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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Wheelchair friendly curling club and summer training site to close

Guelph Golf and Curling Club cancels upcoming curling season

Guelph Mercury
GUELPH—Gregg Derrett and many other local curlers will have to find a new place to throw their rocks this fall.
                       
Last week, the Guelph Golf and Curling Club announced to its members it will be suspending its 2013-14 curling season due to financial constraints.
                       
"It came right out of the blue," Derrett said. "It's a really disappointing thing."
                       
Derrett has been an active member with the curling club for the past 10 years. As a participant on many teams and curling several times a week, Derrett said he was shocked when he received a letter from the club announcing it would not be offering the ice this fall.
                       
In a letter addressed to its members, the club said the board of directors decided to cancel the curling season to give the club time to reevaluate its current business model.
                       
"The winter operations at the club have put the operation in a deficit position for the first six months of our fiscal year for many years and it has become obvious that we cannot continue to operate successfully with the current model," the letter reads.
                       
"Moving forward it is our intent as a board to develop and implement a sustainability plan that will identify future capital needs and provide consistent service level in our operations."
                       
Those who already paid for a curling membership will be given a full refund and those members who purchased a "locker for life" will not be charged this year.
                       
Last year, the club celebrated its 100th anniversary and officially changed its name, rebranding itself as the Guelph Golf and Curling Club after spending the century as The Guelph Country Club. The curling facility was added to the clubhouse building in 1963.
                       
Although the club's letter announces the suspension of curling for the upcoming season, Derrett said this might be the end of curling at the club indefinitely.        
                
"If you shut down your operation and people go somewhere else, if they're content where they went, why would they come back to a place that seems to be struggling to stay around?" he said.
"I think it's probably the death nail for the curling club."
                       
Jeff Stillman, the club's curling director and David Vogel, the director of operations were reached by phone on Monday, but declined to comment on the decision. They said all comments about this decision needed to come from the board of directors.
                       
Multiple attempts to reach a spokesperson for the board of directors were unsuccessful.
The Golf and Curling Club asserts it has formed a partnership with The Guelph Curling Club on Woolwich Street to give members new a place to play for a discounted rate for this next year.
Kathy Brown, general manager of the Guelph Curling Club, said the discount will be the same as all new members receive in their first year at the Woolwich Street club.
                       
She said awareness for sport of curling has grown over the past few years with increased television coverage of bigger curling events, but her club has still had to work hard to bring in new members.
Derrett said the members at the Golf and Curling Club were an aging population. Over the last few years he said he hadn't seen as many juniors showing up to play.
                       
"There are just not enough new people coming into the game."
                       
Derrett said he'll continue to curl when the season starts up again this fall, but he'll be travelling out to Elora to do it.
                       
cseto@guelphmercury.com 0

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Out of retirement and into the fire! I am returning to curling!


Now I don’t want any of you thinking I have some major delusions of grandeur for a return to Team Canada.  But Yes; the rumours are true I am returning to the sport of curling as a competitive player.

I have taken 6 years away from the sport and it seems like a life time. I have done my best to give back to the sport through the wheelchair curling blog 2 and will continue to do so. But the call of the game and the fact my little girl is now old enough not to mention my wife said it was ok as well has lead me back to the ice.

I will be coming out of retirement for the love of the game, to play a few competitive events and hey maybe even catch up with a few old friends. Now don’t worry the blog will continue and should even be better as being on the front lines again allows for a different perspective.

Over the summer has seen a few changes in teams around the province of Ontario. Shauna Petrie has left Chris Rees from Toronto and will be playing with me as had Katie P. and Christine L. left Doug Morris to play along side of me.

It takes me back to my Team from Newfoundland were it was 3 ladies and 1 guy; is going to be allot of fun.

I am coming back because of the passion for the sport and to see if I can still play with a few of the big boys and girls. The game has come a long way as have the players since I last played. Seeing what I can do will be fun and after all life is about following your passion.

Only time will tell and like I was once told; don’t even let your passion over weigh your patience.

See you on the ice!

The 9th Annual Cathy Kerr Memorial Bonspiel Registration


The 9th Annual Cathy Kerr Memorial Bonspiel

November 28 – December 1, 2013

RA Center

  2451 Riverside Drive  

Ottawa, Ontario

                               

Fees:

·         Competitive Teams – Registration fee is $395 CDN per five-person team. All competitive teams must register and pay in full by September 13, 2013.

·         Recreational Teams – Registration fee is $50 CDN per team member. All recreational teams must register and pay in full by October 11, 2013.

Registration fee includes five guaranteed eight-end draws in the competitive division (four in recreational), cash prizes, and a buffet dinner for your team on Saturday evening, November 30. Additional buffet dinner tickets for guests are $45 CDN per person and can be purchased at the event. We do need a head-count for planning purposes, so please be sure to specify the number of extra buffet tickets you will need on the form below.

Entry fee refunds will be available until October 18, 2013. If a team cancels after October 18, no refunds will be issued.

Registration:

Competitive Team                            Recreational Team          

Team Name:
Name of team contact:
Phone: 
Address:
City:
Province/State/Other:
Postal/ZIP Code:
Country:
Email Address:
Name of Skip:
Name of Vice:
Name of Second:
Name of Lead:
Name of Alternate (if any):
Name of Coach(s):
Total number of people attending including players, coaches and others:
Number of additional buffet tickets required:                                    (Tickets purchased at event)

Please make cheque or money order payable to the Capital Wheelchair Curling Club and mail with this completed form to:

Doug Morris

1315 Agincourt Road

Ottawa, ON K2C 2J3

Canada

Information regarding accessible hotel accommodations and car rentals will be posted on the CWCC website. If you have any questions, please email Doug.Morris@rogers.com.

Chris Rees win Cape Cod Curling Club Summer Wheelchair Bonspiel




Sunday, July  28, 2013

Draw 11 - 09:30 AM
Game #ClubSheetTeams & Scores 
Cape Cod Curling Club1 Patrick McDonald (1) vs. Benoit Lessard (6)
Cape Cod Curling Club2 Konstantin Kurokhtin (4) vs. Chris Rees (5)
Cape Cod Curling Club3 Tim Kelly (5) vs. MyungJin Kim (2)