Excellent News!

I have just found out that both Aberdeen Curling Rink's "come and try" sessions are fully booked - 110 thats ONE HUNDRED AND TEN attendees are booked, and a third session is being planned for those currently unable to attend.


Our  Deveopment Officer has planned to follow this through with the clubs in December to see how many we converted.

I could start my usual Olympic rap about the evils of selection, elitist deformation of the spirit of the game etc - but this is such good news I shall S.F.U. for once.......

Monday 1st March seen 124 ( yes  one hundred and twenty four  ) attend come and try. As much as we can say yes it is a success , its such a shame it has come so close to the end of the season.there are only another 3 weeks left in Kirkcaldy     and I wonder how many of those we can retain. Does anyone else think this also

It's not about the people who batter down the door to try curling it's the conversion rate to club members.  2,000 people trying curling is pointless if none of them come back in September and I'd be surprised if we see a big impact on club numbers.

We keep getting told we've had thousands of kids through the Curlings Cool program yet how many have actually joined junior clubs?  The conversion percentage will be very low.

The conversion rate can be low for a number of reasons:

Curling is a lot harder than people think when they have only seen the experts make it look so easy on TV - and it is cold - and so people's expectations are not in tune with reality. And unless the come and try evening involves people in a game as soon as possible they will get bored from standing around.

People come with friends often and if the friends do not want to go back then neither do the others - the sheep mentality.

Often the cost of a come and try evening is kept artificially low - when the true cost of a game is revealed that can be offputting.

Until you get involved in a club it can sometimes be difficult to convert your life to revolve around ice sessions at 5.30pm or 9.30pm - the one too early to get to from work, the other too late to be bothered going back out into the cold night.

Although you do not need to buy any equipment people do want to but new shoes and their own brush - and that can be a barrier to some - £120 for shoes and £40 for a brush - may not seem much to us but for some - and yes I know you can get brushes at the rink - but they never look as good as the ones you can buy yourself.

In Kent there are hire shoes which are cheap to use - maybe more rinks in Scotland should look at that as an option?

Just some suggestions based on past experience.

Ad nauseam (if that is how it's spelt!!). Two things matter to new curlers. Good ice, good guidance. I remember well, being told to teach new curlers to use a sliding delivery. It didn't work. I taught them the bowls delivery, that did work. What worked better than anything was the quality of ice. I taught the beginners on a Monday morning, when I got it right they were still curling on Friday. Then home, nowhere to curl, see you next year.

Hanging on to new curlers is not easy. There must be a reason why Fenton can't provide good curling ice to inspire his own local (English) curlers. If he were to tell me in an email, I will keep it confidential. I have to ask the question: WHO IS ADVISING YOU?

Apologies, JMLB, I do not wish to slag Fenton's ice, I simply wish to point out that good ice makes for good curling, especially with beginners.

"Seems reasonable that the event is held on good competitive Curling ice - I have not been to Fentons but I am told that the ice is of dubious quality", Sandy Morton -- 14 December 2009

"They had the foresight to make the decision to take this championship to Murrayfield on the basis that the ice for the Scottish Championships would be prepared similar to conditions likely to be encountered at the world level so that all competing teams, not only the winning team, would benefit from playing in these conditions.  And that was what we got." John Sharp -- 28 February 2010

Both quotes from the ECA thread. Good club ice can be anything from frozen water to WCF specification, create your own definition if you like.

Ice,
That info is amazing! Especially the stats and shot frames! Who would've thought there would be a 5 pt end scored at the Olympics of all places (if I remember correctly, one of those 5-pt ends was scored by Japan against Great Britain [women])! Thanks for sharing the link.