May 2010 U.S. Curling News

aul Pustovar andthe American mendefeated Canada,4-3, to win gold at

the 2010 World SeniorChampionships at the UralLightning Arena inChelyabinsk, Russia.

Pustovar (Hibbing,Minn.) and teammatesBrian Simonson (Hibbing,Minn.), Tom Harms(Pengilly, Minn.), DonMohawk (Nashwauk,Minn.) and Dale Gibbs(Woodbury, Minn.) won thefirst gold medal for USA atthis event since 2002, theyear it debuted.

“I’m elated; it’s a fantas-tic feeling – after all thatpractice and all that workthat we’ve done in the lastcouple of years and actuallyall the practice in my entirelife,” said Pustovar, who

has represented the U.S. atfive world men’s champi-onships and now two world

senior events. The U.S. tied the game

in the eighth with a steal to

May 2010 Volume 65, Number 5 www.usacurl.org Established 1945 $2.50

CURLINGNEWS

U N I T E D S T AT E S

Celebrating 50 Years of Good Curling

1958-2008

INSIDE:

T H E I C E S P O R T O F F I T N E S S A N D F I N E S S E

NEW PRESIDENT: Firstfemale president elected toWCF. Page 2.NC EXPANDS : Charlottegets a curling club. Page 3COLLEGE CHAMPS:

UW-Oshkosh team winstournament. Page 6.TOP TEAMS: Nationalchampions crowned. Pages12-13.OPTIMISTS: Youngsterscompete in Regina. Page16.REPEAT!: Seattle teamdominates mixed champi-onship. Page 20.

Brown rink captures

national title, P. 13

Continued on Page 9

USA men play for

bronze, P. 14

See our complete line at Goldline.ca, or request a catalogue at [email protected]

Introducing...

...Podium Gold 1 800 465 6900

P

by Terry Kolesar,

Editor

Senior men bring home gold

2010 World Senior gold medalists (l-r) Paul Pustovar, Brian Simonson, Tom Harms, Don Mohawk

and Dale Gibbs.

Photo supplied by World Curling Federation

Bronze!!

USA team members embrace moments after winning the

bronze-medal game at the 2010 World Junior Women’s

Championship in Switzerland. Read more on 1.

Photo courtesy of the World Curling Federation

In 2010, OC Tannerextended appreciation tothose who have inspiredOlympic and Paralympicgreatness. The O.C. TannerInspiration Award honorsthose frequently left behindthe scenes. Those whoignited the spark.Encouraged the dream.Awakened the quest forglory. A parent, a neighbor,a teacher. A teammate, abrother, a friend.

It honors those who willnever receive a medal oftheir own. But instead madeit possible for someoneelse. OC Tanner received48 nominations from 2010Olympic and ParalympicTeam USA athletes. Morethan 1 million votes werecast to select the individu-als who supported, encour-aged and believed in TeamUSA athletes.

Selected honoreesreceived The InspirationAward, a 14K gold com-memorative ring bearingthe laurel crown from theancient Olympic games,designed by O.C. Tanner.

Congratulations to the

following Olympians andParalympians who honoredtheir mentors with the O.C.Tanner Inspiration Award:

Nick Baumgartner,Snowboard Olympian

Curtis Tomasevicz,Bobsled Olympian

Noelle Pikus-Pace,Skeleton Olympian

Stephani Victor, AlpineSkiing Paralympian

James Joseph,Wheelchair CurlingParalympian

Alana Nichols, AlpineSkiing Paralympian

DePerno

Continued on Page 8

Team leader earnsInspiration Award

DEPARTMENTS

Bonspiel Results – P16-19

College Curling – P6-7

Comics–P2

Curler’s Calendar–P9

Member Services–P3

Rocket Exhaust–P7

Tales from Sheet 9–P5

USWCA – P4

The World CurlingFederation has elected KateCaithness from Scotland aspresident. Caithness, whohas been serving as vicepresident since 2006, waselected to the post, gather-ing more votes than LesHarrison who was seekingre-election, at the annualgeneral meeting of theFederation in Cortinad’Ampezzo, Italy, in April.

Caithness becomes thefirst female president of theOlympic winter sport feder-ation of curling. She hasbeen involved with curlingsince the early 1980s. Frombeing President of theRoyal Caledonian CurlingClub Ladies Branch (1997-1998), she moved on to getinvolved with the WorldCurling Federation.

Since 2000 she has beenthe driving force behind theWorld Curling Federation’sdevelopment of wheelchaircurling and was instrumen-tal in obtaining the admis-sion of the sport into theParalympic Winter Gamesprogram in Turin in 2006.

Switzerland’s PatrickHürlimann was appointedvice president, taking therole that Caithness vacated.

Executive Board:

President: Kate Caithness(Scotland)

Vice president: PatrickHürlimann (Switzerland)

Director of finance:Andy Anderson (USA)

Members at Large:Graham Prouse (Canada)Young C Kim (Korea)Leif Öhman (Sweden)Niels Larsen (Denmark)Among the other deci-

sions made at the annualgeneral meeting held duringthe Capital One WorldMen’s CurlingChampionship, WCFMember Associations alsovoted to:

• Not reduce the gamefrom 10 ends to 8 ends

• Maintain tiebreakergames to determine playoff

teams• Keep extra ends• Reduce timeouts to

one 60-second coach inter-action with the time clockrunning

• Allow electric wheel-chairs at WCF wheelchaircurling events

• Prohibit communica-tions between the coachbench and anyone who isnot sitting in that designat-ed area.

• Move the World MixedDoubles CurlingChampionship and WorldSenior Curling Champion-ships from April to themonth of November, start-ing in November 2012

These decisions will bereflected in the new WCFRule Book which will beissued on June 1.

In other business,Slovenia was accepted asthe 46th member associa-tion of the World CurlingFederation.

A presentation of a silversalver was made to formerEuropean CurlingFederation PresidentMalcolm Richardson – win-ner of the 2010 ElmerFreytag Award.

The next WCF GeneralAssembly will take placeon Dec. 9 in Champery,Switzerland.

VOLUME 65, No. 5 MAY 2010

®

2 Celebrating 50 years – 1958-2008 MAY 2010

Official publication of theUnited States Curling Association

Editor — Terry KolesarAssociate Editor—Rick Patzke

Contributing Editor—David GarberDesign: Terry Kolesar

Next editorial deadline: September 2010

The United States Curling News (ISSN 1064-3001; USPS 392-020)is published five times per year in October, November, February,March and May by the United States Curling Association. TheUSCA and Curling News office is located at 5525 Clem’s Way,Stevens Point, WI 54482. Telephone 715-344-1199. Subscriptionprice for non-USCA members: $16 per year (North America), $26per year (overseas), payable in US currency. Single copy price:$2.50. Advertising rates on request. Established 1945. Periodicalspostage paid at Waupaca, Wisconsin, and additional offices asrequested. Postmaster sends address changes to US Curling News,5525 Clem’s Way, Stevens Point, WI 54482.

United States Curling Association

Officers

President Leland RichVice Presidents Kent Beadle

James PleasantsChris Sjue

Treasurer Jack BernauerSecretary Dave Carlson

Directors

Albert M. Anderson** [2012]Paul Badgero [2012]Kent Beadle [2012]John Benton (AAC) [2010]Jack Bernauer* [2010]Geoffrey Broadhurst [2010]Maureen Brunt (AAC) [2010]Dave Carlson [2010]Janet Farr (USWCA) [2012]Kathleen Harlow [2010]Chrissy Haase (AAC) [2010]Peggy Hatch** [2011]Cyndee Johnson [2011]Nicole Joraanstad (AAC) [2010]Kellie Krake [2012]Jerome Larson [2012]

Jan Legacie [2010]Richard Maskel (AAC) [2010]Gordon Maclean [2013]Tom O’Connor (AAC) [2010]Bob Pelletier [2012]James Pleasants [2010]Leland Rich [2011]Sean Silver [2012]Chris Sjue [2010]Tim Solie [2010]Mark Swandby [2011]Beau Welling* [2010]Sam Williams [2011]* Board-elected

** Voice, no vote

Off-site staff:

Sports Psychology Consultant

Dr. John Coumbe-Lilley

Coaching Development Director

Scott Higgins

National Wheelchair Development Coach

Steve Brown

National Wheelchair Curling Outreach Development Director

Marc DePerno

Head Ice Technician

Dave Staveteig

Head Games Official

Bill Forsythe

USA Curling National Office

5525 Clem’s WayStevens Point, WI 54482

Office: 715-344-1199 • Fax: 715-344-2279E-mail: [email protected] • Web site: www.usacurl.org

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER:

Rick Patzke, [email protected] OF MEMBER SERVICES:

Bev Schroeder, [email protected] OF COMMUNICATIONS:

Terry Kolesar, [email protected]:

Sandy Robinson, [email protected] SERVICES COORDINATOR:

Dawn Leurquin, [email protected]

AMERICAN CURLING FOUNDATION & MUSEUM

The Museum is located at the Chicago Curling Club,555 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062

CURATOR: James M. Miller Jr.2011 Glendale Ave.Northbrook, IL 60062847-272-7224

UNITED STATES WOMEN’S CURLING ASSOCIATION

OFFICERS

PRESIDENT Jennifer StannardFIRST VICE PRESIDENT Nancy SeitzSECOND VICE PRESIDENT Maureen GuaySECRETARY Jill OwensTREASURER Jean VorachekUSCA LIASION Janet FarrPROMOTIONS & Loraine WaybournPUBLIC RELATIONS

WCF elects new president;tiebreakers & extra endsremain part of world play

ndy Anderson(Glenview,Ill.) was elect-ed director offinance for the

World CurlingFederation at the associ-ation’s spring meetingheld in April in Cortinad’Ampezzo, Italy.

Anderson replacesWarren Lowe (FergusFalls, Minn.) who

resigned from the post in April.Anderson joined the USCA Board of

Directors as an Illinois director in April1990 and has served as both a member-elected and as a board-elected director. Hewas elected as a WCF representative andhas served in that role since April 2002.

As a member of the WCF ExecutiveBoard, he can no longer continue to serveas a USCA representative to the WCF andwill be replaced by USCA Director BeauWelling (Asheville, N.C.) as was deter-mined at the USCA spring board meeting.

by Joanna Kelly,

World Curling Federation

Caithness

USA’s Anderson namedWCF’s director of finance

Anderson

A

The Funny Side

Celebrating 50 years – 1958-2008 MAY 2010 3

®

Your contact: Bev Schroeder, [email protected]; 1-888-287-5377, Ext. 203

The following informa-

tion is a diary of sorts from

Ronda Harlow on the histo-

ry of how the Charlotte

Centre Curling Club got

started in North Carolina:

In October of 2009, Ijoined Triangle CurlingClub for a Level 1Instructor clinic. SueMitchell advised of keythings to do to get aware-ness of the club: facebook,website, logo, etc. Sue pro-vided us literature on thegame, the rules, and theother GNCC clubs. Shewarned us that with theOlympics right around thecorner, we needed to movefast to ensure that we wereready when the Olympicinquiries started.

On the ride back fromthat event, we landed on aname for the club. By theend of the weekend, we hadpurchased a web domainname and created aFacebook page

Within two weeks, wemet with a web hostinggroup and had an activeweb site.

Going into January, webegan working to secure apartnership with a local icearena. We also started solic-iting the GNCC for instruc-tions on membership and arock lease program. Wealso began working on clubby-laws using a samplefrom an existing club, pro-vided to us by the GNCC.

I was provided the localcontact information for aCharlotte person who hadpreviously attempted tostart a club. He had experi-ence from the ChicagoCurling Club and was anx-ious to help get thingsgoing.

The weekend prior to the2010 Olympics, web trafficand email inquiries beganto pick up significantly.

We helped the TCC witha pre-Olympic open housefor the media, this helpedus get a hang of the format.

The local NBC stationrequested a one-on-one les-son for footage of localsports connections as partof their Olympic coverage.That led to other TV sta-tion, radio and also newspa-per articles. We benefitedfrom a lot of great pressduring the excitement of theOlympics.

We decided to host aviewing party the Saturdayfollowing the start of theOlympic curling action towatch the U.S. men’s teamtake on Sweden. Eventhough it was the firstSaturday of beautifulweather, we still had a greatturnout of almost 30 peo-ple. With planning the

event only three days aheadof time and only announc-ing it on Facebook, wewere pleased. We used thisviewing party to elect apresident, vice president,treasurer, and secretary andalso placed a rock funddonation jar out. By theway, our VP (found at theviewing party) is a 50-yearcurling vet and more impor-tantly – an ice technician!This was a key find for us.Without his ice knowledge,we would be suffering! Wewere very fortunate to havesomeone like him in ourarea.

The following Saturdaywe had the first meeting ofour officers. This was animportant meeting to estab-lish priorities, and a high-level game plan for the nextsix months. This was themost challenging time ofthe entire start-up process.We were trying to gainalignment on bylaws, deter-mine the steps for incorpo-ration, get a state Tax ID, abank account, 501c3 status(so people would be morewilling to make donationsto the club), insurance,rocks, and equipment. Wealso had a promotionalevent coming up soonwhich we wanted to haveclub T-shirts for, so landingon the logo was important.We had to establish incor-poration before getting atax ID. Once we had thosetwo things, we could open abank account. 501c3 statuswas the next item to learnabout. We have the docu-ments ready but are waitingtwo months to file as therates will go down signifi-cantly soon. If there is anarea that we could haveused more guidance on, itwould have been all of theclub incorporation andadministration. We had todo a lot of research and aska lot of questions, right

when we were also tryingto manage hundreds ofmembership inquiries, icearrangements, etc.

Funding was anotherchallenge for us, as it iswith any club. Quite a bitof our initial funding camefrom the club officers. A lotof the basic equipment waspurchased with the inten-tion of making them a char-itable donation. Othermembers made purchases,submitting receipts with thedirection that those reim-bursements should be a sec-ondary priority – after pay-ing required expenses suchas ice rental.

We borrowed stones andhacks from the TriangleClub and that allowed us toget people on the ice asearly as March 7 whilewaiting to receive approvalon our club application andlease rocks through theGNCC.

We found out that wewere accepted as a club,and would be getting rockssoon, during our very firstLearn to Curl on March 7.

Our VP is a curling vetand works in promotions.He was able to run withgetting our initial order ofT-shirts, which we wouldwear during a promotionalevent with our local hockeyteam and sell what was leftover. We also gave him thenod to run with orderinglogo nametags, pins, andpatches with the intent touse these as a source ofincome for the club.

Our treasurer is new tocurling, however is thechief financial officer of hiscompany. His financialbackground was key to set-ting up the bank accounts,non-profit status, and taxID.

Our secretary is an expe-rienced curler and a com-puter programmer by pro-fession. He was able to

build databases that trackedmemberships and alsoarranged our league setups.

We have over 25 mem-bers now. We just receivedour GNCC lease rocks twoweeks ago and put them touse this past weekend dur-ing our third Learn to Curl.We are working hard to getlines into the ice within thenext few weeks.

Our biggest challengenow is bringing our mem-bership costs down so theyare more appealing to a

wider audience. As withother arena clubs, ice rentalrates are the big expensedriving membership costsup.

My biggest advice to anew startup club is to find apartner club. We would notbe where we are withoutthe help of the TriangleClub. They were a wealthof information and support– not to mention letting usborrow a few pieces ofequipment while we waitedto receive ours.

A look inside: How curling arrived in Charlotte

Open houses in Charlotte were a big attraction this spring. The

club became a member of the GNCC and USCA this year and is

steadily building its membership.

Photo courtesy of Charlotte Centre Curling Club

What else is going on??

By Bev Schroeder, Director of Member Services

The 2010 Olympics created hundreds of inquires ofall types. The USCA website had more than 34 millionhits/1.8 million visitors through the curling competi-tion.

The office sent out approximately 225 “How to Starta Curling Club” packets to individuals from 42 states.The majority of the inquiries were from Florida,Georgia and Iowa. Volunteers stepped up to assist thestaff with answering e-mails and putting together themany packets. It was greatly appreciated that so manytook the time from their busy schedules to help us out.

Approximately 34 Olympic open house surveyswere returned to the office, with about half being arenaclubs. For the clubs that responded, they conducted 99nights of open houses with over 12,000 individualsintroduced to curling. Learn to Curls and Open Housesare still occurring in various areas of the U.S.

USA Curling will be receiving 28 sets of stonesfrom the World Curling Federation under their deferredpayment program. The stones were shipped fromScotland and are expected to arrive in Chicago the firstweek in May. As in 2006, Kay Sugahara has againdonated the shipping costs from Scotland to StevensPoint, Wis. We can’t thank him enough for his dedica-tion to the sport and the growth of curling in the UnitedStates.

Potential new clubs are Palmetto Curling Club, S.C.;Hayward, Wis.; Orange County, Calif.; Valencia, Calif.;Cincinnati, Ohio; and Fort Wayne, Ind. There is alsointerest in Klamath Falls, Ore., and Wichita, Kan.

Clubs that are in pending status for USA Curlingmembership are Oklahoma Curling Club in Norman,Okla., and Whitefish Curling Club in Whitefish, Mont.

Level I Instructor

Debbie BasrakJoey BataRob CarrCory ChristensenKathy CosPeter DamJon FisknessCheryl Anne HagerMark HartmanGary HicksJennifer HoukMindy KosminDan LindgrenMatthew J. LyonsGordon MacleanMike MaksimchukBrenda MasonTracie B. Moore

Margie NelsonDavinna OhlsonColin RittgersMichele RittgersSean StevinsonFred StrautmanRichard WarnerDan WennbergJulie WennbergOkan Yurdakok

Level II Instructor

Charles BrownCharlene FitzgeraldJohn FitzgeraldMark HartmanDan LindgrenFred MackintoshLoreen Makishima

Certifications

Seitz named USWCA’s 63rd president

he USWCA All-Americanis a wonderful in-clubevent with a national fla-vor - clubs all over

America hold the event on theirhome ice. Thank you to all thechairpersons and their committeeswho coordinated their events andall those who worked toward mak-ing their All-American extra spe-cial and unique. Many clubs report-ed very competitive games andexciting finals whose outcomecame down to the last stone. Broomstones had a very interestingtheme this year: “All-AmericanHome Cooking.” It was a greatsuccess and sounds as though itwas delicious too! Again this year,Seattle hosted a multi club ‘spieland the participants included somejunior girls.

Six clubs hosted two events –a.m. for their morning league andp.m. for their evening league –including East: Nutmeg, Plainfield;Central: Chicago, Mayfield;Wisconsin: Kettle Moraine andPoynette.

The USWCA provides beautifulaward pins for the winners of eachevent, and we are proud toannounce the winning teams (skipnames first) for the 2009-10 curlingseason:

EAST:

Albany: Gloria Martino, GladysRyan, Chris Gordon, Betty Kelly Ardsley: Sandy Gaffner, HeatherMorrison, Mellisa Dominguez,Susan Lapham

Belfast: Doris Allred, KarenMacdonald, Tilly Atkins, EllenSmithBroomstones: Sharon Cuter, TeriOlson, Marsha Edmunds, AnnaLegedzaCanadian Club: Joan Partridge,Betty Gulesian, Dick Nestle, KateVanDemark/Ellie ManseauCape Cod: Martha Kenny, MarthaBalas, Linda Pistilli, Jane HannonChesapeake: Majik Jones, LauraHeuer, Pam Parks, Peggy TroianoNashua: Candice Clark, Pat Cobb,Joan Ford, Allison AnnardNutmeg a.m.: Diane Muldowney,Kathleen Blaine/Bobbie Stoll,Micky Manicatide, Jay KeillorNutmeg p.m.: Elly Bockley,Kathleeen Blaine, Julie Pasnau,Nancy Brautigam Philadelphia: Laura Hallisey,Sharon Duke, Joyce VanSchooneveld, Nanci SmithPlainfield a.m.: Sarah McCulloh,Emily Pike, Linda Carubia, AnneBuckalew Plainfield p.m.: Sarah McCulloh,Rachel Henogason, SharaDellatore, Grace Roth Potomac: Rebecca Baxter, LauraBarrantes, Cathy Dunn, Carol VossRochester: Val Swol, KathyLomnicki, Mary Amato, HeidiKippSchenectady: Fay Navratil, LauraKnussman, Barb Kimmey, JennWoodThe Country Club: Lee Ladd,Emmie Newell, Scoopy Stevens,Cory AlexandreUtica: Melon Sofinski, BrendaCard/MJ Walsh, David Palazzoli,Cindy Wydysh

CENTRAL

Bowling Green: Joan Freeman,

Scott Helle, Allen Rogel, RuthBrownChicago a.m.: Judy Johnson,Elizabeth Demsos, RoseanneMadden, Monica BurmeisterChicago p.m.: Liz Reid, DonnaSlabas, Carol Cleave, JanineAndrascoCleveland: Suzanne Dick, HilaryPeterson, Kim Barton, Kate OffuttDetroit: Karen Jamieson, JenniferParmenter, Diana Jankowski,Maxine GardnerExmoor: Marcy Calaway, AngelaPyle, Katy Gross, Hillary BensonMayfield a.m.: Dee Montgomery,Ann Hull, Bonnie Carlson, MartinaMcIsaacMayfield p.m.: Else Festersen,Courtney Schmidt, Liz Lewis, JuliaDibaggioNorth Shore: Mary Hilman, PatTurocy, Carol Falasz, ThereseAnderson

WISCONSIN:

Appleton: Jeri Norris, WendyWalecka, Connie Gluth/DonnaMendyke, Nina VoughtBlackhawk: Ceila Zaccard, DorisEwing, Joanne Picket, CathyIdzerdaCenterville: Lynita Delaney,Rhonda Adams, Mary Veglahn,Kelly Smith, Laura RoesslerGreen Bay: Joy Pohl, MollyWitt/Erin Wallace, TristenZimmerman, Ellie JarvieKettle Moraine a.m.: Judy Maier,Janis Duncan, Mary Rasmussen,Ali BedboroughKettle Moraine p.m.: FeliceRoberts, Jenna Kaschinske,Raschel Tomlinson, ChelseaRasmussenMadison: Kathy Peilage, BridgetMatzke, Sandii Zylkowski, Ellen

RoneyMedford: Andrea Metz, MissyBrunner, Jeri Koester, MistyHartmann, Jodie DrostMilwaukee: Linda Even, CarmenWitt, Claire Berquist, NikkiBernetich Poynette a.m.: Marilyn Noble,Mary MacLeish, Sumiko Maeda,Suzanne Floyd Poynette p.m.: Marilyn Noble,Mary Cooper, Brittany Falk, PennyMularkey Racine: Diane Kelly, AmandaHyttel, Jody Erdman, Michele MastWauwatosa: Stacey Bast, JillSorenson, Sue Dropp, MollyLundberg/Laura Schroeder

WEST I

Arden Hills: Sally Augustin, ShirlChartrand, Nancy Nelson, FranSorensonDuluth: Kerry McLeod, SarahMcLeod, Shawn Peterka, SarahChandlerHeather-Mapleton: Mindy Annis,Jody Trio, Brenda Stoltzman,Theresa SohreHibbing: JoAnn Getz, JaneMiettunen, Carol Peterson, SuePearson, Kathy MarturanoSt. Paul: Teri Murie, ConniNormandeau, Maureen Guay, RoseMarie Barton

WEST II

Coyotes: Karen Tait, Janelle Lowe,Chad Jordan, Greg Gallagher Grafton: Vicki Aasand, MaryJaster, Julie Callahan, RachelTharalsonGrand Forks: Erin Randall, SusanStern, Natasha Adamson, AshleighStaveteigSeattle: Mary Melton, LindaCornfield, Davinna Ohlson (SanFrancisco) and Emily Skulec

ince 1947, theUnited StatesWomen’s CurlingAssociation has

served curlers and promot-ed the growth of their sportacross the country. As Itake my place as the 63rdpresident, I am awed by thededication and determina-tion that has preceded me,and I am inspired by thesense of purpose that invig-orates the USWCA today.Women with the enthusi-asm to share their time andtalents have built successfulprograms over the yearsand today are expanding tosupport curlers in moreways for the future.

In order to achieve ourmission “to develop, nur-ture and promote the sportof curling among today’swomen and youth,”USWCA reaches out to

new and member clubs withinformation, youth equip-ment and junior bonspiels.Programs like the Women’sFive and Under and the All-American Event have latelyexpanded to include mixedevents that serve our newermale members and allowsmaller clubs greater eventparticipation.

While we have long

served our members withthe annual USWCANational Women’s Bonspieland National SeniorWomen’s Bonspiel, thisyear sees the launch of anew initiative aimed atserving women who havecome to the sport as fans ofelite-level Olympic curling.With a passion to improveskills, build expertise andcompete at an advancedlevel, these women haveinspired the creation of theUSWCA Women’s CurlingCircuit. This new cash-prize event supports exist-ing Women’s Bonspiels atindividual clubs by usingthose events as the forumfor an annual season-longcompetition.

In addition to our owncurling events, theWomen’s CurlingDevelopment Fund chan-nels grant dollars to youngindividuals and teams thatapply for funds to travel,compete and attend train-

ing. Providing opportunities

for curlers is our mission,but programs don’t thrive ifonly a few people knowabout them. Key to our suc-cess in the 21st centuryhinges on good communi-cation and we are workingto keep people informed onall levels.

Maintaining our relation-ship with the USCA andregional curling organiza-tions serves everyonethrough the exchange ofinformation and ideas; andcontributing to the CurlingNews is a valuable way ofreaching our constituency.But, making sure our mem-bers and prospective clubsknow about the opportuni-ties we offer as well asspreading the good news ofcurling to casual inquiriesdemands an interactivewebsite and a responsiveteam of people assuring itsaccuracy and timelyupdates. Several years have

gone into making the newwww.uswca.org website,and I hope you will checkin online and find out moreabout the work we do.

When I discovered curl-ing, I found much morethan ice and rocks andbrooms. What a world offriends! These are commit-ted devotees, dedicatedteachers and passionatecompetitors whose interestin the sport extends to itstraditions of good sports-manship and to its uniqueblend of athletics, strategyand camaraderie. Howcould you not fall in lovewith this game and thesepeople?

As I take up the gavelthat called women to theirwork on behalf of curling in1950, I look forward tohelping USWCA give backto the sport that earned aplace in my heart. Indeed,as our mission says,USWCA is The Heart ofCurling!

Nancy Seitz

Clubs across U.S. take part in All-American

by Nancy Seitz,

Incoming USWCA president

S

T

by Gloria Martino,

Chairwomen, USWCA All-American

4 MAY 2010 Celebrating 50 years – 1958-2008

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®

Emerging trends in the non-profit governance modelait long enoughand expert opin-ion will change.

The subject isthe size and nature of a boardof directors for non-profitslike the U.S. OlympicCommittee. Over time, somecritics felt the USOC boardwas too large, too inefficient,too expensive. Others felt bigwas not necessarily bad: bigmeant representative andactually forced transparencybecause people representingdiverse groups were on theboard; big meant manysmart, dedicated volunteerswere available to do work(although critics pointed toconflicts of interest amongvolunteers).

For decades until 2003,the U.S. Olympic Committeeboard of directors was madeup of representatives of itsmembers, including a mini-mum of 20 percent athleteselected by athletes, asrequired by the Ted StevensOlympic and Amateur SportsAct. This constituent-basedboard was large, peaking atabout 125. The USOCExecutive Committee aloneincluded more than 20 peo-ple. Board meetings werelarge affairs, but by showcas-ing Olympians and others,the meetings also served toinspire hundreds of staff andvolunteers to great efforts,and to demonstrate theworldwide scope of theOlympic movement.

The issue of board sizesimmered in the background.Then, before 2003, theUSOC suffered several scan-dals. In one case, it wasrevealed that the volunteerpresident had falsified herresume, claiming a non-exis-tent doctorate. In addition,two highly paid CEOs werehired from private industryand quickly fired when theirplans and styles did not meshwith the USOC culture. Themanagement seemed to be ashambles. Congress steppedin and forced changes (as ifthe government is expertabout honest and efficientgovernance!).

Earlier, the USOC hadpaid a national consultingfirm for governance advice.In this writers’ experiencewith both private and non-profit administration, usingnational consulting firmsoften means using the servic-es of young MBAs with littlereal-life experience, and pay-ing their firms’ senior man-agers handsomely for what isoften unenlightened buttrendy “management school”advice. In the late 90s, thetrend was to reduce boardsize in the name of efficien-cy, and to get rid of peskyconstituents on boards byfavoring “independent”directors. Of course, thisresulted in situations likeEnron, in which “indepen-dent” board members arebeholden to the chairman.

[Concurrent with the gov-ernance changes described inthis article, the USOC ful-filled its mission with a great

medal performance at the2002 Salt Lake City OlympicWinter Games. In the opin-ion of this writer, this successwas owed to the provision bythe USOC and through theNGBs of a great deal ofadditional money for athletesuse in training and pre-Olympic competition. After1998’s relatively poor per-formance in Nagano, theUSOC developed PeakGrants and other programs,which worked, and had utter-ly nothing to do with thegovernance model of thetime. It had to do with thestrong USOC leadership inthe 1990s.]

In the aftermath of thescandals, USOC managementwas cleaned out, and theUSOC board reduced to 11or so people, mostly “inde-pendents.” The USA againdid well in Torino in 2006,also due to spending moneyon athletes, not the new gov-ernance regime. But theUSOC was seen as arrogantby its member NGBs, whichhad been cut out of the gov-ernance process. The USOCwas quick to pressure itsmember NGBs to adapt itstrendy new governancemodel. Once again, critics’voices rose, and once again,major USOC failuresallowed critics to press acase for change. In the latewinter of 2010, news brokeof the most recent trend innon-profit governance, fromwhich I, with some glee,extract the following article:COLORADO SPRINGS

(AP) — A U.S. Olympic

Committee advisory panel

recommends expanding the

board of directors from 11 to

15 people as one strategy to

get more Olympic insiders in

on the decision-making

process. The panel, led by

former NFL commissioner

Paul Tagliabue, released its

findings Friday, and the

USOC board began dis-

cussing the 24-page report at

its quarterly meeting in

Colorado Springs. USOC

chairman Larry Probst said

he expected many of the rec-

ommendations to be enacted.

“My quick read is that … the

recommendations, are very

thoughtful,” Probst said.

“They are … evolutionary

changes to the board’s size,

structure and operating poli-

cies.”

The advisory panel was

formed last year, after sever-

al months of tumult that

included two changes at

CEO and Chicago’s embar-

rassing last-place finish in

the race to host the 2016

Olympics; Rio de Janeiro

won the bid. Although the

panel did not recommend

wholesale changes, it didn’t

hold back its criticisms. “For

too many years, the USOC

has suffered from the high

turnover of chief executives

and others in leadership

positions, from a lack of con-

tinuity in strategy, and from

a lack of transparency that

accompanied much of that

instability,” Tagliabue wrote

in the report: “These activi-

ties have been very negative

not just in shaping public

perceptions of the USOC, but

also in having had long-last-

ing deleterious effects on the

trust, credibility and confi-

dence of many key con-

stituencies and partners,” he

wrote.

The report calls for one of

the four new proposed board

members to come from the

Athletes’ Advisory Council

and another from among the

leadership of the national

governing bodies of Olympic

sports. The two others would

be “independent” members,

including a Paralympic rep-

resentative who would chair

a Paralympic advisory coun-

cil. In 2003, in the wake of

scandals that led to congres-

sional hearings, the board

was reduced from 125 mem-

bers to 11.

The panel said that move

was good overall, but needed

slight adjustments — includ-

ing adding the USOC’s new

CEO, Scott Blackmun, to the

board as a nonvoting mem-

ber. The advisory committee

also said the chairman of the

board’s term should be

increased and that person’s

role in international relations

clarified. The report recom-

mended several other adjust-

ments it described as “fine-

tuning,” much of which

would give board members

more time to learn the com-

plexities of the USOC and

build relationships domesti-

cally and abroad. Those

included doubling the two-

year renewal terms for direc-

tors, injecting more trans-

parency into the board’s

actions and making the CEO

the point person on all com-

munications. The report

emphasized the board

should, as a way to increase

the talent pool, eliminate the

requirement that board mem-

bers nominated by the AAC

or the National Governing

Body Council sever ties with

their organization as a con-

dition of service. “It broad-

ens the pool,” said USA

Swimming executive director

Chuck Wielgus, who

applauded the report. “It

gives us the opportunity to

make sure there are people at

the board table who have

intimate day-to-day knowl-

edge of NGB life. That’s been

missing for some time now.”

Tagliabue, who cemented the

NFL as America’s most suc-

cessful and popular sport

while he was commissioner

from 1989-2006, said his

experience in pro football

was “quite instructive in

terms of the NGB’s abilities

to serve on the board without

disqualifying themselves from

their current NGB position.”

He noted some of the most

respected team owners and

general managers “served

on NFL committees, high-

ranking committees, while

they continued to have their

positions at the team level,

and they were able to do

both. They were able to take

off their team hat when they

were working on a league

committee and look at the

common and collective inter-

ests of the league.” Since the

Tagliabue panel was formed

last year, Blackmun has

replaced Stephanie Streeter,

who was named CEO last

March when the board oust-

ed Jim Scherr, and the U.S.

team led the world with 37

medals at the Vancouver

Olympics. Overall, the tenor

of the conversation has

become more positive.

Tagliabue’s report is seen as

another step in the right

direction.

Editor’s note: The author’sviews do not necessarily rep-resent the views of theUSCA.

David Garber,[email protected]

Tales From

Sheet NineW

Among its findings and recommenda-tions, the U.S. Olympic Committee’sIndependent Advisory Committee onGovernance said it “spent a great deal oftime” discussing the optimal size and com-position of the U.S. Olympic Committee(USOC) Board of Directors.

The USOC Board was reduced from124 to 11 directors as part of governancereforms in 2003. The 11 include two direc-tors selected from nominees brought forthby the Athletes Advisory Council; twofrom nominees by the National GoverningBody Council; four independents, andthree who are U.S. members of theInternational Olympic Committee.

After lengthy deliberations and review,the Advisory Committee, chaired by PaulTagliabue, recommended that four votingmembers be added to the Board. A primaryreason given is that this would allow formore diverse skill sets and perspectives tobe available while still ensuring that thedirectors would remain fully engaged andresponsible for board deliberations. Otherreasons and recommendations can befound in the Associated Press articleDavid Garber included within his column,although this is just a snapshot of theentire report.

Going from 11 to 15 directors—afterdropping from 124 to 11—does not seemto represent a shift to “the most recenttrend in non-profit governance” as muchas it does a tweaking, or realization that in

seven years’ time, improvements can prob-ably be made. Indeed, in the AdvisoryCommittee’s words: “While ourCommittee proposes a range of measuresto fine tune the 2003 reforms, we endorsethe current structure and governancemodel and do not propose wholesalechanges in it. Instead, our Committee’sreview underscores that many of theUSOC’s current and ongoing challengeshave less to do with structure and gover-nance that with the need for a sharperarticulation of, and focus on, the USOC’smission, and with the organizational talentand strategies necessary to achieve thatmission.”

The Committee also states that:“Systematic change of this type cannot beaccomplished without patience, the align-ing of interests across organizations, andconsensus building. The support of theUSOC’s constituencies and partners willbe critical to the success of these transfor-mative efforts.”

It is always easy and often self-satisfy-ing to deride the actions of others, fromindividuals to small teams, from small andlarger organizations on up to the biggestgovernments. It is much more difficult toinvest in being part of the solution. Of allthe sayings that could apply here, I choosethese two, and have faith that the U.S.Curling Association will, too:

“It is easier to pull down than to buildup.”

~Latin Proverb~“Those who have free seats at a play

hiss first.”~Chinese Proverb~

by Rick Patzke,

Associate Editor

Let’s invest in being part of the solution


®

College CurlingYour contact: Rich Larko, [email protected], 847-729-0934 • www.collegecurling.org

UW-Oshkosh wins National Tournament

In spite of dwindlingfunds the College Curlingprogram continues success-fully and actually continuesto grow all over curlingland. Fifty six teams, morethan 224 men and womencurlers, competed in threeseparate competitions forcollege students this season.

The best news is thatmost of the teams werenew. More proof that col-lege curling is fulfilling itsgoal of introducing newpeople and having thosenew to curling stick withthe sport.

On several recent occa-sions we reported on per-haps the most successfulcollege program of all,Northwestern UniversityCurling Club in Evanston,Ill. With help, instruction,coaching and ice time atNorth Shore Curling Clubthis model student program,in just four years, hasgrown to more than 40curlers, with more than 30turning out for practice andserious competition eachSunday afternoon.TheNorthwestern students arealso welcome to curl in reg-ular club events with theregular members who haverecognized that college stu-dents are fast learners,young, strong sweepers andgood looking.

The real payoff is thatthese students, with propertraining and coaching, havefallen in love with the sportand learned that improve-ment comes from hittingthe bonspiel circuit. All sea-son long at least two, some-times three, Northwesternteams curl in various mid-west bonspiels, and arebeing invited back becauseyouth is a boost to agingspiels. In the short historyof the club they have wonmore than their share ofmedals. Now Northwesternwants to compete in USCAevents and plans to join thestate association and theUSCA....a perfect curlingworld and a good lesson forclubs all over the country.

At the recent NationalCollege Tournament,against more experiencedteams from around thecountry Northwestern field-ed three teams with one,two and three years experi-ence – they walked awaywith two golds and abronze.

We repeat this story sim-ply to impress on all curlers

and clubs that, when theyembrace student curling asan important club effort,college curling can truly bean important part of thefuture of curling. AtNorthwestern almost all thegraduates are settling innorthern areas with nearbycurling clubs and joiningclubs and paying dues.

We have reported alreadyon the events at BowlingGreen and Kettle Moraine.

The National CollegeTournament was heldMarch 12-14 at the Chicagoand North Shore clubs.Thirty-two teams fromacross the U.S. competed.If all teams had met thedeadline we could have had40 teams.

A feature of this 19-year-old event is that teams aredivided into separate divi-sions based on years ofexperience. That way allteams play at their ownlevel of experience. Theplaying field is as level aspossible. Gold, silver andbronze awards were handedout in each eight-team divi-sion. Here are the results:

Division 1:

Gold–University ofWisconsin Oshkosh: WillJourneaux, Kimy Rhyme,Steven Kawleski, MeganHenningSilver–Lake SuperiorCollege: Rob Carr, SarahMcLeod, Katy Haakensen,Kevin BlackwoodBronze–University ofWisconsin Madison: CaseyCucchiarelli, NicSchleicher, Bobby Splinter,Robbi Baumann

Division II:

Gold–NorthwesternUniversity:RobertSandoval, Jody Moser,Marc Palmeri, AlbertLipson Silver–VillanovaUniversity:Erik Sheets,Jared Coughlin, RyanKirchner, Kyle ConroyBronze–Bowling GreenState University 1: RyanMeyer, Matt Cooper,Charles Rooney, RachelBruecker, Kyle Henry

Division III:

Gold–NorthwesternUniversity: ErikSczygelski,Eric Mondor, StephanieChan, Max WassermanSilver–NovaSee:MiggyGutierrez, David Hooper,Teresa Hooper, BrianMaxwell Bronze–NortheastColleges:Kevin Leahy, AlanaSteinhardt, ChristopherAlexander, Evan Goodman

Division IV:

Gold–Carroll College 1:Tyler Tylinski, Aaron Kerr,Robin Kopec, SarahDiederichsSilver–University ofDenver: Scott Bleiweis,Charlie O’Donnell, MartyWittBronze–Carroll College 3:Marcus Yabuta, NicolePollack, Brian Voss,Brianna Mittelstadt

Many thanks to 32 teamsfrom a total of 36 schools(including combinations).Our congratulations to theaward winners. And, oh, somany thanks to all theschools, clubs and individ-ual curlers that worked sohard all season long tomake this program succeed.Special appreciation toDave Beemus, who ran theNational Tournament atChicago CC, and to LizReid, who ran the kitchen.Special thanks also to KenCooke, who ran the NorthShore part of the NationalTournament, and helpersJim Martin, Bob Schmidt,Bud Barrerre, as well asCraig Carlson (daughterAlex skipped the bronze-winning team at WorldJuniors), and Jim andDebbie Murray at NorthShore for all their help allseason long.

Finally, kudos to ourNational registrar, RobertRichardson, and PamOleinik for managing theCollege Curling website,www.collegecurling.org.

We sincerely appreciatethe hours and days of helpfrom so many of you.College curling representsone of the most importantrecruitment and develop-ment programs in all ofcurling. In closing, wethank the USCA and theChicago Community Trustfor their financial support.

Division IV winners–Carroll College 1: Sarah Diederichs, Robin

Kopec, Aaron Kerr and Tyler Tylinski (skip).

Division 1 winners–University of Wisconsin Oshkosh: Megan

Henning, Steven Kawleski, Kimy Rhyme and Will Journeaux

(skip).

Division 2 winners–Northwestern University: Albert Lipson,

Marc Palmeri, Jody Moser and Robert Sandoval (skip).

Division 3 winners–Northwestern University: Max Wasserman,

Eric Mondor and Erik Sczygelski (skip).

by Rich Larko,

College Curling Coordinator

Advertising disclaimer“None of the advertisers in this publication are

agents of the U.S. Curling Association, which hereby disclaims any liability for acts of any of the advertisers.”

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n 2006, the Universityof Denver (DU)would welcome itsfirst-ever curling club

as part of the club sportsprogram. DU would alsobecome the first collegeclub to affiliate with theUnited States CurlingAssociation (USCA). Theclub was founded bymyself and my roommate atthe time – WilliamReynolds. Over the courseof the past four years, wehave watched the club growin popularity and haveattracted many students thatmay not otherwise havejoined the sport. Also, theDU club helped Coloradomake a re-appearance onthe curling stage, as onlyone club existed in the stateprior to 2006.

But the question remains- how do you get collegestudents interested in thesport, and more important-ly, provide the support thatcollege clubs need? Theanswer, I believe, will be inbuilding a strong partner-ship with College CurlingUSA (CCU) and theUSCA – especially at theone-year and less experi-

ence level. Without both CCU and

the USCA, the DU clubwould not exist. The USCAprovides the link to clubsacross the country, accessto bonspiels, insurance,curling stone loan pro-grams, and the support of afull-time staff. CCU pro-vides an opportunity forcollege teams – which areoften not associated withthe USCA as DU is – achance to come togethereach March for a nationaltournament, and share sto-ries, ideas, and get to knoweach other. CCU can alsohelp provide funds to start aclub - which most collegeclubs need.

Getting the word out isthe most important thing,followed quickly by gettingstudents on the ice andplaying games. At DU, wemanaged to get the wordout in several ways: 1)Pioneer Carnival. Hostedtwice a year, it is an eventwhere every club at the uni-versity has a table and stu-dents are able to walkthrough the fair and sign upfor mailing lists of clubsthat interest them. 2) Bigevents! Qdoba Restaurantsapproached us and wantedto do something with us asa break during a hockey

game. “Curling for Queso”was born!

During hockey intermis-sion we ran onto the ice andhad a small competition tosee which “team” of fourcould get the most stones inthe center of the face-offcircle in 30 seconds. Eachteam represented a section,and the winning team wonfree chips and queso fortheir section. 3) Listserv.Whenever someoneexpresses interest, we gettheir email address and addthem to a listserv that ourschool provides (GoogleGroups works nicely aswell). We email out infor-mation every week – fromregular curling events tosimply all getting togetherto watch CurlTV - it helpskeep members connected.Of course, traditionaladverts work great as well,and we used our campuselectronic announcementsystem to post a news itemon the student/staff portal.

Experience has shown usthat we cannot retain first-year curlers if we do nottake them to the nationalcompetition – where theyget to compete with otherfirst-year curlers (CCUdivides the tournamentbased on experience level).This motivates club mem-

bers to stay in the sport andwork on developing theirskills – essentially “hook-ing” them. Of the curlerswho we send to nationalseach year, all of them returnfor a second year. Thosewho do not attend, or lackcurling opportunities, oftendrop off.

In the end, starting a col-lege club isn't an easy task -but the interest is alreadythere. Attracting membersisn’t the hard part – thehard part is keeping them.Getting members invested

in the sport in their firstyear is the most importantbit we accomplished it bybecoming coaches at ourown practices, making surethat members had theopportunity to curl at localclubs, and requiring thatevery year at least one teamat College Nationals iscompletely first-yearcurlers. If the USCA andCCU work together andfocus their efforts on newcollege-age curlers, I thinkthat we could really growthe sport in that area.

College CurlingYour contact: Rich Larko, [email protected], 847-729-0934 • www.collegecurling.org

Strong partnerships = success for college programsby Philip Harris, co-founder,

University of Denver CC

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Duluth

An eight-ender was scored by the Trevor Lemmon rinkon March 7, 2010, at the Burt Payne Junior Bonspiel,Duluth Curling Club, Duluth, Minn. The team was playingin the C-Division and all players were 12 years old.Members of the team were Trevor Lemmon, NickStienhaus, Sam Huck and Seth Doering.

Hibbing

During the Club Championship on March 14, 1998, atthe Hibbing Curling Club, the Dale Gibbs rink laid eight-ender. They accomplished the feat during the third end ofthe second event. Team members included Dale Gibbs,Gary Milani, Kevin Milani and Dan Pullar.

Itasca

Team Sura scored an eight-ender on Dec. 30, 2009, dur-ing the Itasca Curling Club’s Women’s league in GrandRapids, Minn. Team members are Nancy Sura, MarenHagen, Cathy Kilpatrick and Sandy Bromenschenkel.

Broomstones

The Jacobson rink from the Broomstones Curling Clubstole an eight-ender during the Worchester Cup Bonspiel(hosted by The Curling Club at Brookline) on Friday, Feb.19, 2010. Team members included Adam Jacobson, TerrySmith, Amy Smith and Michael Green.

Potomac

The fifth eight-ender in the Potomac Curling Club’s his-tory was scored on Dec. 16, 2009, in Laurel, Md., duringthe Wednesday night Capital League by the George Shirkrink. Playing with Shirk were Kenny Pellerin, Ron Aubin,and Barbara Shirk.

Exmoor

During the March Madness event on March 2, 2010, aneight-ender was scored by the Steve Schultz rink at theExmoor Curling Club, Highland Park, lll. Team membersincluded Steve Schultz, Steve Wright, Jim Calaway andRuss Brown.

Mayfield

An eight-ender occurred on March 17, 2010, during thelast night of Men’s League at the Mayfield Curling Club,South Euclid, Ohio, by the Brian Bammel team. Membersof the team included Brian Bammel, Joe Novak, RickDrake and Tim Carcione.

Granite (Seattle)

The Barry VanWieringen team laid an eight-ender dur-ing regular league play on March 15, 2010, at the GraniteCurling Club, Seattle, Wash. Members of the team wereBarry VanWieringen, Josh Freedman, Andrea Katkanskyand Jill Jackson.

Green Bay

The Blake Morton rink of Madison scored an eight-ender during the round robin play of the competitive divi-sion of the 2009 Green Bay Junior Bonspiel. Members ofthe team included Blake Morton, Calvin Weber, TommyJuszczyk and Tom Gabower.

Capital

The Grant Feldner Rink scored an eight-ender on Jan.27, 2010, in the Wednesday Night Late League at theCapital Curling Club in Bismarck, N.D. Curling on theteam were Grant Feldner, Will Kincaid, Matt Shappell andWard Knutson.

Eight-Enders

ACF&Mdonationsaccepted

Donations to theAmerican CurlingFoundation and Museum, located in the ChicagoCurling Club, can be sentto 555 Dundee Road,Northbrook, IL 60062.The curator is JamesMiller Jr., 847-272-7224.

Top 10 Yogi Berra Quotes on the Roarin’ Game:

10] “Ninety percent of curling is shotmaking andstrategy–the other half is sweeping.”

9] “It’s always good to blank the tenth if you wanthammer in the extra end.”

8] “If you don’t have any backing, don’t play afreeze.”

7] “I lost my gripper so I had to use an anti-slider.”

6] “When the ice speeds up, the rocks slow down.”

5] “Don’t take too much ice in case you don’t haveenough broom.”

4] “When you are trying to get around a guard,remember that it ain’t by ‘til it’s by.”

3] “We had the game won until we ran out of rocks.”

2] “If you throw the wrong turn, you’d better be onnegative ice.”

1] “We would’ve found a way to score if we justcould’ve gotten rid of the hammer.”

– Richard Maskel


®

My last article showingthe CommitmentContinuum got some inter-esting responses fromcurlers placing themselvesalong the continuum andreflecting on it. Severalconversations that folks hadwith me were aboutanswering the questions,“How do you know whensomeone is committed toqualifying for theOlympics?” and “How doyou know someone is seri-ous about attacking the(Olympic) podium?” Ithought these were interest-ing questions to answerfrom a psychological per-spective. But in order to dothat, first I will show howelite performance is viewedglobally in most sports thatsee themselves as competi-tive, and where mentalskills training fits in.

As I write this piece, Iwanted to remind readers ofmy background too. I havebeen working in curlingsince December 2008 andwas part of the support stafffor the VancouverOlympics. Recently, Ibegan working with triath-letes and my researchbeginning later this yearwill be investigatingapplied sport psychology intriathlon. In 2009-10 Iworked with a World CupSevens Rugby Team and aprofessional boxer. I havecoached at the World Cup-level and represented mycountry in internationalcompetition. In addition,my academic preparationand sport qualificationtraining has meant that theperspective I share is based

on studying, experiencing,researching and working incompetitive sports over thelast 20 years.

I will add two things,first, curling is the mostunique sport culture I haveever encountered andrequires a measuredapproach to working effec-tively, and second, if youare not interested in learn-ing about commitment, eliteperformance and sustainedsuccess do not read thisarticle.

Model of Sport

The Model of Sport hasfour levels: 1) physical 2)technical 3) tactical (strate-gic) and 4) mental. Elitesport professionals (coach-es, trainers, etc.) generallyaccept worldwide that with-out the necessary physicalconditioning that optimizestechnical and strategic per-formance and creates ener-gy no athlete will competeconsistently at the top level.Technically, an elite athleteought to be able to do whatthey need to do becausethey have superior tech-nique and it is consistentand proven under pressure

against top opposition.Strategy is concerned withthe expert decision-makingprocess being used in agiven situation and then theeffective execution of tech-nical play to achieve thestrategic goals. Great tech-nique with lousy strategydoes not achieve sustainedlong-term success at theelite level, and when bothare inconsistent, often youget “flash in the pan” suc-cess more frequently.Finally, mental preparationis the polishing process forthe elite curler.

Elite coaches and ath-letes know that if theirphysical, technical andstrategic preparation hasbeen done optimally overseveral years, they havealready been developingvery strong mental skills.What is left is the one per-cent that makes the differ-ence at the top level, andthat should be where a sportpsychology consultantbrings their value.

We know that someoneis committed to sustainedachievement and attemptingOlympic qualificationbecause we know thebehaviors, beliefs and val-ues that top athletes shouldact with. We also know thatthe behaviors of the yearpreceding the Olympicsshould be focused on thereality of competition, not“five rings fever.” Fiverings fever is the phraseused in the Olympic move-ment to describe the excite-ment of the Olympics over-coming the focus to per-form at your best level.Many athletes have to cope

with people around thembeing more excited thanthey are for the Olympics.This can add pressure andexpectation to the athlete.Sometimes the Olympicexperience seems all toosurreal when in reality all itis is a sport festival wherethe best in the world cometogether. But it is just acompetition. SuccessfulOlympians often settledown and treat it as a com-petition. Watch the finalgame in the movieHoosiers and GeneHackman measuring thecourt and you’ll get theidea.

Model of Participation

The Model ofParticipation is very impor-tant to sport psychologyconsultants because itmatches the expectations ofthe CommitmentContinuum with the appro-priate level of consultation.At the top of the pyramidthere are very few peoplecapable of competing con-sistently at the world andOlympic level. When wesay “compete” we mean topfive placing consistently inmajor events. If a team fin-ishes lower than fifth on asustained basis, it is consid-ered not competitive at theelite level. Being elite, thereis an expectation that nostone is left unturned inwhat legendary contributorto the field Terry Orlickdescribes as the Pursuit ofExcellence. This meansdoing what is necessary andusing the resources andapproaches that will helptop competitive play hap-pen every time.

As we descend the pyra-mid, sport psychology ismost useful in the develop-mental and competitive lev-els. This is because thefocus of these levels is onlearning, growth, improve-ment and skill acquisition,all of which we knowthrough practice and sci-ence from many Olympicsports. When these phasesare well executed, the sportexperience and perform-ance are better. What doesthis mean to Olympic hope-fuls now? It means that youshould be working consis-tently with a sport psychol-ogy consultant in theOlympic preparation years1-4 and require them toprovide you with a plannedand systematic psychologi-cal skills program at theteam, unit and individuallevel. Why? Because weknow it works. It workseven better when the coach-es and team leadership arecommitted to the process oflearning, improvement andachievement. At theOlympic level we knowthat mental toughness isdeveloped over years, notin months. Due to space constraints,

the rest of this article is

posted online at

www.usacurl.org/curlin-

grocks. On the right index,

there is a spot now reserved

for Dr. Coumbe-Lilley’s

articles. Please continue

reading this article in its

entirety online.

You can contact Dr. John

Coumbe-Lilley, USA

Curling sport psychology

consultant, at jcl@usacurl-

ing.org.

Are you committed to the next Olympic cycle?

By John Coumbe-Lilley,

USA Curling sports

psychology consultant

Here is Jimmy’s nomina-tion:

They say a person's truecharacter is best demon-strated when they sacrificetheir time and resources tohelp those in need.

On October 15, 1987, Iwas working for WasteManagement emptying atrash bin into my dumptruck when I was struckfrom behind. A truckpinned me in between bothvehicles. The extensivetrauma resulted in theamputation of both my legs,but my life was spared. Iwas 25 years old and sud-denly had no direction inlife. I spent the next 16years working random jobsand partying with myfriends. I lived a life thattruly had no meaning.

In 2003, I learned of theSitrin Success throughAdaptive Recreation andSports program in myneighborhood and contact-ed the program director. Ispent 15 minutes talking

with Marc DePerno on thephone that day, learningabout the opportunity toengage in sports such aswheelchair basketball, rac-ing and curling. I couldn’tbelieve that this strangerwanted to help me. Heencouraged me to come tohis office immediately.Little did I know, my lifewas about to change.

Initially, Marc taught mehow to play wheelchair bas-ketball and secured a grantfor me to receive my ownsport wheelchair. He thenassisted me with trainingfor a local wheelchair roadrace and even managed tofind a way to get me myown custom-fit racingwheelchair. He introducedme to kayaking and canoe-ing as well. But my mostlife changing experiencecame when he introducedme to wheelchair curling.From the moment I threwmy first stone in Decemberof 2004, I fell in love withthe sport. Since that time, Ihave won six U.S. NationalChampionships, represented

the United States at fourWorld Championships andtwo Paralympic WinterGames, and won a bronzemedal at the 2008 WorldChampionships.Throughout the entireprocess, Marc has been bymy side serving as my men-tor, my guide and myfriend. The countless hourshe has spent away from hisfamily to develop theSTARS program and assistme, and dozens of otherswith disabilities, speaksvolumes to his character.

These past seven yearshave been the most produc-tive of my life, not justbased on my athleticaccomplishments, but ratherthe things I’ve done off thefield of play. Marc taughtme that I could use my dis-ability as a platform to edu-cate others. He and I havetraveled to numerousschools and communityevents promoting disabilityawareness. We routinelyinterview on our local radioand television networks. Wespeak with individuals who

are recovering from trau-matic injuries at rehabilita-tion centers and hospitalsso they can realize theopportunities that lie beforethem. Additionally, I wasnominated by SenatorJoseph Griffo for the NewYork State SenateAchiever’s Award as wellas inducted into the centralNew York Optimus Hall ofFame for my commitmentto serving as a role modelin my community. Thesethings were unfathomableto me earlier in my lifewhen meaning and purposewas lost.

My life has changed 180degrees, thanks to Marc’sintervention. Based on mynewfound direction in life,my wife and I decided tohave a child and welcomedour angel, Janaya Rose intothis world three years ago.She comes to my basketballand curling games and hasbecome our team cheer-leader. I know my lifewould not be as fulfilling ifI was not involved withMarc.

Marc’s message is one ofability, not disability.Experiencing physical trau-ma isn’t the end of being“you,” rather a new chapterin your life. With his guid-ance and inspiration, mylife story has become a bestseller.

Continued From Page 1

Nominationsbeing acceptedfor Coach of

the YearNominations are being

accepted through June 11for 2010 USA CurlingCoach of the Year andDevelopmental Coach ofthe Year.

Nominations should besent to the USCA office c/oBev Schroeder by email [email protected], by mail to 5525 Clem’sWay, Stevens Point, WI54482 or by fax to 715-344-2279. Past recipients ofthe awards are posted onthe USA Curling website atwww.usacurl.org/usacurl.

force an extra end, wherethey’d steal the winningpoint to get to the top of thepodium.

“In the extra end wewere able to get the drawaround the guards to thefour-foot. And that rockstayed there the whole endand we just kept guardingit. And they had two mis-takes…they had two oftheir own red rocks up frontin that extra end, so thathurt them as they wereguards for us actually,”Pustovar said.

Sharon Vukich (Seattle)and teammates MaryColacchio (Falmouth,Mass.), Susan Curtis(Rogers, Ark.,) and BettyKozai (Seattle) came up

short in their quest for thebronze medal as Sweden’sIngrid Meldahl rink defeat-ed the Americans, 6-5.

“We’re disappointed, butwe had a very good game,”Kozai said. “I suppose theyare a very experienced teamand that may have giventhem an edge. But it wasdown to the last rock andthat’s the excitement ofcurling!”

Canada’s ColleenPinkney rink defeatedSwitzerland’s RenateNedkoff to win thewomen’s gold-medalmatch, 8-4. Australia’sHugh Millikin won thecountry’s first-ever worldchampionship medal incurling with a 4-3 win overSwitzerland for the bronzemedal.


®

Americans first, fourth at 2010 World Seniors

USA gold medalists (l-r) Paul Pustovar, Brian Simonson, Tom Harms, Don Mohawk and Dale

Gibbs wave to the crowd after receiving their medals at the 2010 World Senior Championships in

Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Continued From Page 1

USA places 10th at World

Mixed Doubles

Curling history wasmade when the Russianmixed doubles curling teamsecured the first worldchampionship title ever forthe Russian Federation.

In front of a crowd ofover 1,500 gathered in theUral Lightning Ice Palace,Yana Nekrasova and team-mate Petr Dron beat theNew Zealand pair, Sean andBridget Becker, 9-7 in thefinal.

Afterwards Nekrasovasaid she was overwhelmedby the win and the amountof interest their perform-ance at the world champi-onship had raised in Russia.She said the NewZealanders played extreme-ly well and that they were atough team to beat and thatit was not an easy win.

It is the first WorldCurling Championshipmedal for New Zealand.

The bronze medal gamewas just as full of suspense.With China’s Yue Sun andZhipeng Zhang, taking onthe Spanish duo, 15 yearold Sergio Vez and team-mate Irantzu García. Thegame also went all the wayinto an extra end of play,with the Chinese stealingthe final point to win 8-7.

Eighteen teams managedto make it to Chelyabinskto compete. Teams fromCanada, Korea, Norway,Scotland and Sweden even-tually had to forfeit theirparticipation in the eventdue to the travel disruptioncaused by the Icelandic vol-cano eruption.

The U.S. duo of SharonVukich and Mike Calcagnofrom Seattle finished the

competition with a 3-3record, which put them in10th place overall.

The 2011 World MixedDoubles CurlingChampionship will takeplace April 16-23 in StPaul, Minn.

by Joanna Kelly,

World Curling Federation2010 World Mixed Doubles

Round Robin

Group A:

Switzerland 4-0New Zealand 3-1Czech Republic 1-3Denmark 1-3Austria 1-3

Group B:

Spain 4-1Estonia 3-2Italy 3-2Hungary 3-2England 1-4Finland 1-4

Group C:

Russia 6-0China 4-2Australia 4-2USA 3-3Japan 2-4Latvia 1-5Slovakia 1-5

Quarterfinals:*Spain 030 020 201 8Estonia 101 102 020 7

*New Zealand 304 002 1x 10Italy 010 210 0x 4

Australia 101 001 1x 4*Russia 030 140 0x 8

*Switzerland 011 020 300 7China 200 103 014 11

Semifinals:

Spain 000 210 0x 3*New Zealand 211 005 1x 10

*Russia 406 101 4x 16China 010 030 0x 4

Bronze-medal game:

China 020 103 011 8*Spain 101 010 400 7

Gold-medal game:

Russia 310 002 012 9*New Zealand 001 310 200 7*last rock in first end

USA round robin games:

Russia 7, USA 3USA 9, Latvia 8USA 12, Slovakia 2Australia 6, USA 3China 13, USA 5USA 7, Japan 4

2010 World Seniors

Round Robin – Men

Group A:

Canada 5-0Switzerland 4-1Sweden 3-2Finland 1-4New Zealand 1-4Italy 1-4

Group B:

USA 5-0Australia 3-2Hungary 3-2Japan 3-2Russia 1-4England 0-5

Semifinals:

Australia 010 001 00 2*Canada 101 000 01 3

Switzerland 003 002 0x 5*USA 010 220 3x 8

Bronze-medal game:

*Switzerland 010 001 100 3Australia 101 000 011 4

Gold-medal game:

*Canada 002 001 000 3USA 000 100 111 4*last rock in first end


USA 13, Russia 0USA 9, Hungary 3USA 8, England 2USA 8, Australia 5USA 7, Japan 3

2010 World Seniors

Round Robin – Women

Canada 7-0Switzerland 5-2USA 4-3Sweden 4-3Japan 3-4New Zealand 2-5Italy 2-5Russia 1-6

Semifinals:

*Canada 311 021 xx 8Sweden 000 200 xx 2

*Switzerland 202 010 01 6USA 010 101 10 4

Bronze-medal game:

Sweden 021 020 01 6*USA 100 102 10 5

Gold-medal game:

Switzerland 001 011 010 4*Canada 010 200 104 8*last rock in first end


Switzerland 7, USA 5USA 9, Russia 4Italy 7, USA 6USA 9, New Zealand 4USA 6, Japan 4 (extra end)Canada 11, USA 1USA 9, Sweden 4

http://www.travelguard.com/unlucky?LEC-usacurl1

Key: O–Open; X–Mixed; XD–Mixeddoubles; M–Men’s; W–Women’s;S–Senior; WC–WheelchairC–Cashspiel; J–Junior; ST–Stick

Date Type

MAY 28–30

Hollywood, CA–Summer Blockbuster OSan Francisco, CA–Golden Gate O

JUNE 4–6

Great Smoky Mountains, TN O

JUNE 11–13

Granite, WA–Summerspiel O

JULY 3–5

Pittsburgh, PA–TropiCurl O

JULY 8–11

Cape Cod, MA XGrand Forks, ND M

JULY 11–14

Cape Cod, MA W

JULY 16–18

Cape Cod, MA MGreen Bay, WI–Tailgate O

AUG. 6–8

Green Bay, WI–Summerspiel STriangle, NC–Carolina Classic O

OCT. 1–3

North Shore, IL O

NOV. 12–14

North Shore, IL XWauwatosa, WI–Stick ‘Spiel St

2011

JAN. 14–16

Portage, WI–Junior J

Seattle’s Sharon

Vukich (left) repre-

sented the USA in

both the World

Seniors and the

World Mixed

Doubles in Russia.

Photo courtesy of

the World Curling

Federation

ugusto Perez andTeam USA could-n’t put a bronzeglow on a great

week at the 2010Paralympic Winter Gamesas Sweden kept theAmericans off the medalstand with a 7-5 defeat inthe bronze-medal gameMarch 21. Canada repeatedas champion.

For the second straightyear at this venue, Perez(East Syracuse, N.Y.) andteammates PatrickMcDonald (Orangevale,Calif.), James Pierce (NorthSyracuse, N.Y.), JacquiKapinowski (PointPleasant, N.J.) and JamesJoseph (New Hartford,N.Y.) finish fourth andwithout a medal to go withthe bronze they earned in2008 at the worlds. A flukeshot by Germany in 2009 atthe worlds stole the bronzefrom them.

“That’s the way thecookie crumbles. You gottalook at wherewe’ve comesince Torino.This year wemade it backto the medalroundsagain,” saidPerez, a two-time worldchampion inoutriggercanoe.

The U.S.improvedfrom 2-5 inTorino to 7-4at the 2010ParalympicWinter Games.

“It was a good run,”McDonald said. “For me,being a first-timeParalympian, this experi-ence was amazing.”

The win for JalleJugnell’s Swedish teamconcluded a trying few daysas their vice skip was dis-qualified on the eve of the

playoffs due to a faileddrug test for the use of abeta blocker called meto-prolol.

Much like many of theother U.S. games during the

week, thebronze-medalmatch had adramatic fin-ish but thistime it wasn’tfor a win fortheAmericans.Needing tosteal a singleto force anextra end,USA’sKapinowskigot her sec-ond stoneburied in thefour-foot and

the U.S. protected it untilJungnell made a tap-back ofone of his stones in the topof the rings to push it abouta quarter of an inch closerto the button than the U.S.stone.

The U.S. debated forabout four minutes as towhether to try a tough raisethat really wouldn’t pro-

duce much or to drawaround the guards and hopethe stone would curlenough to make the differ-ence. The end result wasthe raise attempt that didn’tchange the outcome, unfor-tunately. Jungnell opted notto throw his last stone, con-fident that the measurementwould be in his favor.

“We did consider thedraw, but we didn’t thinkwe could bend it enough tocount. We thought the rockwould hang out too far. Wehad the right idea with ourlast shot but it was a toughraise,” Perez said. “Thatwas a crappy shot.”

The U.S. started all 11games of the tournamentwith the last rock in thefirst end. During thebronze-medal game it did-n’t help them, as theAmericans got off to ashaky start, spottingSweden three points whenthe U.S. accidentally keptbumping Swedish stonestoward the button. WithSweden already having onestone tucked behind thecenter guard, McDonaldbumped in a secondSwedish rock and the U.S.was scrambling for ananswer in the first end.Perez was unable to tap hisstone forward for anypoints and actually promot-ed one more Swedish rockup for the three-point steal.

“Instead of trying to tap,a hit and roll was the bettercall,” Perez said after thegame.

Despite the slow start,the U.S. tried to get theoffense rolling throughoutthe rest of the match butSweden met them shot forshot.

Kapinowski, who hasfinished 52 marathons, got

two stones inthe house forthe U.S. inthe secondend andthings wereevolving bet-ter but theU.S. was stilllimited to justa single.Pierce con-verted a dou-ble takeout tolimit the Swedes in thethird end to a single aswell. With the last-rockadvantage back in hand, theU.S. tied the game in thefourth with a critical threepoints as the Americansprotected two stones aroundthe four-foot and Pereztapped forward the third toget back in the game.

They’d force Sweden toa single again in the fifthand got to work in the sixthend but things didn’t go asplanned as Perez ended updrawing against three

Swedishrocks but washeavy andfloated hisstone to theback of theeight-foot togive a pointto Sweden.The seventhend unrav-eled muchlike the sixth,with Sweden

piling in the stones and theU.S. chasing and missingout on opportunities.

Canada’s Jim Armstrongrink held off a late rallyfrom Korea’s Haksung Kimto earn the gold in front ofjust under 5,000 cheeringfans. The gold-medal gameconcluded about 10 secondsafter the measurement inthe bronze-medal game wasdetermined. Korea tried inearnest to extend the game-with back-to-back steals butArmstrong sealed the winwith a takeout.


®

Americans just miss bronze at 2010 Paralympic Winter Games

by Terry Kolesar,

Editor

A

Jacqui Kapinowski prepares to throw her lead stone while James Joseph assists and

James Pierce times her stone during action at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.

“That’s the

way the cookie

crumbles. You

gotta look at

where we’ve come

since Torino. This

year we made it

back to the medal

rounds again,”

Augusto Perez,

Skip, Team USA

“It was a good run.

For me, being a

first-time

Paralymian, this

experience was

amazing,”

Patrick McDonald,

Vice skip,

Team USA

Coach Steve Brown chats with Team USA members Jacqui

Kapinsowski (from left), James Pierce, Patrick McDonald and

Augusto Perez during a timeout.

2010 Paralympic Winter Games

Round Robin

Canada 7-2USA 7-2Korea 6-3Sweden 5-4Italy 5-4Great Britain 3-6Switzerland 3-6Germany 3-6Norway 3-6Japan 3-6

Tiebreaker:

*Italy 301 001 00 5Sweden 010 110 12 6

Semifinals:

Sweden 010 031 0x 5*Canada 302 300 2x 10

*USA 202 000 10 5Korea 010 311 01 7

Bronze-medal game:

*USA 010 300 10 5Sweden 301 011 01 7

Gold-medal game:

*Canada 310 400 00 8Korea 001 022 11 7*last rock in first end


USA 9, Korea 6Canada 10, USA 5USA 6, Germany 5USA 8, Italy 2USA 8, Great Britain 7 (extra end)Sweden 6, USA 4USA 9, Norway 8USA 8, Japan 3USA 8, Switzerland 2

2010 U.S. Paralympic wheelchair curling team members pose

with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama

during a recent visit to the White House to honor the 2010

Olympic and Paralympic teams. Athletes included (l-r) Patrick

McDonald, Augusto “Goose” Perez, Jacqui Kapinowski, James

“Jimmy Jam” Joseph and James Pierce.

All photos courtesy of the U.S. Olympic Committee

n their last gametogether, USA’sAlexandra Carlsonand Tabitha Peterson

capped their junior careerswith a bronze medal March14 at the 2010 World JuniorChampionships in Flims,Switzerland.

The Americans won thefirst medal for the U.S. jun-ior women’s curling pro-gram since 2003 as theydefeated Switzerland’sManuela Siegrist rink, 9-7,in an extra end.

“That’s incredible, prettygood, especially as it wasour last game together as ateam, because me and mythird age out,” Carlson saidafter the game. “We justhad our weight and goteverything right.”

Carlson (Wayzata,Minn.) and Peterson(Eagan, Minn.) competed intheir final competition atthe juniorlevel asthey’ve sur-passed theage limit (21)for world andnational jun-ior competi-tion.TeammatesTara Peterson(Eagan, Minn.), SophieBrorson (Duluth, Minn.)and Miranda Solem(Cohasset, Minn.) will haveto form a new team for nextseason to try to makeanother run at the worldjunior gold medal.

“The game went prettyquick, except for that oneend where we missed ourtwo hits and gave them

four; that wasn’t very fun,”Carlson said. “That extraend was played well.”

The U.S. team foundthemselves down 2-0 earlyon but rallied to score in

three straightends to builda 6-2 leadafter sixends. A shakyseventh endhanded theSwiss ladiesfour pointsbut theAmericanslimited them

to a single in the 10th endto force the extra end,where the U.S. sealed thewin with a deuce.

“We had a lot of badstones,” Swiss skip Siegristsaid. “It was not possible todraw for two in the tenthend.”

Sweden’s AnnaHasselborg rink went on to

win the gold medal as theydefeated Canada’s RachelHoman, 9-3. In the men’scompetition, Switzerland’sBenoit Schwarz capturedthe gold-medal with a 7-6win over Scotland’s AllyFraser. Canada’s JakeWalker team won thebronze after getting pastChina’s Yangong Ji, 9-1.

Sean Beighton(Edmonds, Wash.) and theAmerican men didn’t havequite the week they’d antic-ipated, finishing with a 1-8record. Beighton and team-mates Derrick Mclean(Bothell, Wash.), SamGaley (Seattle), Joe Purvis

(Kenmore, Wash.) andAaron Tasa (Bemidji,Minn.) lost their first sevenmatches before earning a 7-3 win over Russia.

Tasa was the recipient ofthe men’s sportsmanshipaward along with France’sMarie Coulet. Coulot andTasa were selected for theaward by fellow players atthe championships. All par-ticipants at the WorldJuniors are invited to nomi-nate a fellow competitorwho, in their view, has bestexemplified the traditionalvalues of skill, honesty, fairplay, sportsmanship andfriendship during the event.


®

USA juniors bring home the bronze

Members of Team USA embrace after winning the bronze medal at the 2010 World Juniors in

Flims, Switzerland.


by Terry Kolesar,

Editor

I

“We just had our

weight and got

everything right,”

Alexandra

Carlson,

Skip, Team USA

2010 World Juniors

Round Robin – Men

Scotland 8-1Switzerland 7-2China 7-2Canada 6-3Norway 6-3Sweden 4-5Finland 3-6Denmark 2-7USA 1-8Russia 1-8

Tiebreaker:

*Canada 200 101 031 x 8Norway 010 010 200 x 4

Page 1-2:

*Scotland 200 200 100 1 6China 002 000 001 0 3

Page 3-4:

Canada 001 100 020 0 4*Switzerland 100 020 000 2 5

Semifinal:

*China 000 100 011 0 3Switzerland 000 011 000 2 4

Bronze-medal game:

Canada 112 100 20x x 7*China 000 001 00x x 1

Gold-medal game:

Scotland 200 020 110 0 6*Switzerland 001 102 002 1 7*last rock in first end


China 5, USA 3Norway 7, USA 5Canada 5, USA 3Sweden 13, USA 2Switzerland 7, USA 5Denmark 10, USA 4Scotland 8, USA 3USA 7, Russia 3Finland 8, USA 2

2010 World Juniors


Canada 8-1Sweden 7-2USA 6-3Switzerland 6-3Russia 5-4France 3-6China 3-6Czech Republic 3-6Germany 2-7Scotland 2-7

Page 1-2:

*Canada 034 010 10x x 9Sweden 000 101 01x x 3

Page 3-4:

Switzerland 010 101 010 x 4*USA 002 010 102 x 6

Semifinal:

USA 000 001 000 x 1*Sweden 011 110 110 x 6

Bronze-medal game:

Switzerland 020 000 040 10 7*USA 000 321 010 02 9

Gold-medal game:

*Sweden 100 101 221 x 8Canada 020 010 000 x 3*last rock in first end


Sweden 10, USA 4Canada 8, USA 5USA 7, China 5USA 8, France 5USA 7, Scotland 6USA 11, Germany 3Czech Republic 7, USA 4USA 8, Switzerland 7 (extra end)USA 6, Russia 5

USA’s Aaron Tasa received the

World Junior Men’s Sports-

manship Award (above).

Tara Peterson (above, from left) and Sophie Brorson bring a

stone across the hogline during playoff action. USA men in

action (bottom).

Summer weather means camp timeThe USCA will host three junior

camps over the next few months.Registration paperwork is currentlyposted on the USA Curling website atwww.usacurl.org for the Cape Codand Green Bay camps. The third, anelite skills camp, will take place in St.Paul this fall but the information isstill being finalized so please checkthe website for upcoming details onthat camp.

Cape Cod

The 13th annual Cape Cod JuniorCamp will take place July 18-21 inFalmouth, Mass. Applications are dueJune 7. The camp coordinator is MarkMooney, 585-797-5344,[email protected].

Green Bay

The 22nd Annual Summer JuniorCurling Camp will take place thisyear in Green Bay, Wis., on July 23-

25. Registration is based on a first-come, first-served basis. After the first48 slots are filled, the remainingapplicants will be placed on a waitinglist. The camp coordinator is PatriceGabower, [email protected], 608-757-0544 or 608-201-5921.

The USCA is seeking certifiedinstructors for these camps. If you areinterested, please contact each campcoordinator listed above.


®

Fenson rink captures men’s national title

Put the sauce on, mama.“Pete the pizza man” isreturning to Italy.

Pete Fenson, owner andoperator of a pizza restau-rant in Bemidji, Minn.,helped deliver USA’s firstOlympic medal in curlingwhen he led his team to thebronze in the 2006 Gamesin Torino, Italy. He andteammates (Bemidji,Minn.), Shawn Rojeski(Chisholm, Minn.), JoePolo (Duluth, Minn.) andTyler George (Duluth,Minn.) defeated the MikeFarbelow rink, 8-4, atWings Stadium to win the2010 USA Curling NationalChampionship. They wenton to represent USA at the2010 Capital One WorldCurling ChampionshipsApril 3-11 in Cortina, Italy,finishing fourth.

“It feels good to be goingback to Italy,” said Fenson,42, after the win. “That’swhy we came here, andwe’ll go back and see whatwe can do. We’ll try tobring backsome hard-ware.”

Fenson’steam nevertrailedFarbelow(Minneapolis,Minn.) andteammatesEric Fenson(Bemidji,Minn.), JeffPuleo (Forest Lake, Minn.)and Mark Willmert(Minneapolis) in the goldmedal game. Farbelow—gracious as always, win orlose—praised his oppo-nents. “They played sowell. They deserved towin,” he said.

The only real miscue byFenson’s team was the fail-ure to blank the first end asattempted. But whenFarbelow flashed on a take-

out trying to blank the sec-ond end, giving Fenson’steam a 2-0 lead, the make-up of the game changed

immediately.“That’s

absolutelywhat we did-n’t want tohappen,” saidFarbelow. “Ittook us total-ly off ourgame plan,which was tokeep it sim-ple. That just

changed the whole sce-nario.”

“That was big,” agreedFenson. “He flashed that hitand I can feel my guys justfalling into a groove.”

“Mike was talking to mepartway through the gameabout teams giving us anearly lead the last few daysand how they didn’t want todo that,” added Fenson,whose team immediatelycranked the pressure up on

the ice. “Our guys just did-n’t miss.”

Farbelow concurred:“They just didn’t give usany opportunities to getback in. But I’m proud ofthe way my guys played.They did so well.”

Farbelow hit for one inthe third end, but Fenson’steam used the hammer inthe fourth for a double take-out and 4-1 lead. TeamFarbelow was setting up fora deuce in the fifth untilfailing to get a secondcounter in the rings, allow-ing Fenson to get out of theend. Farbelow wound updrawing for one againstfour counters this time.

The game totally gotaway from Farbelow’s teamin the sixth, when Fenson’steam got two rocks behindcenter guards early in theend. The Fenson foursomewas already counting threewhen Farbelow stepped upwith his first rock. He trieda double takeout, butremoved only one. AfterFenson replaced that stone,Farbelow tried a freeze tominimize the damage. Buthis shot caught on a guardand Fenson had an opendraw for four.

“He tried to get into thepocket there, but I stillprobably would have had ashot,” Fenson said. “I don’tknow if he could even havegotten better than secondcount. His shot looked likeit was coming in nice andthen it just sort of turnedover on him.”

“We knew that was kindof the ballgame,” saidFenson, who was playing inhis 17th national champi-onship. He has five previ-ous national titles, the mostrecent in 2006 and the firstin 1993. He and his brother,Eric, won the title togetherin 2003.

Farbelow’s team played

gamely on, trying to get atleast a deuce to get backinto the game. He got thatin the eighth, when Fensonrolled out on a takeout andleft an open draw for two.But the Fenson team wasn’tgoing to be denied, withdouble peels by Polo andRojeski providing theexclamation points to theapproval of the approxi-mately 1,000 fans in thestands. Team Farbelowshook after nine ends.

“We’re happy with theway we played, although alittle disappointed with thelast day here, of course,”said Farbelow in summing

up his fourth nationals, andfirst finals appearance.“They did such a nice jobhere. It was a great experi-ence.”

by Rick Patzke,

Associate Editor

2010 USA Curling National Championships • March 6-13 • WINGS Stadium • Kalamazoo, Mich.

2010 U.S. National champions (l-r) Pete Fenson, Shawn Rojeski, Joe Polo and Tyler George.

Photo by Pat Brownewell of Brownewell Photography

2010 U.S. Nationals

Round Robin – Men

Pete Fenson 6-3Mike Farbelow 6-3Matt Hames 6-3Matt Stevens 6-3Craig Brown 5-4Wes Johnson 5-4Todd Birr 4-5Kevin Kakela 3-6Blake Morton 3-6Bryan Wight 1-8

Tiebreaker games for seeding

(winners to Page 1-2 game):

*Fenson 202 010 210 2 10Stevens 020 102 002 0 7

Hames 012 010 001 0 5*Farbelow 100 200 020 1 6

Page 1-2:

Fenson 220 102 102 x 10*Farbelow 001 010 020 x 4

Page 3-4:

Hames 020 020 10x x 5*Stevens 502 101 01x x 10

Semifinal:

*Farbelow 102 021 04x x 10Stevens 010 200 20x x 5

Final:

*Fenson 110 204 000 x 8Farbelow 001 010 020 x 4*last rock in first end

“They played so

well. They

deserved to win,”

Mike Farbelow,

after 8-4 loss to

Pete Fenson in the

gold-medal game.

Gabrielle Coleman (Mountain View, Calif.) accepts the

Ann Brown Sportsmanship Award from USCA Director

Andy Anderson during the closing ceremony of the 2010

U.S. National Championships in Kalamazoo. Kevin

Kakela (Rolla, N.D.) was the male recipient but not in

attendance for the presentation.

Photo by Pat Brownewell of Pat Brownewell Photography

Rojeski and Polo display their powerful sweeping skills (top).

Team Farbelow vice skip Eric Fenson (middle) delivers a stone

during the men’s gold-medal match up at the 2010 Nationals at

Wings Stadium. The gold medalists embrace (bottom).

Photos by Pat Brownewell, Brownewell Photography


®

2010 USA Curling National Championships • March 6-13 • WINGS Stadium • Kalamazoo, Mich.

Brown leads team to women’s championship

In a tense battle betweentwo former longtime team-mates, the “new” skip over-came the veteran, as ErikaBrown’s team won the2010 USA Curling NationalChampionship with a 5-4,extra-end win over the PattiLank rink at Wings StadiumMarch 13.

Brown’s team won thegame with a dead-on hit forone in the 11th end, secur-ing Brown’s first-everWorld Women’sChampionship appearanceas a skip. Brown, born inMadison, Wis., and nowliving in Oakville, Ontario,last played in a worldchampionship in 2004, asthird for Lank. They fin-ished fourth that year.Brown last skipped at theworld level in the 1994 jun-ior championships (age 21and under), winning silver.

“It’s a great feeling,”said Brown, with team-mates Nina Spatola(McFarland, Wis.), AnnSwisshelm (Chicago) andLaura Hallisey (Medfield,Mass.) nearby. The 37-year-old physician’s assistantsaid she was anticipating agold-medalshowdownagainst herformer skipall week.

“Weplayedtogether fornine years,”said Brown,who wonthree nationaltitles with Lank and nowthree more without. Thiswas Brown’s 17th nationalchampionship appearance,and 12th gold medal game.“My expectation going intothe week was that wewould meet Patti in thefinal and it would be a tightgame, going 10 or 11 ends.But to me it wasn’t reallyabout who we were play-ing. This would feel fantas-tic against anybody.”

Said Lank: “It was funbecause it was a goodgame. That’s probably thebest game I’ve seen themplay. I’m a little tired of sil-ver, though.”

Lank’s team was the run-ner-up in the 2009Nationals, which alsoserved as the 2010 U.S.Olympic Team Trials forcurling. She was also run-ner-up in 2008, and fivetimes previously. Lank hascompeted in 16 nationalchampionships since 1994,and made the final 11times. She has won the titlefour times. Born in Midale,Saskatchewan, Canada,

Lank also competed in sixCanadian provincial cham-pionships.

Lank (Lewiston, N.Y.)and teammates AileenSormunen (Duluth, Minn.),Caitlin Maroldo (Rochester,N.Y.) and Jessica Schultz(Richfield, Minn.) got onthe board first, stealing onein the opening end whenBrown tried to hit and rollfor one and instead rolledout of count.

After blanking the sec-ond end, Brown was forcedinto taking one in the third.She returned the favor inthe fourth, with Lank hav-ing to draw the four-footagainst two opposing coun-ters. Lank was perfect onthis draw, in contrast to oneearlier that went to thehack.

The game turned inTeam Brown’s favor in thefifth. Lank just missed adouble takeout with her lastshot, but still had firstcount. That is until Browndelivered a precise tap backto score two for a 3-2 lead.

“It felt like it took untilthe fifth end before wefinally took advantage ofsome opportunities,” saidBrown. “We were waitingand waiting. The fifth end

was huge. Wewere happyto be back ontop, and tohave donesomethingwith the ham-mer.”

Afterblanking thesixth, Lank’steam triedvaliantly to

set up a deuce in the sev-enth end, but couldn’t getburied behind cornerguards. Both teams werestill not sharp on the draw,with Sormunen putting hersecond shot in the hack.Lank was eventually forcedto hit for one and a 3-3score.

“Both teams tried tothrow the corner guards up,but we just couldn’t getthem in place,” remarkedBrown. “We ended up witha lot of play in the rings,which I don’t think wasnecessarily the game planfor either team.”

Brown was facing threeopposing counters in theeighth when she settled inwith the last rock of theend. She opted to hit shotrock for one rather thandraw, and made it cleanly.

Lank’s team was effi-cient at blanking the ninthend to retain the last-rockadvantage heading home inthe 10th. But things didn’tgo quite so smoothly in thatlast end of regulation, with

Schultz’s two corner guardattempts both winding up inthe house, where Brown’steam quickly pounced onthem. By the time Maroldodelivered the fourth rockfor her team, there werealready four of the opposi-tion’s sitting in the house.

“We got a big breakwhen they didn’t get theircorner guard up,” Brownsaid. Her team also got abreak when Spatola’s firstshot appeared to be off themark but turned into anangle raise takeout.

“They got a little luckythere,” said Lank. “But westill had a chance for ourdeuce.”

After Spatola’s next take-out attempt jammed, TeamLank consulted with CoachNeil Harrison and called forSormunen to draw aroundan opposing stone in the topof the four-foot for secondcount. But Sormunen’sstone crashed into itinstead, and the advantageswung back to the otherside.

Brown hit and stuck withher last shot to leave herteam counting two. “If shedoesn’t hit that perfectly orrolls the wrong way, I’vegot the shot for the win,”said Lank, who had thethird count stone and wouldhave had an open hit onTeam Brown’s other stonein the back of the rings.Even with that, Lank’s teamspent some time consider-ing a cross-house doubletakeout.

“It was there, but it wasa hard double,” said Lank.“My girls wanted me to gofor it, because I’d beenmaking them all week. Ihad made three triples. Ijust didn’t think it was

smart, though. I decided weshould just get our one andtake our chances in theextra end. We’re usuallypretty good at stealing.”

In the extra end,Schultz’s lead rock waswhere it needed to be, sit-ting as a high center guard.But not much else wentright for Lank’s team in thatend. The house was emptyby the time Lank’s last rockwas due, with one cornerguard. Lank drew to theback of the four-foot, par-tially behind cover, butBrown still had a bead onit. She barely even consid-ered playing the drawinstead of the hit.

“I could see just about allof it,” said Brown. “I’dthrown that shot a lot. I feltreally good about it.”

After making the shot,shaking hands with theLank team, and embracingher teammates in victory,Brown said: “This is such afun team. It’s great havingthe experience that Annbrings, and then to havetwo young, fresh faces whohave never been to theworlds before is awesome.I’m so excited for them.I’m pretty excited for me,

too. It’s been a long time.”The team went on to fin-

ish fifth at the Ford WorldChampionships in SwiftCurrent, Saskatchewan,Canada, which began justone week after the teamwon the national title.

by Rick Patzke,

Associate Editor

2010 U.S. National champions (l-r) Erika Brown, Nina Spatola, Ann Swisshelm and Laura

Hallisey. The team exchanges high-fives moments after clinching the title (below).

Photos by Pat Brownewell of Brownewell Photography

“It’s a great

feeling,”

Erika Brown,

after winning her

sixth national

championship.

2010 U.S. Nationals


Erika Brown 7-2Patti Lank 7-2Amy Wright 7-2Becca Hamilton 6-3Monica Walker 5-4Kimberly Wapola 5-4Gabrielle Coleman 3-6Debra Horn 3-6Lysa Hambley 1-8Matina Heisler 1-8

Tiebreaker games for seeding

(winners to Page 1-2 game):

Lank 020 100 200 1 6*Wright 101 001 031 0 7

*Lank 201 101 001 x 6Brown 020 020 500 x 9

Page 1-2:

*Wright 101 001 002 x 5Brown 020 210 210 x 8

Page 3-4:

*Lank 202 001 012 x 8Hamilton 010 002 010 0x 4

Semifinal:

*Wright 000 100 10x x 2Lank 100 024 02x x 9

Final:

*Brown 001 020 010 01 5Lank 100 100 100 10 4*last rock in first end


®

sually the wordsFenson, Italy andbronze go hand inhand. But that

wasn’t the case four yearsafter his historic moment atthe Torino Olympic Gamesas Pete Fenson and TeamUSA returned home with-out a medal after losing toScotland in the bronze-medal game April 11 at the2010 Capital One Men’sWorld Championship.

“Partway through theweek I told you that I washappy to be on our winstreak and still be playinghere this weekend. Wewould have liked a differentending,” said the six-timeU.S. champion andOlympic bronze medalistFenson.

In the third showdown ofthe week between Fenson(Bemidji, Minn.) and team-mates Shawn Rojeski(Chisholm, Minn.), JoePolo (Duluth, Minn.) andTyler George (Duluth,Minn.) and Scotland’sWarwick Smith rink, theScots once again stole thefinal end to defeat the U.S.– eerily by the same scoreas their Page 3-4 playoffmeeting, 6-4.

“The ice straightened upa bit, and we didn’t handleit as well as they did,”Fenson said. “Warwickplayed great again, and yougotta play that way againstthese guys. You gotta playgreat in this type of game towin it.”

The U.S. outplayed theScots, shooting 84 percentto 77, but as it often does incurling, the last shot is theone that seals your fate.Tied 4-4, the U.S. had shotrock in the four-foot untilRojeski missed a peel andScotland came down to

remove it. As the end pro-gressed, Smith used hisfinal stone to cover the but-ton and the Americanscouldn’t get the right angleon it to move it far enoughaway from the Capital Onesponsor logo plastered overthe button for the win.

“They thought it washeavy right out my handand jumped on it and thatthrew it off. Another inchand we make it...maybe itwas heavy,” Fenson said.

“That was really tough,”Warwick Smith said.“They’re a good team andthey hang on, you neverreally get away from them.They’re one of these teamsthat manages to hook you,even if you’re two ahead,they always manage tocome back at you. I’vebeen in his shoes (Fenson)in ’98 and you just don’twant to be there.”

The whooshing sound ofthe extreme up-weightemployed on the Scottishtakeouts were all that couldbe heard at times in thequiet and rather empty

Olympic Ice Stadium wherea modest crowd of around200 fans took in the bronze-medal game at the OlympicIce Stadium.

After the first two endswere blanked, some offensewas surely going to occurin the third end as the U.S.took advantage of a miss byDavid Smith to stick a sec-ond stone in the house.Warwick Smith drew downto the back corner of thefour-foot behind the cornerguard but Fenson followedhim in to freeze his stone toit. Smith followed his pathto the button to earn a sin-gle.

With the last rock advan-tage in the fourth end, theU.S. tried to play the centerguard to their advantage butthe Scots met them shot forshot. It wasn’t untilWarwick Smith wrecked onthe guard that the U.S. wasable to get a second stonein the house. The way thestones were placed gaveSmith the double takeoutopportunity, but he missedand Fenson drew for twopoints.

Scotland blanked thefifth end and got into trou-ble in the sixth when theU.S. was able to keep rocksscattered around the house.Smith drew around the cen-ter guard to sit on the but-ton with his first toss.Scotland lucked out whenFenson’s stone was a bitoutside and hung in for sec-ond count, allowing Smithto tap it back just enoughfor a deuce.

Craig Wilson kept themomentum rolling for theScots with two great shotsto limit the efforts of theAmericans in the seventh.David Smith jammed histakeout attempt, leaving theU.S. stone in the back four-foot. Rojeski drew the top

side to balance out the four-foot. David Smith narrowlytapped it out so Rojeski fol-lowed him to take out hisstone but couldn’t get theroll behind the centerguard. The skips exchangedhits but Fenson rolled outon his final takeout and set-tled for a single to tie thegame, 3-3.

Lots of rocks were inplay in the eighth end as theScots got one in the side ofthe four-foot early and pro-tected by stones in the topof the house. Rojeski wasable to sneak to the buttonand David Smith missed hisshot to allow Fenson to usehis first stone to tap backthe Scottish rock that hadbeen bugging them all endand sit two. Smith threw abomb down the ice butmissed everything in histarget. After some lengthydeliberation, the Americansopted to remove the loneScottish stone in the four-foot to sit five. Smith's bestoption was a hit and roll tothe button off of that rockbut he couldn’t roll it overenough, giving theAmericans a steal of one.

The U.S. got stones inplace in in the ninth end aswell to pester the Scots.Back-to-back misses by theScots allowed the U.S. to tocontinue to protect theirstones. David Smith helpedthe Scots with his secondshot by drawing to the but-ton to freeze on the U.S.stone behind the centerguards for shot rock.Fenson, however, answeredby freezing to the top of thestone Smith placed there tomold the Scottish rock tothe button. Smith's firststone was a total loss as itslid to the back of the eight-foot so Fenson simplyguarded. Smith’s attemptedcircus shot to somehow

earn two went nowhere ashis stone barely made con-tact with the one he wasgoing to angle off of andthe game was tied headinginto the final end.

The 10th end was goingclose to according to planwith George getting theshot rock in place behindthe center guard with hisfirst toss.

Things would slowlyunravel, however, whenRojeski missed peeling theguard. This gave Scotlandthe opportunity to removethe U.S. stone in the houseand gain control of thefour-foot when DavidSmith made the takeout androlled behind the otherScottish rock in the topeight-foot. Rojeski peeledand Warwick Smithreplaced the guard. WithFenson’s first stone, hetried to draw the button butit sunk a bit too deep,allowing Smith to followhim down and cover thebutton. Fenson’s final stonewas off target from the startand the U.S. didn’t have achance at pushing thosetwo stones out to get closerto the button.

“It felt like we had thingsgoing our way, for sure. Wemade the draw-freeze in theninth and things were goingour way. We didn’t finishout as strong as we’d haveliked,” Fenson said.

Canada’s Kevin Koe rinkwould go on to win thegold medal with a 9-3defeat of Norway’s TorgerNergard team.

2010 Capital One World

Men’s Championship

Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Round Robin

Norway 10-1Canada 9-2USA 8-3Scotland 8-3Denmark 7-4Switzerland 5-6Germany 5-6Sweden 4-7France 3-8Italy 3-8China 3-8Japan 1-10

Page 1-2:

Canada 032 050 10x x 11*Norway 100 102 01x x 5

Page 3-4:

Scotland 000 110 010 12 6*USA 010 001 002 00 4

Semifinal:

Scotland 020 101 102 0 7*Norway 202 030 010 1 9

Bronze-medal game:

USA 000 200 110 0 4*Scotland 001 002 001 2 6

Gold-medal game:

*Canada 302 011 02x x 9Norway 010 100 10x x 3*last rock in first end


Canada 6, USA 3USA 7, Switzerland 5Denmark 8, USA 7USA 6, Japan 1Norway 6, USA 4USA 7, France 5 (extra end)USA 6, China 5USA 8, Italy 5USA 7, Scotland 5USA 8, Germany 4USA 10, Sweden 2

Colin Campbell Sportsmanship

Award winner: Torger Nergard,Norway

Scotland gets past USA for bronze at 2010 Men’s Worlds in Cortina

by Terry Kolesar,

Editor

U

USA Vice Skip Tyler George yells to the sweepers under the

watchful eyes of Scotland’s Warwick Smith and David Smith (far

rear).


USA’s Joe Polo (left) and Shawn Rojeski sweep a stone into the four-foot while Tyler George

watches the line during action in Cortina at the 2010 Men’s Worlds.


ne bad end was allit took to wipeaway Team USA'smedal hopes as

Sweden defeated ErikaBrown's team, 11-8, in thetiebreaker game at the 2010Ford World Women'sCurling Championship.

With the win, 22-year-oldCecilia Ostlund and herteammates from Swedenearned the No. 4 playoffseed. Germany’s AndreaSchopp team went on to winthe world title overScotland’s Eve Muirhead.Canada’s Jennifer Jonesdefeated the Swedes for thebronze.

For the Americans, it wasthe end of the road inSaskatchewan as the chapterclosed on a 7-5 week at theCredit Union I-plex. Thefifth-place showing was theUSA’s best finish since2007.

“We’re very pleased withour seven and four roundrobin record,” Brown said.“I’m really proud of myteammates. This was thefirst time for the youngergirls and they played well allweek. We’ve had a greatthree weeks together. I don'tfeel too badly about it.”

Brown and teammatesNina Spatola (McFarland,Wis.), Ann Swisshelm(Chicago) and LauraHallisey (Medfield, Mass.)went after the Swedes muchlike in the round robin gamein which Sweden also pre-vailed. There were 15 rocksin play in the first end thatsaw both teams playing thedraw around the centerguard to the four-foot game,resulting in a deuce forSweden.

The U.S. didn’t shoot allthat well in the first end butshook it off to earn a deucein the next end. The Swedesforged ahead in the third endas Brown wrecked on aguard trying to remove theSwedish shot rock, givingOstlund a chance to grab

three points.USA missed an opportu-

nity to cash in on a miss inthe fourth end by Swedishsecond Anna Domeij whenshe removed her own stonein the four-foot. ButSwisshelm’s draw droppedtoo deep, setting up the dou-ble takeout for Sweden.After Brown made a takeoutand couldn’t hold the shoot-er in the house, theAmericans were forced todraw for a single.

Things started to turnaround for the Americans inthe fifth. The Swedes lookedpoised for another deuceuntil Brown made a doubletakeout and Ostlund air-balled her takeout attempt togive the U.S. two points andtabula rasa with the gametied at 5-5.

Ostlund had a chance at abig end in the sixth asBrown tried to freeze to aSwedish rock in the eight-foot, leaving it open for theyoung skip to spit out andmove the stone in the backof the house just far enoughfor four points.

“That snuck up on us abit,” Brown said about thebig end. “I needed to bail usout and couldn’t get thefreeze. She made a lot ofdoubles. It was a lot of chas-ing after that. We got luckyin the fifth and we thoughtwe’d get a new life but thatonly lasted fifteen minutes.”

After exchanging singlesover the next two ends, theU.S. had a chance to getcloser but Ostlund made adouble takeout with her finalrock of the ninth and theU.S. drew for two instead.The Americans kept battling,though, and had two stonesspread across the rings to

force Ostlund to make atakeout with the last stonefor the win.

“You always want tocome back, that’s forsure...but I need a littlebreak right now,” Brownsaid. “Twenty-four games inthree weeks is a lot on thelegs.” It was just 13 daysearlier that the Brown teamwon the U.S. Nationals toqualify for the worlds.

Playing in their first

world championship,Spatola finished ranked 10thin the vice skip spot whileHallisey was fifth amongleads in shooting percentage.This was Brown’s firstworlds appearance in theskip position after winningsilver twice in five otherappearances at the worlds asthird. Swisshelm won the2003 world title and repre-sented the U.S. at the 2002Olympic Games.


®

USA finishes fifth in Saskatchewan 2010 Ford World

Women’s Championship

Swift Current, Saskatchewan

Round Robin

Canada 10-1Germany 8-3Scotland 8-3Sweden 7-4USA 7-4Denmark 6-5China 6-5Russia 5-6Norway 3-8Switzerland 3-8Japan 2-9Latvia 1-10

Tiebreaker:

*Sweden 203 004 010 1 11USA 020 120 102 0 8

Page 1-2:

*Canada 001 100 010 x 3Germany 000 001 104 x 6

Page 3-4:

*Scotland 102 030 20x x 8Sweden 010 001 01x x 3

Semifinal:

Scotland 012 031 30x x 10*Canada 200 100 01x x 4

Bronze-medal game:

*Canada 011 104 002 x 9Sweden 100 010 310 x 6

Gold-medal game:

Scotland 020 102 000 10 6*Germany 102 010 110 02 8*last rock in first end


USA 8, Russia 6USA 10, Japan 3Latvia 7, USA 6USA 12, Germany 8USA 8, Norway 7USA 6, Denmark 5Canada 6, USA 4USA 9, Switzerland 7Scotland 7, USA 4Sweden 9, USA 5USA 9, China 5

Francis Brodie Sportsmanship

Award winner: Linn Githmark,Norway

by Terry Kolesar,

Editor

O

USA’s (l-r) Nina Spatola, Ann Swisshelm and Laura Hallisey team up to sweep Erika Brown’s skip

stone during action at the 2010 World Women’s Championship in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.


Erika Brown shows her steady

delivery and focused eyes.

Is your club interested inhosting a USCA nationalchampionship event? If so,contact Kellie Krake,USCA site selection chair-woman, at 608-220-0581 [email protected] for the 2011 U.S.Mixed Championship aswell as the 2011 U.S. ClubNational Championshipsare still being sought aswell as events beyond theupcoming season.

Nominations are beingaccepted through June 1 tobe considered for inductioninto the USCA Hall ofFame. Categories includebuilder, curler andbuilder/curler. Send nomi-nations to the USCA officeby mail at 5525 Clem’sWay, Stevens Point, WI54482, by fax to 715-344-2279 or by email [email protected].

News

BriefsSites neededfor upcoming

events

Hall of Famenominations

being accepted


®

Schenectady

Men’sThe 30th Achilles Men’s Invitational

took place Nov. 19-21 at theSchenectady (N.Y.). Here are theresults:1EW—Schenectady 4: Dan Machold,Dion Warr, Dave Hooper, Mike Beaton1ERU—Schenectady 1: Jack Stopera,Marek Rzonca, Jim Sinkins, Matt Daly2EW—Ardsley: Dennis Mellerup,Dannie Steski, Bill Perkowitz, BillMaligieri2ERU—Potomac 1: Scott Edie, GertMessing, Bill Peskoff, Dave Palazzoli3EW—Ottawa: Morrissey, Jim Cole,Mike Kessler, Alex Ryan3ERU—Schenectady 5: Brian Damon,Brad Austin, Brandon Alois, JeffHowles4EW—Potomac 2: Jason Sethi, SeanMurray, Brian Parsons, DavidBykowski 4ERU—Schenectady 3: Charlie Brown,Mike Stefanik, Richard Gonyeau, ScottBrennan

Coyotes

OpenThe seventh Annual Desert Ice

Bonspiel took place April 23-25 inScottsdale, Artizona. Here are theresults:1EW–Alberta: Tim Yeo, Matt Yeo,Bronco Briggs, Travis Fraser, DaveFraser1ERU–Coyotes: Shawn Tait, MikeKraft, Laura Tait, Kaatje Kraft

Pardeeville

Men’sThe 2010 Red Baron Bonspiel took

place April 9-11 in Pardeeville, Wis.Here are the results: 1EW–Madison: Dave Brown, DanBrown, Marcus Oldenburg, MarkBrown1ERU–Madison: Ken Neidhart, TomGannon, Paul Ryan, Bruce Garner2EW–Portage: Ron Wagner, JakeWagner, Paul Nelson, Jason Bransma2ERU–Centerville: Chad Anderson,Cody Trim, Todd Hammond, Luke

Sonsalla3EW–Centerville: Bob Harris, DanZiegler, John Critzman, Steve Schefter3ERU–Rocky Run: Mark Kretzmann,Pete Caldwell, Todd Cibulka, MarkGehl4EW–Pardeeville: Craig Lowe, MarkConsidine, Russ Schieber, Micah Neef4ERU–Madison: Pete McCormick,Michael Statz, Keith Desjarles, ThadKosal

Belfast

Women’sThe Belfast Pine Tree Women’s

Bonspiel took place March 12-14 inBelfast, Maine. Here are the results:1EW—Beaver (Moncton, NewBrunswick): Shirley Crawford, RobertaHartlen, Joan Adams, JoAnne Thurrott2EW—Albany: Martha Naber, WendyBerger, Nancy Drischler, JoyCampisano3EW—Belfast: Chris Stone, MeredithCoffin, Anita King, Linda Anderson

Marshfield

Men’sThe Marshfield Men’s “Home

Brew” Bonspiel was held Feb. 12-14 inMarshfield, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW—Stevens Point: Doug Anderson,Will Torhorst, Jason Anderson, JustinAnderson1ERU—Marshfield: Steve Borgemoen,

Dana Haagenson, Andy Krahn, MikeBehling2EW—Medford: Steve Amundson, TimHovre, Craig Zirngible, Seth Amundson2ERU—Medford: Bill Weiland, ByronPeche, Wayne Weiland, Ken Staab3EW—Stevens Point: Jack Konopacky,Tom Okray, Doug Oswald, J.T.Anderson3ERU—Marshfield: Dennis Jacobsen,Paul Tishim, Ron Lubeck, Dale Walz4EW—Marshfield: Mike Bissonette,Jon Kalsow, Matt Ruhbusch, DaveRuhbusch4ERU—Wausau: Scott Stensberg, ChrisHorak, Bill Graef, Nick Kavajecz

Curl Mesabi

Men’sThe Curl Mesabi Springspiel was

held March 19-21 at Curl Mesabi inEveleth, Minn. Here are the results:1EW–Curl Mesabi: Ross Harvey, CraigWainio, Garret Paine, Mark Mikulich1ERU–Curl Mesabi: Seppo Sormunen,Greg Jaminski, Roger Nelson, RogerHenderson2EW–Curl Mesabi: John Jankila, GordyDahl, Dave Caldwell, Ed Williams2ERU–Hibbing: Tony Berarducci, JimHill, Mike Kniffin, Oren Botttoms3EW–Hibbing: Aaron Wald, TimMuller, Jared Zezel, John Muller3ERU–Curl Mesabi: LonnieGulbranson, John Pearsall, BobStephenson, Scott Love

4EW–Curl Mesabi: Keith Harvey, RickNewman, Steve Simonson, Ben Harvey4ERU–Winnipeg: Chris Eck, Phil Chan,Jim Wonitowy, Don Baldwin

St. Paul

Men’sThe 22nd Annual Twin City Iron

Ranger Scholarship Bonspiel was heldFeb. 6-7 at the St. Paul Curling Club toraise scholarship money for students onMinnesota’s Iron Range. Here are theresults:1EW–St. Paul: Art Ruohonen, RichRuohonen, Mike Scheeberger, BradCaldwell1ERU–St Paul: Mark Arnold, ScottClausen, Greg Walsh, Dave Smead2EW–St Paul: Eric Schultz Team2ERU–Hibbing: Evie Rule Team3EW–Hibbing: Tom SchleppegrellTeam3ERU–Montana: John Angst Team4EW–St. Paul: Ann Essling Team4ERU–St. Paul: Julie Smith Team

Hibbing

Men’sThe Hibbing Last Chance Men’s

Bonspiel took place March 25-28 with adramatic final game between MikeFarbelow and reigning world seniorchampion Paul Pustovar. Here are theresults:1EW–St. Paul: Mike Farbelow, Kevin

Deeren, Kraig Deeren, Tim Solin1ERU–Hibbing: Paul Pustovar, BrianSimonson, Tom Harms, Don Mohawk2EW–Curl Mesabi: Phill Drobnick rink2ERU–Green Bay: Derek Casper rink3EW–Mike Pozihun rink3ERU–Steve Friesen rink4EW–Duluth: Tyler George rink4ERU–St. Paul: Shane McKinlay rink

Aksarben

OpenThe Aksarben Irish Open took place

March 19 in Omaha, Neb. Here are theresults:1EW—Owatonna: Shawn Slane, MattChester, Ryan Claussen, Layton Smith1ERU—Omaha: Randy Kruger, DavidSteinhauser, Doug Moore, Matt English2EW—Omaha: Derek Rau, JohnCherek, Scott Jordan, Ian Atwood2ERU—Omaha: Craig Larson, NancyMyers, Dave Steiner, Renee Myers3EW—Omaha: Tim Jacques, PaulMollema, Michelle Jaixen, BrittanyButler3ERU—Omaha: Dave Hemphill, CarlPeterson, Bobbie Greenspan, EricPulver4EW—Omaha: Kevin Graslewicz, MikeGoltl, Marni Goltl, Matt Madigan4ERU—Omaha: Mike Anderson, RobLatimer, Wendy Hutchinson, ZachVoller

Winners of the GNCC 10 Year and Under Bonspiel were Dan

Machold, Charlie Brown, Richard Gonyeau and Mike O’Neill.

Winners of the 2010 Curl Mesabi Springspiel were (l-r) Mark

Mikulich, Garret Paine, Craig Wainio and Ross Harvey.

ive teams from theUnited States partic-ipated in the 2010U-18 Optimist

International Championshipheld in Regina,Saskatchewan, Canada,March 31-April 4.

“The OptimistInternational is a trulyworld-class event and agreat experience for anyonethat might want to curlcompetitively in thefuture,” said Dan Lindgren,coach of the North Dakotagirls team. “Team NorthDakota can recommend thisspiel highly to other youngAmerican teams.”

“The event was fantas-tic,” said Joel Dietz, coachof the Wisconsin boysteam. “We finished up insixth place. The OptimistClub took really good careof us. They bused us fromthe hotel to the club andback every day. All we hadto do was get to the bus ontime and get a couple mealsourselves. I think our teamlearned quite a bit about thedifference in preparing forbonspiels and international

competitions. The U18tournament is a wonderfulopportunity for junior play-ers to play against a varietyof talented teams their ownage.”

“We were excited aboutgoing to Regina but theactual experience farexceeded our expectations,”said Wayne Anderson,coach of the Pennsylvaniagirls team. “This was trulya world-class event both interms of the participatingteams and how the Optimistorganizing committee ranthe event. We felt specialfrom the time the welcom-ing volunteers met us at theairport on Tuesday untilthey returned us there veryearly Monday morning. Inbetween, we enjoyed meet-ing teams from acrossCanada, the U.S. and Japan.It was especially enjoyableto get to know the girlsfrom Japan who spoke verylimited English and showedup at the closing banquet intraditional Japanesekimonos.

“The Japanese skip’s sis-ter just finished represent-ing their country in the win-ter Olympics. The opportu-nity to curl in a 12-sheet

club was also a little differ-ent for us since we alwayshave to curl on an outsidesheet at our club (yes, weonly have two sheets). Wefound out just how good U-18 teams from Canada canbe and finished with a 2-5record, but we are eager tofind out how we do fouryears from now.”

Yes, this is an event thathappens at the very end ofthe curling season whenyou are already thinkingabout outside sports, buttrust us – you don’t want tomiss the chance to experi-ence this internationalevent!

Look for applicationsand information for the2011 event in November onthe USCA website. Don’tmiss the fun!

Final results:

Men:

Massachusetts (3-3):

Korey Dropkin, RyanMcMakin, Thomas Howell,David Wadsworth, CoachKeith Dropkin

Washington (3-3): JakeVukich, Evan McAuley,Blake Sweet, NickConnolly, Coach JimStephens, Coach SharonVukich

Wisconsin (2-4): NickSpatola, Tom Gabower,Devon Maier, MikeJuszczyk, Coach Joel Dietz

Women:

North Dakota (3-5): AbiLindgren, Emily Lindgren,Katie Sigurdson, AbbyWhalen, Coach DanLindgren

Pennsylvania (3-5):

Sarah Anderson, TaylorAnderson, Meagan Hudson,Chelsea Martin, CoachWayne Anderson

Five U.S. teams compete at Optimistby Deborah Moulton,

Chair, USCA Youth Committee

Members of the Pennsylvania and North Dakota teams pose for

a photo at the 2010 U-18 Optimist International in Regina,

Saskatchewan.

Submitted photo

F

Do you need to send inbonspiel results? Havequestions/concerns/com-ments about content in theCurling News or do youjust need to check on yoursubscription? Send emailsto Editor Terry Kolesar [email protected].

Bonspielresults toreport?

Arlington

Senior Men’sThe Arlington (Wis.) Curling Club

hosted its ninth annual Senior Men’sBonspiel on March 26-27. Here are theresults: 1EW—Wausau: Steve Sirianni, TomWood, Pete Neitzel, Rob Wixson1ERU—Madison: Steve O’Connor, DanLynch, Tony Wendricks, Al Hafeman2EW—Chicago: Ed Thompson, SteveCarlson, Morgan Porter, Dave Bemus2ERU—Arlington: Marv Manke, MarvPlenty, Mike Halverson, John Stevenson3EW—Madison: Stan Vinge, WallyHenry, Bruce Garner, Don Kind3ERU—Arlington: Lewie Falk, DaveQualle, Clif Erstad, Gordon Dunn4EW—Milwaukee: Crandall Hays,Steve Sedgwick, Ron Jodat, KenBlanton4ERU—Lodi: Gerry Peterson, MerlinHolerud, Ollie Olson, Dale Olsen5EW—Portage: LaVern Griffin, RonWagner, Steve Miller, Jim Lee5ERU—Milwaukee: George Alt,George Holmes, Herb Rasmussen, DonWhite

Green Bay

JuniorThe 2010 Green Bay Curling Club

Junior Bonspiel took place March 19-21.Nineteen teams from Wisconsin andIllinois participated in Developmentaland Competitive brackets. Here are theresults:Competitive:1EW—Madison: Blake Morton, MarcusFonger, Bobby Splinter, Calvin Weber1ERU—Green Bay: Erin Wallace,Chloe Pahl, Susan Kawleski, RyanMaier, Devon Maier2EW—Stevens Point: Mark Henning,Megan Henning, Marshall Benzine,Becca Kelble2ERU—Wausau: Jeremy Stubbe, EvanBrauer, Andy Summer, Ethan Massey.3EW—Stevens Point: Dan Journeaux,Will Journeaux, Spencer Tuskowski,Dan Gabower3ERU—Waupacca: Aaron Johnston,Ryan Johnston, Dan Wasrud, AustinSchroeder4EW—Wausau: Trisha Miller,Samantha Witter, Trisha Gospodarek,Stacy Miller4ERU—Wausau: Sarah Sandquist,Sylvia Veleker, Hannah Johnson,Melissa SandquistDevelopmental:1EW—Green Bay: Molly Koepke,Kylee Traub, Katie Kaseno, JaimeLemke, Bailey Fenendael, KendraMcKeefry1ERU—Portage: Jayde Curley, NathanKrumpos, Cara Henney, AnnMarieDubberstein

Schenectady/GNCC

OpenThe GNCC 10 & Under Bonspiel

took place Dec. 11-13. Here are theresults:1EW—Schenectady 3: Dan Machold,Charlie Brown, Richard Gonyeau, MikeO’Neill1ERU—Schenectady 1: Pat Fitzgerald,Art Merkley, Jeff Mayott, Scott Brennan2EW—Green Mountain: Mike Sitko,Rob Allen, Scot Rose, Mitch Dehond2ERU—Triangle: Rich Collins, KenKato, Nick Witcraft, Mario Riveron3EW—Schenectady 5: Andy Dicke,Brad Austin, Todd Tolliver, Jeff Howles3ERU—Utica 2: Conrad Law, BillTurner, Jim Schafer, Joel Scherer4EW—Schenectady 4: Marek Rzonca,Jeff Muha, Andy Way, Matt Daly4ERU—Albany: Bret Sentiwany, DanKeller, Bob Briggs, Gary Conn

Schenectady/GNCC

Men’sThe 138th Gordon Emmett GNCC

Championship took place March 11-13at the Schenectady (N.Y.) Curling Club.Here are the results: 1EW—Schenectady 3: Dan Machold,Dave Fink, Richard Gonyeau, CharlieBrown1ERU—Schenectady 1: Jack Stopera,Brian Damon, Jim Sinkins, MarekRzonca

2EW—Broomstones 1: Bryan Fink,Eric Paul, Wade Norquay, PaulMarseglia2ERU—Schenectady 5: Vic Temple,Fred Mackintosh, Dan Navratil, AndyWay3EW—Schenectady 4: Pat Fitzgerald,Pete Drechsler, Jeff Mayott, BradAustin3ERU—Schenectady 2: Tim Brooks,Tom Vickerson, Dave Hooper, JimJordan4EW—Nutmeg: Joseph Smith, RobChebetar, David Asano, Jim Meinhold4ERU—Albany: Brian Costello, DanKeller, Lou Horton, Bret Sentiwany

Schenectady/GNCC

Senior MixedThe GNCC Senior Mixed

Championship took place April 9-11 atthe Schenectady (N.Y.) Curling Club.Here are the results: 1EW—Albany 3: Andra Scheinkoph,Hollis Felice, Ray Hickey, RobertaCrain1ERU—Schenectady 2: DorothySzymaszek Jim Sinkins, MJ Miller,Dick Powell 2EW—Albany 1: Ed Springstead, WinnSchwartz, Art Nuss, Flo Springstead2ERU—Utica: Roger Rowlett, SueGardner, Jerry Stevens, Mary JaneWalsh3EW—Cape Cod: Mary Colacchio,Mike Minior, Cathy Offinger, TonyColacchio3ERU—Schenectady 5: Vic Temple,Majik Jones, Mike Luft, Ann Hooker 4EW—Schenectady 3: Eleanor Lisuzzo,Dave Rubin, Alice Rubin, Jeff Faulkner4ERU—Schenectady 4: Bette Sovik,Fred Mackintosh, Gordon Streeter,Barbara Lavin

Hibbing

JuniorThe 42nd Annual Serrano Memorial

Junior Bonspiel took place March 13-14at the Hibbing (Minn.) Curling Club.Here are the results:1EW—Hibbing: Tanner Blagoue, RyanRiihinen, Jack Furlong, Jarrett Lee1ERU—Hibbing: Mike Stevens rink2EW—Chisholm: Shaye Perkovich rink2ERU—Hibbing: John Muller rink3EW—Duluth: Noah Plys rink3ERU—Chisholm: Aaron Wald rinkBeginner’s Division:1EW—Hibbing: Zach Lind rink1ERU—Hibbing: Taylor Maki rink2EW—Curl Mesabi: Sydney Patrow

rink2ERU—Chisholm: Skylar Appelmanrink3EW—Duluth: Jake Miles rink3ERU—Chisholm: Jake Giermann rink

Kettle Moraine

Men’sThe 45th Annual Kettle Moraine

Men's Invitational Bonspiel took placeMarch 19-21. Here are the results: 1EW—Wauwatosa: Rob Hipke, DaveBrown, John Dunlop, Thom Kieffer1ERU—Kettle Moraine: Smily Gebert,Dave Foley, Dan Jegier, Jim Hulen2EW—Thornhill: Ron Morrison, DaveRandall, Mike Schultz, Jim Downs2ERU—North Shore: EJ Stern, EvWilson, Paul Lange, John Neff3EW—St. Paul: Erik Ordway, GregWalsh, Mike Orme, Dave Menter, JimDexter3ERU—Kettle Moraine: ToddFlemming, John Fisher, Casey Clark,Mark Nyka4EW—Appleton:Tony Mueller, GregJohnson, John Mayville, ShawnKennedy4ERU—St. Paul: Doug Henning, VinceBernet, Eric Schultz, William Rivilas5EW—La Crosse: Doug Anderson,Kraig Ketola, Don Hutchinson, ScottMasloroff5ERU—Wauwatosa: Jim Matthews,Mike Elwing, Mike Zimmerman, BillChristensen, Bob Miller

Nashua

Men’sThe Granite State Men’s Bonspiel

took place March 4-7 at the NashuaCountry Club in Nashua, N.H. Here arethe results: 1EW—Broomstones I: Robby Melville,Mike Rosa, Scott Olson, Jeff Marchand1ERU—Merrimack Valley: WarrenBarclay, Leo Lambert, Bill King, TimMiller2EW—Boston: Sam Williams, BobChandler, Andy McKellips, Rich Collier2ERU—Nashua: Ed Clark, MarkKanakis, David Annand, Doug Folkins3EW—Canadian Club II: Paul Sofuolis,V. Dan Dacey, 2. Tim Luehrman, L.Adam Jacobson3ERU—Cape Cod I: Russ Lemcke,Glen Amoral, John McCarthy, FrankBalas4EW—Nashua III: Jeff Fasulo, TonyTremblay, Allan Nesbitt, Frank Shaffer4ERU—Granite: Peter Lyons, DonWight, Ben Clark, Doug Krailo


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Winners of the Two Harbors Mixed Bonspiel were (l-r) Seppo

Sormunen, Jill Hansen, Brice Hansen and Anita Sormunen.

Winners of the Wisconsin Women’s High School Championship

were (l-r) Portage High School’s Alexandra Schieber, Jennifer

Behnke, Kathleen Dubberstein, Keagon Garrigan and Coach Jim

Shlimovitz.

Winners of the Wisconsin Men’s High School Championship were

(l-r) Wausau West High School’s Matthew Sanquist, Jeremy

Stubbe, Andy Summers, Ethan Massey, Evan Brauer and Coach

James Wendling.

Winners of the 69th annual Wauwatosa (Wis.) Men’s Invitational

Bonspiel were (front, l-r) Dave Brown, Dan Brown, Mark Brown,

Thom Kieffer. Runners-up were (standing, l-r) Rob Hipke, Tim

Torgerson, Jim Matthews and Steve Wycklendt.

Winners of the competitive division of the Serrano Junior

Bonspiel were (standing, l-r) Jack Furlong, Tanner Blagoue,

(kneeling, l-r) Ryan Riihinen and Jarrett Lee.

Winners of the Nutmeg Junior Bonspiel were (l-r) Thomas

Howell, Cameron Ross, Katie Sullivan and Allison Howell.


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Winners of Schenectady’s Achilles Bonspiel were (l-r) Dan

Machold, Dion Warr, Dave Hooper and Mike Beaton.GNCC Touring Champions were Nutmeg’s (l-r) Joseph Smith,

Rob Chebetar, David Asano and Jim Meinhold. Presenting the

award was Jim Sinkins (far left).

Winners of the Stevens Point Mixed Bonspiel were (l-) Pat Gillis,

Peggy Gazzola, Mary Westberg and Pete Westberg (skip).

Winners of the GNCC Men’s Championship were (l-r) Dan

Machold, Dave Fink, Richard Gonyeau and Charlie Brown.

Winners of the Granite State Men’s Bonspiel in Nashua were (l-r)

Robby Melville, Mike Rosa, Scott Olson and Jeff Marchand.

Winners of the Kettle Moraine Men’s Bonspiel were (l-r) Rob

Hipke, Dave Brown, John Dunlop and Thom Kieffer.

Winners of the Stevens Point Men’s Bonspiel were (front, l-r)

Casey Konopacky, Ash Nelson, Jack Konopacky and Andy

Sorenson. Runners-up were (back, l-r) Steve Sirianni, Ian

Journeaux, Pete Neitzel and Kelly Fraser.

Winners of the GNCC Senior Mixed Bonspiel were Andra

Scheinkoph, Hollis Felice, Ray Hickey and Roberta Crain.

Nutmeg

JuniorThe Neon Nutmeg Junior Bonspiel

was held on Feb. 20-21 at NutmegCurling Club in Bridgeport, Conn. Hereare the results:1EW—Plainfield: Thomas Howell,Cameron Ross, Katie Sullivan, AllisonHowell1ERU—Schenectady: John Zaoutis,Sebastian Elliot, Peter Douglass,Connor Chew2EW—Nutmeg: Kent Suslavich, JoeSipzner, Miles Hogarth, Matt Gu2ERU—Philadelphia: Taylor Anderson,Chelsea Martin, Lindy Disman, KateShickel3EW—Nutmeg: Abbey Suslavich,Hilary Nigrosh, Billy Dunne, EmilyWinter3ERU—Nutmeg: Libby Brundage,Jenna Burchesky, Emily Annand, LizBrown4EW—Broomstones: Korey Dropkin,Alex Prelusky, Shannon Ringler, CamiSullivan4ERU—Schenectady: Raquel Hillis,Julie Gaines, Ashlyn Hillis, DevinGuilfoyle

Stevens Point

Men’sThe Stevens Point (Wis.) Men’s

Bonspiel took place March 12-14. Hereare the results:1EW—Eau Claire: Casey Konopacky,Ash Nelson, Jack Konopacky, AndySorenson1ERU—Wausau: Steve Sirianni, IanJourneaux, Pete Neitzel, Kelly Fraser2EW—Medford: Ryan Lemke, RyanStrebig, Tommy Gengler, CaseyNernberger2ERU—Clintonville: Chase Schroeder,Clint Schroeder, Mike Krueger, Tyler Steenbeck3EW—Eau Claire: Jim Beirne, DaveCoon, Scot Biederman, John Blavert3ERU—Wausau: Phil McKrackin,Steve Okeefe, Dick Fitzwell, Pat Megroyn, Hugh Jasse4EW—Eau Claire: Brooks Bauer, TimHangartner, Mark Lilly, Barad Sommer4ERU—Marshfield: MichaelBissonette, Jon Kalsow, MattRuhlousch, Kyle Kostad

Potomac

Men’sThe Potomac Cherry Blossom took

place March 25-28 in Laurel, Md. Hereare the results: 1EW—Richmond Hill/Pittsburgh:Andrew Rydholm, Fiona Shearer,Nicholas Visnich, Alexander Visnich1ERU—Potomac IV: Nick Datlowe,Melissa Fox, Jeremy Vandenhouten,Karl Anderson2EW—Rochester: Hannah Ely, RebeccaAndrew, Becky Vanarsdall, JeffVanarsdall2ERU—Utica: Katlyn Beebe, KaylaMartin, Marissa Wright, Kyle Buckles3EW—Potomac I: Bill MacDonald,Harvey Chalmers, Rich Warner,Virginia Chalmers3ERU—Nutmeg: Joseph Smith, DianeMuldowny, David Asano, Joel Leneker4EW—Potomac III: Scott Edie, D.Baxter, KC McGrath, Brian Parsons4ERU—Nutmeg III: Chris Conley,Peter DeJong, Matt Bertonica, JimO'Boyle

Racine

MixedThe Racine (Wis.) Curling Club

held the 2010 Mixed Invitational Feb.12-14. Here are the results:1EW—Wauwatosa: James Krutilla,Pauline Krutilla, Jason Pickett, ErickaPickett1ERU—Blackhawk: Gary Olson,Darcie Olson, Harlen Edelman, SallyEdelman2EW—Kettle Moraine: John Geason,Dianna Talor, Keith Berres, CarolBerres2ERU—Blackhawk: Jim Wilhelm,Nancy Wilhelm, Don Knudsen, PamOllie3EW—Blackhawk: Aaron Richards,Deb Richards, Phil Boutwell, ShelleyBoutwell3ERU—Chicago: Paul Arnold, NancyOtis, Wilson Gottschild, KarrieGottschild4EW—Alpine: Dave Wolter, JanWolter, Bob Johnson, Lisa Floyd4ERU—Blackhawk: Ryan Spielman,Laureen Spielman, Bill Schlager, AnnSchlager

Winners of the Green Bay Junior Bonspiel Developmental

Division were (l-r) Bailey Fenendael, Katie Kaseno, Kendra

McKeefry, Molly Koepke and Kylee Traub.

Winner of the Green Bay Junior Bonspiel Competitive Division

were (l-r) Calvin Weber, Bobby Splinter, Marcus Fonger and

Blake Morton.


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Winners of the Pardeeville Red Baron Men’s Bonspiel were (l-r)

Dave Brown, Dan Brown, Marcus Oldenburg and Mark Brown.

Winners of the Aksarben Irish Open were (l-r) Shawn Slane, Matt

Chester, Ryan Claussen and Layton Smith.

Winners of the Arlington Senior Bonspiel were (front, l-r) Steve

Sirianni, Tom Wood, Pete Neitzel and Rob Wixson. Runners-up

were (back, l-r) Steve O’Connor, Dan Lynch, Tony Wendricks

and Al Hafeman.

Winners of the Arlington Men’s Bonspiel were (front, l-r) Kevin

Dereen, Ryan Brunot, Travis Carter and Barnie Lohan. Runners-

up were (back, l-r): Dan Wiza, Art Espinoza, Paul Ryan and

Bruce Garner.

Winners of the Detroit Curling Club’s Mixed International

Bonspiel were (l-r) Paul Szmigiel, Lee Davis, Fred Zosel and

Karen Jamieson.

Winners of the Belfast Pine Tree Women’s Bonspiel were (l-r)

Shirley Crawford, Roberta Hartlen, Joan Adams and JoAnne

Thurrott.

Winners of the 75th Fairbanks Women’s International were (l-r)

Adie Callahan, Terra Bowen, Cathy Shuttleworth and Kelly

Fezatte.

Winners of the 75th Fairbanks Men’s International were (l-r)

Matt Birklid, Chris Benshoof, Colin Hufman, Steven Birklid and

Atticus Wallace.

Winners of the Marshfield Men’s Bonspiel were (l-r) Doug

Anderson, Will Torhorst, Jason Anderson and Justin Anderson.Winners of the Coyotes Desert Bonspiel were Alberta’s (l-r) Tim

Yeo, Matt Yeo, Bronco Briggs, Travis Fraser and Dave Fraser.

Stevens Point

MixedThe Stevens Point (Wis.) Mixed

Bonspiel took place March 26-28. Hereare the results: 1EW—Chicago: Pete Westberg, PeggyGazzola, Pat Gillis, Mary Westberg1ERU—Milwaukee: Fred Blizzard, SueBlizzard, Kevin Moran, Melissa Moran2EW—Wausau: Dennis Tietge, JodiOlmstead, Dan Olmstead, Mary JoTietge2ERU—Milwaukee: Frank Gedelman,Renee Harmon, Jeff Steffek, SusanGedelman3EW—Wausau: Howie Fisher, SusanSanquist, Corey Sanquist, Terri Fisher3ERU—Marshfield: Clarence Topp, PatTopp, Rick Scheuer, Diane Scheuemann4EW—La Crosse: Ash Nelson, ElyseSorenson, Andy Sorenson, KimSorenson4ERU—Wausau: Jim Wendling, DianeMiller, Chuck Miller, Mark Wendling

Tri-City

Men’sThe 52nd Tri City Curling Club

Menspiel was held March 5-7 inWisconsin Rapids, Wis. Here are theresults: 1EW—Stevens Point: Ian Journeaux,Jack Konopacky, William Journeaux,Jay Wagner2EW—Eau Claire: Jim Bierne, RichDeVriend, Bob Henrich, Corey Henrich3EW—Poynette: Stew Wild, MarkKretzman, Peter Caldwell, MarkClement4EW—Eau Claire: Chris McMahon,Dan Herzberg, Ken Krueger, MarkPeterson

Two Harbors

MixedThe Two Harbors (Minn.) Mixed

Bonspiel took place March 26-28. Hereare the results: 1EW—Duluth: Seppo Sormunen, JillHansen, Brice Hansen, Anita Sormunen2EW—Two Harbors: Mike O'Leary,Norma O'Leary, Jeff Peterson, CathyErickson3EW—Two Harbors: Jim Turnquist,Kay Libby, Gary Fabini, Alexis Lanigan

Waltham

MixedThe 2010 Waltham Mixed Bonspiel

took place March 5-7. Here are theresults: 1EW—Alpine: Steve Flanagan, TraciSchultz, Mike Leibundgut, ShellyLeibundgut1ERU—Wilmette: Greg Stewart, SandyResetich, Mark Cretella, Sherri Strauss2EW—Chicago: Jack Wulfekuhle,Susan Bennett, David Style, Elissa Yee2ERU—Regina/Chicago: Darrin Beach,Julie Denten, Pete Carmichael, JaneJohnson-Nelson3EW—Kettle Moraine: Jerry Helding,Mary Nelson, Jim Nelson, ChrisHelding3ERU—Wilmette: Al Longmore, JudyLongmore, Kevin Ritter, Cathy Ritter4EW—Chicago: Dan Hinderer, JenHinderer, Nate Hinderer, ElizabethDemers4ERU—Kettle Moraine: Ron Kase,Cathy Kase, Bob Fleming, Flip Flemingof the Kettle Moraine Curling Club

Wauwatosa

Men’sThe 69th annual Wauwatosa (Wis.)

Men’s Invitational Bonspiel was heldMarch 12-14. Here are the results:1EW—Winona Yacht and Gun Club:Dave Brown, Dan Brown, Mark Brown,Thom Kieffer1ERU—Wauwatosa: Rob Hipke, TimTorgerson, Jim Matthews, SteveWycklendt2EW—Milwaukee: Mark Conrardy,Peter Conrardy, Fred Richter, SteveShallock2ERU—Milwaukee: Mike Snyder, MattGoelzer, Billy Geller, Todd Orlowski3EW—Milwaukee: Chuck Severson,Gary Lindsey, Jim Rasche, Bon Unkel3ERU—Wauwatosa: Rick Lemke, SteveScheuing, Rick Heim, Jay Murphy4EW—Kettle Moraine: Dave Lewis,Dennis Smith, Matt Lee, MarkBlackman4ERU—Racine: Don Knudson, MattWood, Nate Hazen, Brian Waldera


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The U.S. Curling Association isproud to recognize the followingsponsors who support our sport

and organization:

Washington repeats as U.S. mixed champions

ashington’s firstcouple of curl-ing won theirseventh mixednational title as

the 2010 U.S. MixedNational Championshipwrapped up March 27 at theChicago Curling Club.

Brady Clark and wifeCristin (of Lynnwood,Wash.) from Seattle’sGranite Curling Club onlyneeded four ends to wintheir seventh title as theygot off to a fast start indefeating Al Gulseth’sNorth Dakota 1 team, 10-1,for the gold medal. This isthe sixth title for team leadBev Walter (Seattle) andsecond for Philip Tilker(Seattle). This was the firstappearance in the mixedfinale for Gulseth and team-mates Michelle Wagner(Fargo, N.D.), MarkGulseth (Aberdeen, S.D.)and Patty Olesen (Fargo,N.D.), who finished theweek with an 8-3 overallrecord.

The veteran Washingtonrink scored four points inthe first end and followedup with steals of two andfour before Gulseth scoreda single and conceded thematch. The Clarks wontheir first title in 2002 and

again in 2003, 2005, 2006,2007 and 2009 to remain asthe most decorated mixedchampions in U.S. history.

Derek Surka’s team fromConnecticut scored threepoints in the final end towin the bronze medal overLori Karst’s team fromWisconsin.

Surka (New Haven,

Conn.) and teammatesCharrissa Lin (New Haven,Conn.), Sean Murray(Edgewood, Md.) andRachel Sethi (Falls Church,Va.) gave up a steal of oneto Karst (Madison, Wis.)and teammates DavidCarlson (Portage, Wis.),Angela Montgomery(Fitchburg, Wis.) and Dan

Wiza (Waunakee, Wis.) inthe ninth end, making it atwo-point deficit, but theywere able to earn three forthe win. The Surka rinkovercame a rough start tothe week when they foundthemselves 0-3 after twodays of competition beforestarting a winning streak tomake a run at the playoffs.

Winners of the 2010 U.S. Mixed National Championship title were (l-r) Brady Clark, Cristin Clark,

Philip Tilker and Bev Walter of Seattle’s Granite Curling Club.

Submitted photo

by Terry Kolesar,

Editor

W

2010 U.S. Mixed

National Championship

Chicago Curling Club

Round Robin

Washington (Clark) 8-1North Dakota I (Gulseth) 7-2Wisconsin (Karst) 6-3Connecticut (Surka) 5-4California (Sieg) 4-5Minnesota (Gervais) 4-5Alaska (Shuttleworth) 3-6Illinois (Wright) 3-6Michigan (Gault) 3-6North Dakota II (Heier) 2-7

Semifinals:

*ND1 030 003 103 x 10WI 002 110 010 x 5

CT 001 003 110 x 6*WA 200 310 003 x 9

Bronze-medal game:

*WI 110 101 011 0 6CT 002 010 100 3 7

Gold-medal game:

ND1 000 1xx xxx x 1*WA 424 0xx xxx x 10*last rock in first end

NBC Universalto air Vancouver

highlights documentary

Keep the Olympic spir-it going strong by tuningin to “Visions ofVancouver” at 9 p.m. ETon May 24 on NBCUniversal Sports. Thedocumentary will high-light the 2010 OlympicWinter Games fromVancouver. Learn more,www.universalsports.com.

May 2010 U.S. Curling News

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Transcript of May 2010 U.S. Curling News