Only 2 months to curling season!!!!

Hope everyone is having a great summer. Can you believe that our curling season ended almost 3 months ago??!! The club’s board has been hard at work planning for the new season.

The following are the board positions for the 2011 / 2012 season:

• § Vice President – Rob Klein
  
  

  § Treasurer – Landon Russell
  
  

  § Secretary – Michelle Richter
  
  

  § Membership – Randy Sabbagh
  
  

  § Communications and Web Site –Buck Krawczyk
  
  

  § Special Events – Uly Suchil
  
  

  § Pro Shop – Michelle Richter & Pat Popovich
  
  

  § Competition – Ken Poklitar

§ V My thanks to the past year’s board members who did not seek or were not re-elected to the board at the May annual meeting. This includes Bill McBeth, Christina Gilsbach, Darlene Barnes, and Zac Grantham. The strength of this club is its volunteers, and your efforts were very much appreciated.

Plans are well underway for the new season. The preliminary schedule starts with an Open House on Sept. 11. If you have any friends or acquaintances interested in curling, this would be the opportunity for them to give curling a try. An education and practice session is planned for Sept. 18, and the first league games would be on Sept. 25. The Fall season will run through to Dec. 18, with the Winter season starting again on January 9 and running till April 1. Games will be at the same time as years past, Sundays 9:30AM to 11:45 AM, at the Chaparral Ice facility on Anderson Lane. Watch your email for membership signup and more details.

For those of you in summer curling withdrawal, the club is looking to hold a practice session. This is tentatively planned for Sunday, August 14 from 9:30AM to 11:45AM. This will be an open ice session, so you can practice or pickup games. Pat Popovich is coordinating the event. It will require a minimum of 25 persons, so watch your email for sign up information.

Probably the most exciting development for the club this season will be the construction and opening of the Austin Curling Center (ACC). Anita and Dennis are working hard on making their dream a reality. Their target for opening is the Spring of 2012.

Another event in the planning stage is the 2012 Texas Open Bonspiel (TOB). Our club has committed to host this event, and if plans come together, it will be first major event held at the ACC. Ken Poklitar has accepted the position of bonspiel chairman. He has compiled a detailed list of activities and ideas for the bonspiel. This is a major event for our club, and will require much time and effort from the membership. There will be many opportunities to volunteer and help out with the event. Watch your email for the organizational meeting.

As always, please contact me if you have questions, comments, suggestions, or criticisms. I welcome your input. First rocks in the new season are less than 2 months away!!!!!

Curling in 2011

Hope everyone had a good time over the Christmas & New Years holidays.

The curling club’s Winter season will begin soon with the first games on January 16. If you have not already done so, please let Christina know if you will be curling. Payment of $220.00 is due by January 9. This can be sent either to club treasurer, Landon Russell, or payment can be made on the club’s web site.

On Sunday, January 9, we will be holding an education session. This will be a chance for everyone to improve their curling skills, and I encourage all to attend. There will be sessions ranging from a Learn to Curl, Intermediate curling training, a practice sheet and an open forum sheet. Dennis will also be holding a session on stick delivery.

The charge will be $20.00 per person, and will be at our regular time from 9:30AM to 11:45AM. Pat, Zac and Landon are coordinating this session, so feel free to email questions or suggestions to them.

I will be handling the open forum sheet. I do not have any specific topics to cover, but instead will answer questions on any curling topics you want to discuss. Whether it is delivery, sweeping, strategy or rules, ask whatever you want and I will try to answer or demonstrate.

To help prepare for this, please email me ( president@lonestarcurlingclub.org) any topics or questions you would like to cover. This will give me a chance to research and print out some reference information that I can hand out.

As a reminder, the Texas Open Bonspiel will be held in Dallas from April 29 to May 1. Watch their web site (http://dfwcurling.com/ ) for details. The entry form should be posted sometime early in the new year. Last year the bonspiel filled up, so get your entries in early.

On another note, we recently heard that one of the people involved in the founding of the Lone Star Curling Club, Alex Legault, passed away in a traffic accident recently. Although Alex has not been involved with the club over the past few years, his efforts during the early years of the club were very helpful to get our club going.

As always, feel free to email suggestions, questions or ideas. All the best in 2011 and see you on the ice!!

It is November!!!

After almost 2 months of curing season, we have 4 weeks of league play to go for the fall. And the board has been making plans for the league wrap-up and the winter league.

On December 19, we will hold the playoff games for the fall league. The first place rink will play the second place rink for the championship, third plays fourth, fifth plays sixth, etc. Unfortunately, the two last place rinks will not play that day.

After curling, we will hold a club social event at Dave & Busters restaurant. This will be open to all members, as well as any guests members would like to bring. Pat & Uly will need a head count of who plans on attending, so watch your email for signups.

The winter league will start on January 16 & run through to mid-April. For this league, we will open up the roster for new people or rinks who wish to curl regularly. We will expand the draw if we have more than the 12 current rinks. Changes can also be made to existing rinks for this league.

Our plans are to have each rink play 11 league games, as we had in the fall. Rates will remain at $220 for the league, which we need to have paid in advance. Again, watch your email for more information and sign ups. Deadline for sign up will be Jan. 9.

Something new we will introduce is sections to the league schedule. Based on the fall league standings, we will break the schedule into Yellow & Red sections. Each rink within a section will play each other. The top two rinks in section Yellow will then move into section Red, and the bottom two rinks in Section Red will go to Section Yellow. The schedule will then repeat the play between rinks in the section.

On January 9, we will hold an education session for all members and any other interested persons. We will expand the format of this session to include the following:

• One sheet for a Learn to curl session, designed for new or inexperienced curlers
• Two sheets for intermediate education. This is designed for curlers with some experience who want to improve on the basics of delivery
• One sheet that will be open for people who want to practice
• One sheet for “Wayne’s Game Live”. I will host this sheet, and it will be an open forum for experienced curlers who want to address specific questions or issues in their game

The charge will be $20 per person. An email will be coming with more information and sign up.

We have been asked if there is any interest from our club in participating in the Pacific International Cup (PIC) bonspiel. This is held every year in early April in Vancouver, British Columbia. Texas sends one men’s and one women’s rink. Participants are responsible for all of their own expenses to attend this bonspiel. We share this invitation with Dallas Houston and Oklahoma city. There will be a playoff to decide the representatives. Please contact me if there is interest in participating in this or if you would like more information.

Although it is a few months away, reserve the weekend of April 29, 30 & May 1 for the annual Texas Open bonspiel. This will be held in Dallas this year. Last year, our club sent 5 rinks to this bonspiel. It is always a fun time to curl and to meet curlers from other cities. Entries will probably be accepted starting in late January.

As always, feel free to let me know any questions, comments, criticisms or suggestions. Good curling!!

Welcome to 2010 / 2011 Season

August, 2010

Although it may be sweltering outside these day, the start of the new season for the Lone Star Curling Club will be here in less than a month. The club’s board has been working over the summer on plans for the 2010 / 2011 curling season.

First of all, our total of paid memberships for the new season is now at 53. This includes both people who want to play full time, as well as subs. This number will allow us to have 12 rinks for the new season league. That is a 50% increase over last season!!

Christina is working on rink assignments. We will attempt to accommodate everyone’s preferences for rinks and positions, although with the larger numbers, we may need to ask some people to change.

We will continue to play at the same time & place. All curling games will be held at the Chaparral Ice facility on West Anderson Lane. Games will be played from 9:30 AM to 11:45 AM. Please arrive by 9:15 to help with ice setup.

The new curling season will start on Sunday, September 12 with a curling skills clinic. This will be coordinated by our three members, Pat, Landon & Zac, who attended the US Curling Association Skills meeting in Dallas in June. With our larger size, we have a diversity of curling experience levels, so there will be sections for both experienced and novice curlers. This is an optional session, with a charge of $20 person. I encourage you to attend, as this session will help to enhance your curling skills during the season. Watch your email for more details.

Our regular season starts the next Sunday, Sept. 19, and continue each Sunday morning till December 12. A change from last season is that we will hold a curling session the Thanksgiving weekend Sunday. Each rink will play 10 games, and have 2 byes. Playoffs will be held on Dec. 12, with playoff seeding determined based on season records. Our annual Weirdspiel will held on December 19. The second half of the season will resume on January 9.

As mentioned in a previous blog & email, Chaparral Ice has dramatically increased our ice fees this season. With the 5^th sheet, we are able to keep the game fees at $20 per person per game. However, the increased fees have forced us to require prepayment of game fees. So for the first half of the season, we will need a payment of $220.00 from each curler. We need this payment by Sept. 12, so please mail or give your check to treasurer Landon Russell by this date. Zac is also working on a Pay Pal option for payment through our club’s web page.

For the September 19 season opener, the club will hold a tail gate event in the parking lot. This will be a chance to reconnect with everyone in the club, plus meet the new curlers who have joined. Arrive by 8:30AM. Our special events people are working on plans for this event, so watch your email.

I am looking forward to a great season of curling in 2010 / 2011. Although curling can be competitive, make sure you enjoy yourself and have fun. As always, if you have questions, comments, suggestions or criticisms, feel free to email or talk to me – I welcome your input. Good curling!!!

Now accepting entries for Next Season!!

The Lone Star Curling Club is now accepting entries for the 2010 / 2011 season. Depending on the interest level, we plan on holding 2 and possibly 3 leagues of 10 rinks each in the new season. The existing Sunday morning time will be retained, but at least one of these new leagues are planned for a weekday evening.

Membership is open to people of all experience and skill levels. If you did not have a chance to participate in our Olympic Instructional League this spring, we have plans for an instructional Learn to Curl session in September prior to the start of the curling leagues. This session will teach new curlers the basics of delivery & sweeping.

In terms of fees, as was mentioned at the annual meeting, Chaparral Ice has given us notice that they are increasing our charge for ice time to $350 per hour for next season. This is a significant increase over the $250 per hour we paid this past season. A curling session will now cost the club almost $800.00.

The board has decided to keep the per game fees to the same $20 level as in this past season. This is feasible only if we have a full draw with 10 rinks. Since this is a large expenditure for the club, the one change for next season is that we will require advance payment for game fees. Preliminary plans are for 22 games. You may pay for an entire season ( $440 ), or two payments for each half season ( $220 in September & January ).

Membership fees for the new season will be $65.00 per person. This is an increase of $15 per person over last season. The membership fees covers all the general operating expenses of the club, such as insurance, US Curling Association membership, equipment, web site hosting, ice time for open houses, publicity, etc. The club is in need of some new equipment, and with ice fees at a break even level, we need to increase the membership fees in order to pay for the equipment. Equipment purchases discussed include additional club brooms (i.e.: we want everyone playing to have a broom), a measuring stick, and a second storage closet.

Since we will have a maximum number of curlers that can be accommodated, we will be setting deadlines for league signup. People who were members for the full 2009 / 2010 season will have first access to their desired league. Their deadline is July 1. The deadline for new members is Aug. 1. As in years past, you can join a league as an entire 4 person rink, as a group of 2 or 3 persons who wish to curl together, or as an individual. If you would like to play in multiple leagues, you can sign up for that also.

There are two steps to join the league for next season:

· Please email your intention to join a league to membership director Christina Gilsbach (membership@lonestarcurlingclub.org). In your email, please indicate:

i. Name, mailing address, preferred email address.

ii. Preferred curling time – i.e.: Sunday and / or weekday evening. If a weekday evening, list the preferred day(s).

iii. If you have organized a rink or persons that you want to curl with, please list their names.

· Mail or give a cheque for your membership fee of $65.00, payable to “Lone Star Curling Club” to Treasurer Landon Russell at:

7620 Yaupon Drive
Austin, TX 78759

We look forward to a great curling season. Please contact me (president@lonestarcurlingclub.org) if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

Olympics and Curling in Austin

First of all, my thanks to all members who turned out last Sunday to help with our Open House session. We had at latest count 410 people attend, with an estimated 100 who turned away because of the long lineups. It demonstrates an incredible interest in curling in this city when people fill up the waiting area, and are lined up out the hallway and into the parking lot. Obviously, the Olympic coverage was our catalyst, whether due to great TV coverage, excellent competition or the Norway pants, we have seen a major spike in curling. We could not have made our open house a success without the volunteer efforts.

To put this in perspective, in 2006 when our club was formed, we had an estimated 80 & 60 persons attend the 2 open house sessions. This year, we have almost 3 times that number in one session!! Our instructional league planned for April & May is full, with 32 paid entries, and over 100 persons on the waiting list. This is a great time for curling in Austin!!

We are holding a second open house session next Sunday, March 7. Many of the attendees expressed an interest to come back again, so I expect another large turnout. If you have time available, please come out to assist with this event. We have 10 hacks set up, with rotating groups of new curlers coming onto the ice to try out delivery and sweeping. It would be great if we could have 2 club members at each hack. Also, with large crowds, there is the need for greeters and people to answer curling questions.

The instructional league will definitely go ahead. This will be held after our season ends, with sessions scheduled for Sundays, April 11 & 25, and May & 9, at our regular curling times of 9:30 AM to 11:45 AM. Since every rink in this league will be new curlers, we want to assign a “coach” to each rink, which will be a league member who will help the new people learn the sport. Teaching is a great way to hone your own curling skills, and it will be a good opportunity to get new curlers to join our club.

Also, if we can find ice time for a second instructional league, there will also be the need for coaches. More details are to follow, but if you are interested, Darlene will have a sign up sheet. And do not fear that your knowledge is not sufficient to be a coach. Everyone in the club has enough curling knowledge to pass on to new people. And I will hold a “coaches clinic” before the league to review methods to teach new curlers.

We still have some league curling this season. Our league resumes after next week’s open house with league games on March 14 & 21, and then our wind up event on March 28. Watch your email for more details on the wind up event – it promises to be weirder than ever.

In addition, the Texas Open Bonspiel will be held in Houston on April 16, 17 & 18. This is an opportunity for curling, getting to know curlers from other cities and for a fun weekend. Entries are now open for rinks. If you would like to play, but do not have a rink, Darlene has a sign up sheet, and the club will organize rinks to enter. The Houston Curling Club puts in a lot of effort for this bonspiel, and they have done a great job in the past. Let’s show our support from the Lone Star Curling Club.

As a final note, the annual club elections are coming up. Positions up for election include President, Vice President, and 8 board members. Darlene will have a sign up sheet for anyone interested in these positions. If you have the time, please consider letting your name stand. Elections will be held during our annual meeting at a date to be set by the board, so watch you email.

As always, please feel free to give me your comments, questions, suggestions or criticisms. After I see all the efforts at an event such as the past open house, I feel honored to be a member of this club.

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