This information will be enhanced throughout August
Use FamilyCurling.com ‘s memorable domain name, promotional materials, website, customized club page, game app, and tutorials to make your events a success!
It’s completely free! More..
You can start small with birthday parties or a one-day tournament 🙂
The stick delivery is to curling ..what floor hockey is to ice hockey ..a great way to build passion for the game, before learning to slide or to skate!
In FortisAlberta’s territory? Request free signage, a banner and delivery sticks!
403-862-2550 or
familycurling@outlook.com
Partner with an Optimist Club. Their expertise is running youth programs!
Are you with an Optimist Club? Optimist Al Kersey has ideas on how you can start a curling program. Call Al at 1-778-988-4337
If you believe in the importance of Family Curling and it’s potential to enhance the lives of youth and families, then you are the right person to launch a family curling program. You don’t need curling experience to make this happen in your community.
There are multiple ways to spark the creation of a Family Curling program in your community. Regardless of the role you will play, the information below will give you the skills and confidence to deliver a quality experience for families.
Types of Programs
The types of family curling programs may be limited only by our imagination. Generally, we see four main categories of individual events or programs:
A Single Game Event
Birthday parties and families looking for something unique to do this weekend, are examples of single game events. These are great ways to introduce youth to curling and to give families a fun bonding experience. More..
A Half-Day Bonspiel (Tournament)
A fun and social event where families play multiple games and eat and participate in activities between games. This is a great way to build excitement for curling. It only requires a partial day commitment from families and a relatively small commitment for volunteers. Running multiple bonspiels in the first year may cultivate family curling league members in the second year. More..
A Weekly League
Families who want to curl together often want to do it weekly. One format that works well is to have a 6-8 week league from Sep-Dec and then a second league from Jan-Mar. Many families will register for both. The number of volunteers needed tapers off around the 4th week as families become fairly independent. By this time volunteers are mostly their to celebrate great shots. More..
A Weekly Learn To Slide / Learn To Curl
A multi-week program that focuses on building skills to perform the slide delivery well. Practicing the slide is often integrated with fun activities and some game play. When you partner with a trained coach (or are one yourself), you can design a program that works best for you and the coach’s training style. More..
Steps For Success
- Decide to do it
- Explore partnership options
- Find a few alies
- Select a program format
- Determine budget and pricing
- Secure ice rental and or partnerships
- If required, establish legal entity, banking and insurance
- Promote the program
- Manage registrations
- Run the events
- Gather and evaluate feedback
- Run more events – they are easier now
You can do this, just take it one step at a time. Of course the first step is the most important 🙂
1 Decide To Do It
ANYBODY can start a family curling program. Even someone who has never curled before. Starting a program is half administrative and half on ice assistance. If you have never curled before, you can find an experienced curler to help on the ice. How we will help
2 Explore Partnership Options
Talk to your local curling club. Do they have times available when ice can be rented? Are they interested in starting a Family Curling league that they run as a house league or would they prefer an external party rent the ice and run the league? Is there an Optimist Club in the area that is interested in running the league with you? More..
3 Find A Few Allies
One person can run a league. However, sharing the work is more fun and enables you to do more. More..
4 Select A Program Format
There are many program formats to choose from ranging from birthday parties to one day family bonspiels to multi-week leagues. As well as a choice between the stick delivery games format and the learn to slide format. More..
5 Determine Budget And Pricing
Beyond a judgement call on how much to spend on promotion, the budget and pricing is simple mathematics. Here are a few models and things to consider. More..
6 Secure Ice Rental And / Or Partnerships
It’s time to make it official. At this point you have interacted with various groups and allies. You know what you are going to do and who you will be doing it with. It’s a good idea to make it official with some written documents. More..
7 Establish Legal Entity, Banking And Insurance
If you are partnering with a curling or other service club, then you can likely skip this step by using the curling or service club’s existing infrastructure. If you are starting up a league on your own, then you may need a legal entity, bank account and insurance. More..
8 Promote The Program
This is the fun part. There are many ways to promote your FamilyCurling league. Some are paid and some are free. All of the familycurling.com resources are here for you to use. More..
9 Manage Registrations
Here too, there are options. You can take registrations manually over the phone, by email, or during a registration night. You can also use an online registration service. More..
10 Run The Events
This is the part that will fill your soul with joy and meaning. All your preparation and hard work has paid off. Now you get to share in the experience of youth and families having fun together. More..
11 Gather And Evaluate Feedback
A key part of continuous improvement is feedback. If you gather feedback for your own organization, please share any learnings with us at FamilyCurling.com so that we can share it with everyone here in this section. If you have photos or an event blog post somewhere, please share it as well. [We are contemplating a community aspect to this site which may link to various club event stories] More..
Questions? Thoughts? Requests?
Contact Derek Kunz at 1-403-862-2550 or familycurling@outlook.com
Opportunities
*** GREAT NEWS for rural Alberta clubs. Family Curling has received sponsorship from FortisAlberta to help groups launch family curling programs at a number of locations within FortisAlberta’s service territory. Contact us if you would like to start a program! ***
*** A perfect fit? Optimist International is a world wide volunteer organization that “makes the future brighter by bringing out the best in children”. FamilyCurling.com vows to help Optimist International clubs implement family curling programs. ***
Let’s share curling with all youth who don’t play winter sports
Family curling is designed to provide families with both an introductory experience to curling and an ongoing opportunity to curl together. Most families will start with the short sheet stick delivery format. Once players are excited about the sport, they can enhance their experience by learning the slide delivery as a family, in a youth curling program or an adult learn to curl program also offered at the club. Throughout this, families may continue to curl in either the half or full sheet format to gain more experience and enjoy curling with each other.