IN THE HOUSE: AN UPDATE FROM USA CURLING INTERIM CEO DEAN GEMMELL
March 17, 2023.
With a busy championship season underway, I wanted to provide an update and highlight a few of the new initiatives underway at USA Curling.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be at national championships. I have attended eight this season and I’m currently at the Wausau Curling Center, our terrific host for Club Nationals. Being at them offers me an opportunity to make new connections, renew old friendships, and get valuable feedback from curlers who come to our events from every corner of the country.
Shortly after a great U18 Nationals at Rock Creek Curling, we returned to the Denver area for the Men’s and Women’s Nationals in early February. Countless volunteers from the Denver Curling Club and Rock Creek Curling were essential to making this event successful. In addition to the usual roles—ice crew, merchandise sales, officiating, transportation—many served as Curling Gurus, explaining the sport to people in the stands who were watching it for the first time, and selling raffle tickets that offered a chance to throw a stone at the fifth end break during afternoon and evening draws.
The Mixed Doubles Nationals were in Kalamazoo, and the southwest Michigan club was, once again, a terrific partner for USA Curling. This is the fourth national championship supported by the Kalamazoo club, founded in 2008, and the enthusiasm for these events is truly appreciated. Bowling Green and Seattle Granite stepped up to host College Nationals and Senior Nationals. Both clubs went above and beyond, making these championships memorable experiences for all. We are also grateful to the Kettle Moraine Curling Club for hosting a successful Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Nationals this past December—their support of the event provided great competition that fueled champions Pam Wilson and David Samsa, who went on to capture a silver medal at the World Championship last week.
“National championships are great, but what else are you doing?”
Running quality national championships is an essential part of our mission as the National Governing Body of our sport, but we’re working on other important initiatives as well, including:
Athlete Outreach Initiative.
Thanks to a very generous donation from Bill Peskoff and the Peskoff Charitable Fund, we are launching the Athlete Outreach Initiative, a program connecting member clubs with top players.
What is it and how does it work?
Through the Athlete Outreach Initiative, clubs can submit proposals to bring an elite competitor to their location for a day.
Proposals can include components such as:
Skills Clinics for Club Members
Community Engagement—sessions for local high schools, professional organizations, underrepresented populations
Junior Skills Clinics
Off-Ice Presentations and Discussions
These suggestions are meant to spur thought and conversation. I know many in the curling community will have creative ideas that deliver maximum benefit, and we look forward to having conversations with clubs that want to take advantage of this program. To apply to bring an elite level athlete to your club, complete this online form.
Ice Technician consulting services.
USA Curling Head Ice Technician Shawn Olesen leads crews at as many national championships as possible—sometimes he can’t be in two places at once—but his expertise is also available to member clubs and facilities.
Shawn’s services are $500 per day, plus travel expenses, with multiple days available at a discount. You can request a site visit from Shawn here.
Clubs can also request 30-minute Zoom meetings with Shawn to discuss issues and challenges that impact ice conditions at their facility. To schedule one, please email Jenna Burchesky at jenna.burchesky@usacurling.org.
We are also working with the WCF to standardize Ice Technician certifications. We’ll have more on that soon.
During Mixed Doubles Nationals in Kalamazoo, Head Ice Technician Shawn Olesen took some time to texture the rocks of the host club. (Bob Weder Photography)
Branded merchandise and a new online store.
We have worked with our partners at Columbia Sportswear to offer USA Curling apparel. The items were very popular in Denver and Kalamazoo, and will be available in our new online store when it launches at the end of March. It’s been exciting to see the enthusiasm, and we look forward to expanding the product line moving forward.
Before you visit the online store, download your digital membership card—yes, we now have membership cards—and we’ll send you an email with a discount code for 10% off any purchase from the USA Curling online store.
Here’s how to download your membership card:
Log into your MyUSACurling account, making sure that your browser window is full screen
Click the “View Profile” button in the middle of the page
From the menu on the left side of the screen, click the "Memberships" tab
Click the green circle that says "Current"
Click the blue "Resend Membership Email" button
An email will be sent to the email address listed on your profile with your membership card attached
After you download your membership card, you can print it or store it in an Apple Wallet.
High-quality webcasts.
We worked with Curling Stadium to provide webcasting of Men’s & Women’s Nationals, Mixed Doubles Nationals, and Junior Nationals. Not only did they provide a near-broadcast quality feature game each draw, static cameras allowed viewers to see games on every sheet. We continue to work with the team at Curling Stadium to improve the coverage, but the first two events were exceptional and we’re looking forward to featuring our best young curlers during the Junior Nationals.
“I like the webcasts of our championships, but what happened to the Scotties and Brier coverage on ESPN?”
As a fan of the game, I enjoyed being able to watch the Curling Canada Season of Champions events on ESPN3. So, like most American curlers, I was disappointed when news broke that coverage wouldn’t be available through ESPN this year.
I reached out to Nolan Thiessen of Curling Canada, and I can assure you that he was just as disappointed. He told me that Curling Canada was taking the usual steps to make their events available in the U.S. market, but were informed via email that ESPN would not be carrying them just as the Scotties were about to get underway. I am grateful that TSN began to offer the raw feed to online viewers in the United States.
This situation prompted a larger, important discussion about overall broadcast coverage of curling in the United States.
As thrilled as we are with the streaming efforts of our partners at Curling Stadium, and will continue to provide as much webcasting of events as resources allow, a broadcast deal will make our sport more accessible to fans and casual viewers. All paths are being pursued, from traditional networks to streaming platforms like Amazon, ESPN, and Apple.
NBC, as many know, has shifted resources away from sports, shuttering the NBC Sports network and the Olympic Channel, while moving some coverage to USA Network. NBC does retain Olympic rights through 2032, so curling will have a home in during the Winter Games in 2026 and 2030, but the overall shift at the network reflects changes underway in an evolving sports media landscape.
That said, it’s important to get eyeballs on our sport in the years between the Games. I am confident our sport will be a great addition to the programming of the right provider, and can produce significant return on investment. We’ll continue making the case for it, and work with other associations like the World Curling Federation and Curling Canada to deliver as much coverage of our sport as possible.
Governance 4.0 Ad Hoc Committee.
This committee, comprised of volunteers from curling clubs of all kinds, is working diligently towards a workable new membership model and governance structure. A survey of members has gone out, and I hope that everyone will take a few minutes to provide feedback. As the committee works through different models, they will use this information to help guide the process. If you haven’t completed the survey, here’s where you can find it. A survey of club leadership will follow shortly.
Upcoming National Championships.
Club Nationals, Wausau Curling Club, WI (March 16-19)
Junior Nationals, Broomstones Curling Club, Wayland, MA (April 3-8)
Mixed Fours Nationals, Denver Curling Club, Golden, CO (April 12-16)
Five-and-Under Nationals, Hibbing Curling Club, Hibbing, MN (April 19-23)
The next Town Hall.
I scheduled a Town Hall for Saturday, March 18th, from 3-4 PM ET—here’s the information you need to join it. I look forward to the discussion.
Final thoughts.
During my remarks at the Opening Ceremony in Denver at the Men’s and Women’s Nationals, I noted that I have been, “…regularly humbled by the willingness of so many in the curling community to commit their time and talents to improve the sport and this organization.”
It has truly been extraordinary, and we are grateful for the efforts of all who love our sport. We look forward to growing the game together.
Sincerely,
Dean Gemmell, Interim CEO
USA Curling is sponsored by Columbia Sportswear, Twin Cities Orthopedics, Training HAUS, Brakebush, ISS (Ice, Sports & Solar), Rock Solid Productions, IHG, and Laurie Artiss. USA Curling, as the National Governing Body for the sport in the United States, is also supported by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
