Member Association Spotlight: January 2018

From Al Cameron, Curling Canada

An act of sportsmanship that highlighted the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier Canadian Men's Curling Championship in Ottawa has been recognised by the International Fair Play Committee.

Craig Savill, Glenn Howard and Pat Simmons have been named recipients of the World Fair Play Diploma, and they were honoured at the World Fair Play Awards Ceremony on 17 November in Brussels, Belgium.

Due to scheduling conflicts with the 2017-2018 curling season, none of the three could attend the ceremony, and Olivier Nicoloff, Ambassador of Canada to the Kingdom of Belgium and to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, accepted the award on their behalf.

Savill, who was undergoing a battle with cancer at the time, was able to participate in a Tim Hortons Brier game between Howard's Ontario team and the Team Canada foursome skipped by Simmons.

"I still can't say enough about Glenn, Pat and both their teams for giving me that opportunity to return to the ice in Ottawa," said Savill. "It was a dream come true to play a Tim Hortons Brier in my hometown, and the fact that those teams recognised that, and put their rivalries aside to give me that chance, really shows what our sport is all about."

With joint headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, and Paris, the International Fair Play Committee was established in 1963, and the inaugural World Fair Play Awards Ceremony took place in 1965.

The list of past winners is remarkable, including the likes of Wayne Gretzky, tennis stars Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras, soccer star Sir Bobby Charlton and track and field legends Sergey Bubka, Kipchoge Keino and Emil Zatopek.

The International Fair Play Committee is recognized both by the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for its efforts in raising awareness of fair play.

Photo © Michael Burns

From Darrell Ell, WCF Competitions and Development Officer

12th WCF Adult Curling Camp - Prague

While most may be thinking, this may be a bit early as we are only halfway through the current curling season, those who are already talking about their plan for the 2018-2019 curling season, may want to include the 12th WCF Adult Curling Camp in your discussions.

This year the camp will run from 26-30 August 2018 and I can't think of a better way than to start the season on the road, with no distractions, on great ice and coached by some top international instructors.

Registration for this year's camp will open on 31 January and with a limit of 64 campers you may not want to miss that registration date. Last year the camp sold out with a waiting list and we expect the same this year.

If you haven't already attended this camp, or curled in Prague, the ice conditions are some of the best in the world, the hotels and meals are all reasonably priced and if you add in some extra time for sightseeing, Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

For more information about all WCF Camps and Courses please follow this link: http://www.worldcurling.org/camps-and-courses

From Janne Ojanperä

On Saturday 30 September 2017 the Word Curling Federation's first Portable Curling Facility was officially opened in Turku, Finland.

The facility was opened by World Curling Federation President, Kate Caithness.

From Eeva Röthlisberger, WCF Competitions and Development Officer

Just before Christmas, the Korean Wheelchair Curing Association (KWCA) welcomed Michael Jörgensen, from Sweden and CDO Eeva Röthlisberger over three days in Gangneung, the host city of the curling events during the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

A total of 30 participants from different sports, disabled sports organisations and members of KWCA took part in the basic and intermediate umpire course.

We would once again like to thank the KWCA for organising another successful course.

From Aljaz Pengov Bitenc, Curling Luxembourg

On December 10, while onlookers were freezing, club members of Luxembourg's National Curling Association were putting smiles on their faces by having them try the wonderful game of curling.

At the launch of the brand-new tram service in the city of Luxembourg, the weather provided a perfect, if somewhat chilly backdrop, to the winter-wonderland-themed event where curling was a main attraction.

Club members installed the street curling sheet and brought other cool curling-related gadgets which attracted enough visitors and prospective curling players to have kept the curling tent busy throughout the day.

Visitors were even able to try out some open-air curling with real stones. The snowfall and a cold snap brought by the windstorm Caroline provided great conditions for some outdoor curling fun.

The event, attended by Luxembourg's royals, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, was the culmination of a busy year for Luxembourg Curling.

During the year Luxembourg participated in 12 international events and hosted six competitions in Luxembourg featuring seven teams from nearby countries, as well as numerous promotional activities, introducing the game to an ever-growing number of Luxembourg nationals and expats living in the Grand Duchy.

From Bea Miltenburg, Netherlands Curling Association

Thanks to our men's team qualifying for the World Men's Curling Championship 2018 in Las Vegas and playing in the Olympic Qualification Event 2017 in Pilzen, curling has attracted a lot of attention in The Netherlands recently.

It has been mentioned regularly on television and from Sunday 14 January there will be a 'Curling Quiz' programme on Dutch television, which will be broadcast on prime time, just after the news at 8.30pm, on Sunday evening for the next 7 weeks.

Two teams will answer questions with the correct answer giving them the right to throw stones. Of course it is a fun programme, but nevertheless people are confronted with the sport.

Then with the Olympics following close behind and the men's team playing in Las Vegas a month after that, the Netherlands curling clubs are hoping to be able to register lots of new curlers.

For the national teams we hope it will generate some more sponsorships, with the help of our friends at Triple Double marketing.

Let's hope that all the enthusiasm in The Netherlands at the moment can lead to many more curlers and eventually to more good results. It looks to be a great start to the new year.

From Ian Ford, New Zealand Curling Association

The Audi quattro Winter Games New Zealand have appointed Martin Toomey as their new Chief Executive Officer. Toomey takes up the position from March 2018.

Alongside this appointment the Winter Games NZ will now change to be an annual event. Dates for this year have been announced with the curling running from 24 August - 8 September 2018.

To engage with the World Curling Federation on social media follow it on Twitter, Instagram (@WorldCurling) and Facebook (/WorldCurlingFederation) and use the hashtags when posting: #curling