We start by recapping the many national curling championships that just completed, including Scotland, Switzerland, Japan and the US. We finish off by discussing the recent hire of Jeff Plush as the new CEO of USA Curling, hear from some people who know him better than we do and talk about what his success will look like if you’re a club curler.
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Jonathan and Ryan preview the upcoming championships for the USA, Scotland, Switzerland and Japan (plus we spend about 30 seconds on Sweden). Will any young up-and-coming teams claim titles? Why is it so important that Japan is missing out on this year’s Men’s World Championship? Why doesn’t Jonathan like Tim Horton’s? We attempt to answer these questions and more!
For more on the USA Curling National Championships, check out Ep44 with the 12th End Sports Network’s Joe Calabrese. Click here for a streaming schedule for this month’s curling championships.
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Looking to watch some of the curling championships that are on tap the next couple of weeks? We have you covered. Click here to see a schedule of every available live stream we could find. This includes Canadian provincials and national championships. Look for our big preview of the American, Scottish, Swiss and Japanese championships to drop Monday, Feb. 3.
We will try to keep this spreadsheet updated as championship season rolls on.
Continue reading 2020 Curling Championship Broadcast Schedule
Jonathan recaps his recent curling trip to Lativa and we are joined by Joe Calabrese from 12th End Sports Network. Joe tells us about the birth of TESN’s webcasts and how their coverage of USA Curling Nationals has grown in the nine years they’ve been doing them. We also preview what to look for on the ice and on the broadcast at the upcoming championships.
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We return from our holiday break to discuss a number of curling topics. We look at curling’s rankings system, why it can be tougher for European teams to earn points, an important facility closure, the difference in how clubs are set up in Europe vs. North America and we get Jonathan’s perspective on Curling Canada’s High Performance Consultant Program.
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Adriana Camarena, the skip of Mexico’s women’s team, joins us ahead of Mexico’s trip to the 2020 World Qualification Event in Lohja, Finland. We discuss her start with the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club, how she became a part of Curling Mexico, her experience at the 2019 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship & 2019 America’s Challenge and how curling can continue to grow in the Americas Zone. We even have some news about the 2020 WQE field.
Links from this episode:
The Mexico Women’s Team’s GoFundMe Page
Curling Mexico Merchandise
SFBACC’s Dedicated Ice Capital Campaign
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Bobby Torres from the Curling Club at Penn State joins us to discuss his recent Growth of Curling Survey. It’s a fascinating look at how real curlers feel curling clubs can improve. We talk about learn-to-curl opportunities, marketing to the next generation and the unorthodox ways his club is attracting new members. Also, Jonathan and Ryan settle-up on their bad beer bet with the Game of Stones podcast.
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By Mark Steinwachs of Rocket City Curling Club
The world is a heavy place right now. There seems to be little chance to escape some form of negativity on a daily basis. Even the strongest of will can get worn down and places we turn to find a bit of peace can become stressful.
For those of us in the United States, Thursday is Thanksgiving. A time where we do our best to stop for a moment, be it with family or friends (or both), to put all the crap aside and focus on what is good in our lives. I think it’s time to take a moment and look at all the things that make our sport, frankly, so damn awesome.
It’s a double episode! Scott Graham from Game of Stones joins Jonathan to recap the European Championships, debate the broom fiasco and determine the losers of the Bad Beer Bet. But first we talk to Craig Nicko from Craig’s Curling Shoes about crafting crazy custom curling kicks.
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If your curling club doesn’t have an email newsletter, it should.
This doesn’t mean that you occasionally email the members of your club to let them know that registration is open or that snow has canceled that night’s games. A good email newsletter does inform, but it also strengthens the connection between members and the club and turns your potential members into new curlers.
Social media is a great tool that allows for authentic communication between your club and the community, but email marketing is where you can turn casual followers into members. According to OptinMonster, 60% of consumers have made purchases as the result of a marketing email, compared to 12.5% on social media. In addition to this, curling clubs are already at an advantage because “hobbies” and “sports” have some of the highest open rates and click through rates across all industries.
It’s easy to start including email as part of your curling club’s marketing plan and use it to help grow your membership numbers.
Continue reading 5 easy email marketing tips to help grow your curling club