We are here to sort out the results of the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts as well as give out some awards. First, we look at the storylines that emerged from Team Canada’s victory over Ontario in the final and Alberta’s run to the semifinal. Then, we hand out some awards including Rookie of the Year, top shots and best “hot mic” moment.
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The Global Initiative for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Curling has lofty goals. They want to inspire all of curling’s stakeholders (from the very top to the grassroots) to make the sport reflect the communities in which it’s played. We are joined by India’s P.N. Raju, the USA’s Monica Walker and Sweden’s Sara Carlson to discuss the campaigns, resources, policies and practices the initiative is pursing to reach these goals. From helping organizations assess where they are in their DEI journey to identifying biases, the group wants to offer support to those who want to make a positive impact on curling.
Find out more!
Global Initiative for DEI in Curling
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“Run it Back” is our continuing series looking at important games from curling’s Olympic age. In this episode, we discuss the 2001 Scott Tournament of Hearts final between Colleen Jones and Kelley Law. Joining us is Sean Graham from the Game of Stones Podcast to discuss this game’s place in curling history. Among the topics: defensive curling, frost, hair brooms, Vince Carter, Frank Beamer and Sandstorm.
Game of Stones Podcast
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For the first time in almost a year we get to talk about major curling events. First, we preview the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts with Jonathan’s 10 things to watch. Then, we preview the Swiss Championships and Japanese Championships and tell you why they’re intriguing this year. Finally, we interject with an update on the cancelation for the Women’s World Curling Championships.
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Previously, we discussed how to apply the traditional sales funnel to the recruitment of new curlers. In that article, we briefly touched on how we can diversify our curling sales pipeline rather than relying solely on referrals.
While referrals will always be your best source for new curlers, getting more organic traffic can supplement our curling pipeline and doesn’t require an advertising budget.
Continue reading How your curling club can get more organic traffic
We are honored to join Kevin Palmer of Curl with Math & Curling Legends fame for an episode of his new podcast, Rock Logic. In this episode, we discuss the strategy behind the power play in mixed doubles curling.
Kevin previously joined our podcast to discuss the 1997 Brier final.
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Curling is in the process of maturing as a sport, going from amateur to professional. As we’ve talked about on Rocks Across the Pond, the sport has experienced growing pains since officially becoming part of the Olympic program in 1998.
When we’ve talked about this professionalization process, we’ve mostly talked about it from the high performance level. However, these growing pains are beginning to be felt at the grassroots level as well.
As curling matures and professionalizes, those of us at the grassroots level need to do the same in our approach to growing the sport by recruiting and retaining new curlers.
Continue reading How healthy is the sales funnel for your curling club?
In 1998, the Danish women’s curling team took home silver at the Nagano Olympics. They did this despite no dedicated curling rinks anywhere in their country. Since then, curling has grown in the country and Denmark has regularly sent teams to the Olympics. We talk to Danish curling president Henrik Christoffersen and Mads Nørgaard of Team Mikkel Krause about curling in Denmark, how the country is able to attract new curlers and the unique high performance model there.
COVID-19 Halts Danish Worlds Qualifier
Danish Curling Federation
Danish Curling on Facebook
Danish Curling on YouTube
Team Mikkel Krause
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What does it mean to be a member of USA Curling? What benefits does an individual or club get from membership? That’s now in the process of changing. USA Curling is rolling out a new membership structure where individuals, not just clubs, can join the national organization. In this show, we talk about what that means and the impact it will have on curlers and clubs with Mid-South Curling Club’s Evan Lu and USA Curling CEO Jeff Plush. Evan will also tell us the history of his club and how a small arena club in the south recruits and retains members.
Mid-South Curling Club on Facebook
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USA Curling CEO Jeff Plush was on the job for less than a month before the world changed due to a global pandemic. He joins us to discuss how USA Curling is navigating the pandemic and his plans for the future of the organization. He has high hopes to strengthen the sport in the US at all levels, from grassroots to high performance by drawing on ideas from both inside and outside of curling.
USA Curling Webinar on Diversity & Inclusion
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