn. Keep up-to-date with the latest
ticketing info and news at www.worldcurling.org/ecc2016
www.worldcurling.org
Hong Kong photo: © WCF / Alina Pavlyuchik
All other Your News photos: Courtesy of Member Associations
EVENTS
Armin Harder departs SWISSCURLING to
pursue new challenges
From SWISSCURLING
Armin Harder, the High Performance Director of the Swiss
Curling Association, has announced his resignation after
eight years of successful involvement with the national
association.
“I have enjoyed serving the interests of SWISSCURLING
and I know I am leaving with the organisation in excellent
shape,” said Harder. “The future of Swiss curling is as bright
as the present.”
Harder served a total of eight years with SWISSCURLING;
two years as a delegate, and six years as Sports Department
Chief which included four years as a delegate to the World
Curling Federation.
He first made waves by fighting for an open and fair (but
challenging) qualification system, thus averting the plan of
SWISSCURLING’s then-leaders to embrace a new selection
system for the national teams. As the architect of the current
system, he completely changed the elite programme and
introduced a major overhaul of the junior programme, which
required the hiring of new personnel and budget
streamlining to divert more funds to development, coaching
and athletes.
The results have been spectacular, as Harder leaves as the
most successful High Performance leader in Switzerland’s
curling history. Since 2010, a total of 25 medals have been
won by SWISSCURLING teams: 14 Gold, three Silver and
eight Bronze. Furthermore, Gold medals have been won
across varied disciplines:Youth Olympic Games, Women’s
www.worldcurling.org
Worlds, World Mixed Doubles, World Mixed, European
Men’s and Women’s, and World Junior Men.
Currently, Swiss women are ranked number one in the
world, the first time a country other than Canada has held
this position (World Curling Rankings, WCF).
Lepping re-elected to United States Curling
Association Board of Directors
From Terry Davis, United States Curling Association
Madison’s Rich Lepping has been re-elected as the chairman
of the United States Curling Association (USCA) Board of
Directors.
The Board of Directors is comprised of 21 members elected
throughout the United States, and is a member of the
National governing body of the United States Olympic
committee.
“It’s an honor and privilege to serve the members, athletes
and stakeholders as we continue to build this great sport,”
Lepping said. “Having just finished an unprecedented season,
winning five medals at international competitions, we will
build on this success and ready ourselves for the 2018
Olympic Winter Games.”
In addition, Courtney Schmidt (Gates Mills, Ohio) was
elected vice chairwoman of the Board. Other elections
include Mark Swandby (Madison, Wis.) to continue serving
as a USCA representative to the World Curling Federation;
Bret Jackson (Milford, Mich.) to the Governance and
Nominating Committee; and David Russell (La Crosse, Wis.)
to the Judicial Committee.
Hong Kong photo: © WCF / Alina Pavlyuchik
All other Your News photos: Courtesy of Member Associations
OTHER NEWS
IOC President praises curling’s Olympic Spirit on 50th birthday
The World Curling Federation (WCF) started celebrating its
50th year with a commemorative banquet in Basel, Switzerland,
last month where Dr Thomas Bach, President of the
International Olympic Committee, was the guest of honour. He
followed this by delivering the ceremonial first stone of the
World Men’s Curling Championship (pictured above).
WCF writer, Mike Haggerty, caught up with him during his visit...
"I want to say how much we appreciate what curling is doing –
in your ambitions you are truly Olympic and your sport has a
great reputation in and around the Olympic family," Bach said.
This was one of the key messages delivered by Dr Bach to his
audience of WCF members, National Federation representatives
and special guests when he spoke at the banquet. During his visit,
he also noted that curling is growing "because of the great work
being carried out in making the sport more popular and getting
closer to athletes – the WCF can be proud of these great
achievements."
Bach spoke about his personal journey with curling, saying, "my
first experience with curling was in 1998 in Nagano when I saw
it and followed it for the first time – since then I've been
following curling and I am not surprised any more about how
popular it is. My first experience with curling's popularity was in
Salt Lake City in 2002. When we first saw the [television viewing]
figures there at the time, we were really surprised. Since then
we have seen a good and steady growth."
While reflecting on curling's success, Dr Bach also took time to
lay down some challenges for the future.
"I think that curling should continue its effort to become more
international, and to make even people more familiar with the
sport – not just those who know it already, but also people who
are new to the sport."
"We see that the WCF is doing a lot with regard to broadcasting
and I think that the IOC's new Olympic Channel will help a lot
in this respect, not just to address those who are already curling
fans but also the ones who are potentially curling fans. I think
He added, "I think curling reflects the Olympic values very well. the Olympic Channel and the fact that we have the Olympic
It's a sport that's known for its fair play, for the respect of the Games in China offer great opportunities for curling. At the
competitors, and for respect of the rules. It brings a lot with 2022 Games in Beijing, curling will have a big chance to build on
regard to gender equality, so we are really happy to have curling a very solid foundation.”
in the Olympic programme."
www.worldcurling.org
Photo: © WCF / Richard Gray
OTHER NEWS
CONNECT WITH WCF
@worldcurling
/WorldCurlingFederation
/WorldCurlingTV
/world-curling-federation
MEDIA ASSISTANCE
PROGRAMME (MAP)
Five Member Associations made
use of the Media Assistance
Programme
this
season
producing content for their local
media and Association’s media
channels, For more information
and to get involved in future
contact [email protected]
Have your say on brushes and sweeping
There are just a few days left to share your thoughts on brush head technology and
sweeping technique ahead of the World Curling Federation Sweeping Summit at
the end of May. Follow the link to complete our sweeping survey before Monday
16 May, www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3PP266G
Join the Olympic Athletes’ Hub
Olympians and other elite athletes seeking information on upcoming Olympic
Games, how to prepare for life after sport, or simply to interact with their peers
can find all that and much more on the new and improved Olympic Athletes’ Hub,
a digital platform for athletes launched by the International Olympic Committee
(IOC).
The Olympic Athletes’ Hub was redesigned in a move to strengthen support to
athletes as outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the
future of the Olympic Movement that was adopted in December 2014.
The revamped Hub is a digital one-stop-shop where athletes can learn about and
share their own experiences on important topics related to their careers on and
off the field of play.
Website | App iOS | App Android | @athleteshub | #OlympicAthletesHub
NEXT EDITION
Thank you for taking the time to read the Newsletter for May 2016, our next
edition will be in September, at the outset of the 2016/17 season.
Contact Us
World Curling Federation
3 Atholl Crescent
Perth PH1 5NG
Scotland, UK
+44 1738 451 630
[email protected]
www.worldcurling.org
www.worldcurling.org
While many of us in the Northern hemisphere will use the next few months to get
some well deserved rest and plan for the next new and exciting curling year, we
wish our friends in the Southern Hemisphere all the very best as the curling season
is just getting underway.
I look forward to meeting up with many of you over the summer and will update
you with all the activity in the next Newsletter (if you wish to share news in the
next edition, please contact [email protected] by Monday 12 September
2016).