MEMBER sERVICEs Join the UsA Curling Fan Club The USA Curling Fan Club was launched in 2010 to help capture the excitement of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and all the great new fans the sport garnered. For just a $30 donation, the current membership package includes an official “USA Curling Fan Club” membership card, a USA Curling luggage bag tag, specialized address labels, a pin, a membership sticker, a year subscription to the U.S. Curling News as well as Stone Soup, the association’s official electronic e-newsletter. If interested in joining the Fan Club, contact the USA Curling office at 1-888-287-5377 or click on the Fan Club link at www.usacurl.org.
College Curling
Junior Programs A Junior Merit program is available to member clubs for all ages of junior curlers, from beginner to the competitive youth/junior curler. The five-level program measures achievement at each stage by testing junior curlers’ knowledge of the sport and on-ice skills. Participants are awarded colored bars (red, blue, bronze, silver, and gold) to wear on their curling jacket at each merit level. A junior merit manual with on-ice skills assessment and written examination for each level can be obtained through the USCA office. An on-ice drills manual has been developed to help coordinate the on-ice skills test and is available on the USCA website at www.usacurl.org.
Annual Appeal For the 2011-2012 season, the USCA will be launching a new annual membership appeal which will refresh the longstanding Annual Pin Donation Program. The annual appeal will reach out to curlers from across the country via multiple channels, including direct mail, e-mail, the U.S. Curling News, social media, electronic newsletter, and the USCA website. Support provided from the annual appeal will help the USCA continue to meet its mission of growing the sport of curling nationwide. Questions regarding the program can be directed to Dave Carlson, vice president of Marketing and Operations, at 608-742-3049 or drcportagewi@frontier.com.
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MEMBER sERVICEs
The USCA College Curling Committee has two branches. The Intercollegiate Club and Varsity Curling (ICVC) has two primary goals: promoting the development of curling clubs in a college/university environment and encouraging these clubs to meet and compete against each other on a regular basis. The long-term goal is to transition curling from a club to a varsity-level sport at schools where it is appropriate to do so. Further information on the ICVC can be found on its website, www.intercollegiate-curling-usa.org, its Facebook page “US University Club and Varsity Curling,” or by contacting Gordon Maclean, USCA Director of College Curling, at 906482-6788. The College Curling USA program organizes and runs the National College Tournament. This event has been directed and funded by the Illinois State Curling Foundation since the early 1990s. Further information on the National College Tournament can be found at www.collegecurling.org.