FamilyCurling.com is being renovated with features that better serve clubs who wish to use the resources of this site, including enabling clubs to edit their own information.
Calgary Family Curling Association
The Calgary Family Curling Association has taken the past year off. We are unsure if it will start up again in 2019 or wait a few more years. There are too many opportunities to serve on my own. Volunteers are welcomed. Please contact us at familycurling@outlook.com
The Curling Rocks! Free App.
Want to Curl on your phone, tablet or computer? Search for Curling Rocks! in your app store for our introductory version of an app that will help you learn curling and have fun playing each other as a family.
The Back Story
Family Curling started as an experiment with 11 young kids to see if they would find it fun to try curling with the stick delivery on a shorter sheet of ice. This experiment uncovered the parent’s desire to play with their kids.
From this two afternoon experiment, we then setup a 4 sheet 5 week league of family curling using the half sheet stick delivery format. This had great reviews from the players.
With this knowledge in hand, we approached curling clubs to share what we had learned with them so they could start their own programs if they wished. As it turned out, the clubs are less equipped to run programs themselves and needed us to run the programs for them.
Before we knew it, we were running leagues in three clubs in Calgary, with well over 500 registrants in a few years.
Setting up the programs required a lot of work, ranging from creating online curling and safety videos to developing promotional artwork and this website. We realized this work might be a barrier to other clubs starting their own programs and decided to share everthing we created with any club that would like to use it. (Free of charge – we just want to enhance the lives of youth and families)
We shared the site with one curling club, which worked well the first year. In the second year, with vacations etc, I think we let the club down in updating their information. With this one example, it became obvious we needed to give clubs the ability to edit their own information so they don’t have to rely on us for anything. This removes any risk a club may feel they are taking when using the familycurling.com site for promotion.
Our Status Today
There wasn’t and isn’t enough time to get everything done:
My family’s world was hit with health issues that reduced the amount of time and energy I had to work on the Family Curling initiative. In the previous year I was able to get the initial version of the Curling Rocks! app published, but that was as far as I got.
The health issues are still influencing our world and I can’t commit the time required to serve all of the family curling opportunities, including the Calgary Family Curling league at the moment. As fun and rewarding as it is, I need to focus my time on activities that make the biggest impact.
Optimist Clubs: A gentleman within the Optimist organization has approached me with a concept where Optimist clubs may be interested in running family curling programs. At the moment, supporting this opportunity is where my energy is focused.
I remain open to any partnerships that bring the joy of curling to families.
Goals
* Relaunch the familycurling.com website with the ability for clubs to edit their own information. (70% complete)
* Add a computer opponent and youth coaching tools to the Curling Rocks! app. (After significant effort, the original programming language couldn’t perform the complex algorithms fast enough. I have started redeveloping the game from scratch in a new more powerful engine. 20% complete)
* Approach curling clubs accross Alberta to utilize the FamilyCurling.com resources and sponsorship secured from FortisAlberta.
* Recruit additional volunteers for the Calgary Family Curling Association
* Accept requests to use FamilyCurling.com from clubs located anywhere on the planet. (50% complete with the redesign of familycurling.com to better meet the needs of Optimist International clubs)
Honest Reflection
As much as we have had some genuine successes, not all aspects of the Family Curling initiative have gone as smooth as I could have hoped. We are learning from our experiences and strive to return with a higher quality program.
Regards,
Derek