By Paul Wiecek -Winnipeg Free Press

It remains, by any measure, a purely amateur sport.

While the popularity of curling has grown exponentially — especially internationally — since the sport’s introduction as an Olympic medal sport in Nagano in 1998, there has still been no one yet who makes a full-time living doing nothing but curling.

What has changed, however, is what it costs mid-level competitive teams to keep up with the Joneses — those elite teams like Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones who have big corporate sponsorships and, often, tax-free government money to play their sport at the highest levels.

While no curler will ever be accused of getting rich off the sport, the richest in the game — the elites like Jones in the women’s game and the likes of Kevin Martin in the men’s game — are believed to have gotten richer in the past decade as corporations increasingly see value in having their brand associated with the next potential Olympic gold medallist.

But that is, at best, a guess. Most curlers — even those at the highest level — do not report curling winnings or sponsorships as income, even though Revenue Canada has served notice in going after Ontario curler Wayne Middaugh in recent years that they consider curling winnings income like anything else earned by athletes.

The result is the curlers themselves are generally loathe to discuss any of their team finances in detail (lest the tax man perk up) and most information about the financial ups and downs of curling emerge only in dribs and drabs and with questionable veracity.

And that’s a problem, if for no other reason than the first step in dealing with a problem is figuring out if you have one.

On the surface, it would appear clear there is such a problem in curling. This is a sport that is celebrated, remember, for being almost uniquely egalitarian, a sport where fans like to point out it is possible for an ordinary club team to play its way, on nothing but its own merit, all the way from a Saturday night rec league to the gold medal podium at the Olympics.

At least in theory. Because in practice, the evidence of recent years would suggest that quaint — and entirely lovable — notion is now the stuff of mythology as the elite curling teams like the Joneses and Martins, Howards and Bernards, use the advantage of money to put some distance between them and the rest of the field in the quest for national championships and, ultimately, the Olympics.

If it feels like, in other words, that it’s been the same teams year-in-and-year-out lately on the podium, that’s because it mostly has been.

So what are the rest of the teams to do? How do you compete with the elite if you don’t have a curling resume with national and world titles on it to attract the corporate bucks and Sport Canada funding?

You get creative, says the Chelsea Carey team. The Carey team have agreed this season to provide the Free Press with unfettered access to their teams finances in response to a request from this newspaper to use their team to illustrate the challenges and financial ups and downs of trying to keep up with the top teams these days.

Newly configured this winter in an amalgamation of two of the province’s best women’s skips in Carey and third Kristy Jenion and a trusty front end in Kristen Foster and Lindsay Titheridge, the foursome is determined to begin a new four-year Olympic cycle by getting out on the bonspiel trail and testing their team by playing against the very best most weekends.

That’s not cheap, however. And where a team like Jones, with some rich sponsorships, will almost certainly be in the black this winter regardless of whether they win a single dime, the Carey foursome must count on some creative fundraising off the ice, penny-pinching on the road and some success on the ice to keep the season from ending in financial disaster.

“I don’t care so much if I win any money,” says the skip, “as much as I just don’t want to be shelling out thousands of dollars at the end of the year.”

For the Carey team this season, that’s meant everything from hosting a fundraiser at Hooters to building a flashy team website to beating on doors looking for sponsors. And also — in the case of the skip and Jenion — even agreeing to pose for a calendar, in part to raise awareness of their team and build, in at least a rudimentary fashion, a brand that they can sell.

“We don’t have one of those big curling names like some other teams do,” Carey says. “And so we know we have to be a little more creative in how we go about raising money.”

But for all their efforts, the single best thing the Carey team has done for their finances this winter has been on the ice, where the foursome is putting together a season the likes of which none of them have ever before been a part of.

In six World Curling Tour events, the Carey foursome have qualified for the playoff round in four of them. They won the top prize in the biggest one of all, a $60,000 Women’s Grand Slam event at the Fort Rouge Curling Club in late October and finished second in another Slam event in Halifax last weekend.

Put it together and the team has already accomplished something only a tiny handful of teams in Canada will accomplish this season — they have ensured they will turn at least a tiny profit for their efforts this season.

And that, they say, is a rarity.

“The most I’ve ever earned in a season is $2,000,” says Carey. “Ever. That was my best season.”

And Jenion? “Five hundred bucks. That’s the most. Ever. It’s just always been — ‘Pray to break even.’”

Foster says she has no illusions. “We’re never going to make a living at this,” she says. “We’re happy to just break even.”

Foster is a university student, the only member of the Carey team that is not also juggling a full time job — Carey is in sales, Jenion works at a furniture manufacturer, and Titheridge is a nurse.

Carey says the demands of curling all winter have cost her most dearly in her career. “I’ve turned down jobs that pay a lot more money just because of curling,” she says. “There’s a lot of sacrifices like that in trying to do what we do.”

The Free Press will check back with the Carey team periodically over the winter to see how they’re making out, on the ice and off.

?

Share our Webpage with your friends

By Glen Hallick

Two more rounds of curling have been played in the DEKALB Super League. Both draws were at the Portage Curling Club on Nov. 11.

In the 7 p.m. draw Bob Bartley (Carman) registered a 8-5 victory over Allan Gitzel (Morris).

Randy Neufeld (La Salle) used the hammer to score one in the eighth end to defeat Dean North (Carman) 8-7.

Although Rob Findlay (Carman) and Rob Ramage (Baldur) were tied 3-3 after six ends, the Baldur squad scored a pair in the seventh and stole one in the final end for the 6-3 win.

David Hamblin (Morris) downed Tom Hyde (Portage) 6-3, while Ryan Hyde (Portage) tallied a 5-3 win against Rob Fleming (Morden).

North Steals Three In Sixth

In the 9:15 draw two Carman teams went head-to-head.

North stole three in the sixth on his way to a 5-4 win over Bartley.

The other Carman squad, Findlay, ran out of rocks in the eighth in a 6-4 loss to Gitzel.

Tom Hyde stole five points to defeat Fleming 8-2 and Ramage won 6-3 over Ryan Hyde. Hamblin spoiled Neufeld’s undefeated record with a 5-4 win.

Tied With 4-1 Records

After five rounds Neufeld, Ryan Hyde and Hamblin are have four wins to a single loss.

Ramage and North are 3-2 while Fleming, Tom Hyde and Gitzel are 2-3.

Bartley recorded his first victory and is 1-4 while Findlay remains winless at 0-5.

The sixth and seventh draws are scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 2 at two locations:

Portage 7 p.m.

Hamblin vs. Ryan Hyde

North vs. Tom Hyde

Portage 9:15 p.m.

Ryan Hyde vs. Tom Hyde

North vs. Hamblin

La Salle 7 p.m.

Findlay vs. Fleming

Gitzel vs. Neufeld

Ramage vs. Bartley

La Salle 9:15 p.m.

Neufeld vs. Ramage

Findlay vs. Bartley

Fleming vs. Gitzel

Share our Webpage with your friends

By Paul Wiecek – Winnipeg Free Press

THERE will be interesting lineups on display this weekend at the Interlake Pharmacy Classic in Stonewall.

The Jeff Stoughton foursome will unveil a new lineup that doesn’t, gasp, include the team’s namesake. “We’ve been curling a lot,” Stoughton explained this week, “and I just couldn’t fit it in.”

Stoughton second Reid Carruthers will skip the team in Stonewall, with Jon Mead and Steve Gould at their regular positions of third and lead, respectively. The newcomer for one weekend will be Eric Montford, who will play second.

Montford was a provincial junior champion when dinosaurs walked the earth, but is better known these days as one of the country’s premier icemakers.

“We’ll find out if he can still play,” Stoughton said with a laugh.

Other lineup changes will see Dave Elias unveil a new team with Murray Woodward at skip. Chris Suchy and Hub Perrin will still be the front end.

Yet another lineup change in Stonewall will see Chris Galbraith play third for Andy Stewart, filling in for an absent Kevin Thompson.

Galbraith is the regular third for Kevin Park. That begs an obvious question, but Galbraith and Park both say the Park team remains a going concern and Galbraith said he expects the team will curl together at a Grand Slam event in Vernon, B.C., in mid-December.

There are still a couple of outstanding issues confronting the Park team.

First, they will need to find a new lead. Former Park lead Pat McCallum was punted a few weeks ago and the team curled at their most recent event — the World Cup in Windsor — with Brendan Taylor filling in.

Park also said Wednesday that while he would like to continue curling with his team, he understands if they seek “alternative choices” because of what Park says are questions about his eligibility for the Manitoba playdowns.

Park lives in Edmonton, but managed to meet Manitoba residency requirements the past two winters while curling with Jeff Stoughton. This winter might be different, Park says.

“The only reason the future of the team is in doubt is because I may not be eligible for this year’s MB playdowns due to residency requirements,” Park wrote in an email. “As such, the team may seek out alternative choices.”

The Park team went 14-9 on the World Curling Tour and won $10,500 in four events this fall.

Another former Jeff Stoughton teammate, Rob Fowler, continues to make waves with his new team.

The Fowler team this week learned they had earned one of the final berths into the prestigious Canada Cup, which begins Dec. 1 in Medicine Hat, Alta.

Fowler joins Stoughton and Mike McEwen as a male troika of Manitobans in that 10-team event. Jennifer Jones and Chelsea Carey will carry the Manitoba colours in the women’s event.

Fowler curled second with Stoughton the past few seasons but this year is skipping his own team with third Allan Lyburn, second Richard Daneault and lead Derek Samagalski.

The team has had an exceptional cashspiel season for a first-year team, going 20-8 through four events and earning $26,000 in prize winnings.

Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue has an Olympic gold medal, but he no longer has a curling team bearing his name. At least not in Canadian Curling Association events.

Gushue is curling this winter as a vice skip, with Edmonton’s Randy Ferbey throwing the third rock for the team and calling the house.

The newly configured team has been curling this fall on the cash spiel circuit under Gushue’s name, but is entered in the Canada Cup under Ferbey’s name, by order of the CCA.

Share our Webpage with your friends

By Jennifer Taplin – Metro Halifax

Curling is the hottest ticket — and the first event to sell out — at the Halifax 2011 Canada Games.

“The gold medal and the bronze medal matches, both male and female, have sold out,” said Melissa MacKinnon, spokeswoman for the Games.

The semi-final match for women’s curling has also sold out.

Not bad, considering ticket packages went on sale last month and individual ticket sales took off Nov. 3.

“It’s the only thing to sell out so far,” MacKinnon said.

“Curling is pretty popular in Nova Scotia but it’s a small venue as well.”

The historic Mayflower Curling Club can only handle crowds of 250.

Hockey, of course, is a close second in ticket sales. Games will be played in the Metro Centre so there are plenty of tickets to go around.

MacKinnon said the gold medal men’s hockey isn’t close to selling out yet.

Games organizers have already reached and exceeded their ticket-selling goal for November.

“We had the goal of being at about 15 per cent at the end of November and we’ve exceeded that goal. We’re a little over that right now.”

She said this excitement is not a surprise considering the overwhelming success of their call for volunteers.

Share our Webpage with your friends

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN – Walls Street Journal

As curling season gets under way, the handful of entrepreneurs who cater to the quirky Scottish sport in the U.S. say they are seeing a boom in business.

The Olympics tend to give birth to new curling fans in America every four years. But the 2010 games appear to have sparked even greater interest than in the past, perhaps because live curling matches coincided with prime-time TV hours.

There are now 162 curling clubs in the U.S., up from 148 in 2009 and 134 in 2005, according to the U.S. Curling Association. New clubs were formed this past year in Coral Springs, Fla., Taylors, S.C., Edmond, Okla., and Orange County, Calif. A single club can have anywhere from 10 to 1,000 or more members.

“We are still getting inquiries from individuals in different areas of the U.S. about starting clubs,” says Bev Schroeder, director of member services for the Stevens Point, Wis., curling association.

The small but increasing number of enthusiasts is a welcome relief for manufacturers and retailers of curling gear. Not only is the sport seasonal, but items such as curling stones, brooms and delivery aid sticks can last for years before needing to be refurbished or replaced.

“It’s a difficult industry,” says Craig Brown, co-owner of Steve’s Curling Supplies LLC, a retailer in Madison, Wis. Still, he adds that sales are up by about 35% from a year ago, double the increase his family business saw after the 2006 Olympics.

The sport’s recent hype has also spawned some start-ups. Gary and Megan Suslavich launched Brooms Up Curling LLC last year, a retailer in Woodbury, Conn. The husband and wife team say sales of the 200 or so curling products they carry—ranging from $9.95 knee pads to $385 curling sneakers—have been steadily growing ever since; they declined to provide revenue figures. The company does business over the Web and by traveling to about 15 curling clubs along the East Coast to sell gear to customers in person.

Roy Berry of Woodbridge, Va., recently bought a black and silver swivel-head broom from the couple for $115. He’ll use it to play his first match later this month at the Potomac Curling Club in Laurel, Md., he says.

Meanwhile, first-time players with knee, back and hip disabilities are buying devices like delivery aid sticks for improving balance while throwing curling stones. “I ended up being good at (curling) because I have all my upper body strength,” says Tammy Klein, who is paralyzed below the waist and began curling via wheelchair for a league near her Herkimer, N.Y., home in mid-October. “You need upper body strength to throw the stones well.”

Some of the curling gear available to curlers is as new as the players themselves. Tom Milner, an information-technology professional who lives in Rotterdam, N.Y., recently purchased a pair of curling sneakers for $125 that came with lime-green grippers, special soles that help curlers keep their balance on the ice. The bottoms have traditionally been black. “I looked like a large margarita on the ice,” says Mr. Milner, 56, of when he wore them for his first league game last month.

Curling ice-maker David Staveteig, of Grand Forks, N.D., says demand for his services is up about 25% from two years ago.

“It really jumped the year before the Olympics because of Olympic trials,” he says. “It’s been building since.”

Mr. Staveteig temporarily transforms hockey rinks into curling lanes on behalf of the U.S. curling association from November through March every year. He won’t disclose exactly how much he charges but says that many of his colleagues in Canada earn $500 a day.

The average ice-making job, he adds, takes 40 hours to complete.

He also runs two small companies and tends to his family’s 4,000-acre grain farm. He says he learned how to make curling ice—a process known as pebbling because it involves forming small bumps on the surface—by apprenticing for six years in Canada.

Fans who enjoy watching the sport, rather than playing, are also buying up curling paraphernalia such as souvenir stones, pins and books.

Don Moses, a retired high-school chemistry teacher in Bayview, Texas, bought a souvenir curling stone for roughly $250 last spring from Canada Curling Stone Co., a six-employee stone and ice-equipment maker in Ontario.

He says he developed a fondness for curling after watching the 2010 Olympics on TV. “I just went crazy for it and recorded every minute of it,” he says.

In September 2009, Dean Gemmell published and edited “Fit to Curl,” a paperback by Olympic gold medalist John Morris, about how the Canadian athlete trains for the sport. Mr. Gemmell, president of the Plainfield Curling Club in South Plainfield, N.J., says nearly all 5,000 copies he had printed have been sold for $19.95 each.

To be sure, Mr. Gemmell says it’s possible that the success of his book doesn’t actually reflect the sport’s growing popularity. Soon after it published, he says he received a flurry of emails from female readers thinking they were writing to Mr. Morris, who was named one of Canada’s top 10 bachelors by Entertainment Tonight Canada earlier this year.

“They saw him on TV and found him quite fetching,” Mr. Gemmell remarks.

Share our Webpage with your friends