Volunteer of the Year #1: François Vary

FEBRUARY/FÉVRIER 2004
Volunteer of the Year #1: François Vary
By Bruce Deachman
Imagine the smell: melted rock handles
and trophies, an incinerated piano,
books and furniture turned to ash. That
acrid electrical odour of a fried computer terminal; the dizzying stench of carpets, clothing, bubbling paint and countless other objects; all gone up in smoke,
down in flames, and finally drenched by
the fire department’s hoses. All in all,
nearly a half-century of history was lost.
That was the scene that faced François
Vary in the early days of 2002, as he surveyed the damage caused by a Jan. 6 fire
to his St. Lambert Curling Club.
For Vary, then club president of the
three-sheeter located across the St.
Lawrence River’s south shore from
Montreal, the news would get worse. The
club’s insurance coverage was woefully
inadequate, and when everything was tallied up, the best they could hope for was
some $700,000, about half of the estimated $1.4-million replacement cost.
Many members, of course, would find
other clubs in which to play some tem-
porarily, others permanently. Because,
face it, everybody likes to watch a fire, but
no one wants to curl in its aftermath.
For Vary, however, walking away and
writing it all off was not an option. He
was determined that, like the mythical
Phoenix rising from the ashes, St.
Lambert’s curling club would again host
bonspiels. It would once again display
the camaraderie and social vigour that
had made the club so popular with its
members. It would, through a Little
Rocks program that had, overnight, been
reduced to a few pounds of melted plastic, return to continue fostering a love of
curling in youngsters.
Vary did all that, in a remarkably short
period of time, and without adding to the
club’s debt load. Just 11 months after the
fire, and only four months after the longawaited insurance settlement allowed
them to begin reconstruction, St.
Lambert’s curlers were again back on
home ice.
François Vary is a relative newcomer to
curling. The 52-year-old advertising consultant had, until his forties, been actively involved in tennis, including a dozen
years as president of a tennis club.
But by the mid-1990s, he and his wife
were looking for a sport they could pursue together, something they could start
from scratch. They had watched curling
on TV, but just weren’t sure.
Through his work, however, Vary knew
Marco Ferraro (of Marco hack fame), a
one-time competitive curler who had
thrown second’s stones for Lawren
Steventon’s 1988 Quebec Brier entry. In
1994, Ferraro decided to hold a funspiel
for his industry colleagues, and invited
Vary to play.
Continued on page 2
CURL ATLANTIC
SPRING SYMPOSIUM 2004
“INVESTING IN YOUR CLUB’S FUTURE”
Curling clubs today are experiencing
tremendous change both within the culture of the sport and its participants and
the environment in which they exist.
Demands in terms of financing, rising
utility costs, competition from many
more winter activities than ever before
and increasing consumer demand for
quality products and services are creating
new pressures in the business of curling.
This spring Curl Atlantic, in conjunction
and in cooperation with the Newfoundland
& Labrador Curling Association, the Prince
Edwards Island Curling Association, the
Nova Scotia Curling Association and the
New Brunswick Curling Association, is
pleased to announce the 1st Curling Club
Symposium for Atlantic Canadian clubs.
• four meals including a banquet on the
Saturday night,
• coffee breaks
• an opening reception on Friday night,
• and course materials (both a hard copy
and a CD-ROM).
Each of the four member associations
have offered to cover some of the costs
for curling clubs in their jurisdictions.
Please contact your member association
for details on what funding is available.
We highly recommend that every curling
club in Atlantic Canada attend and that
they send a minimum of three people
(there is not a maximum number of attendees). There are three simultaneous
sessions and for your club to absorb all
the information provided, three representatives would be ideal.
SCHEDULE
This Business of Curling Symposium
will be held May 14th - 16th on campus
at Mount Allison University in Sackville,
New Brunswick. http://www.mta.ca
Curl Atlantic’s goal is to bring together
all curling clubs across the Atlantic Region
for a weekend of learning and sharing.
During this symposium, you will hear
from a number of interesting and highly
qualified speakers, who will offer their expertise in several key areas which all curling clubs face on a daily basis.
The cost is a very affordable $180 per
person which includes:
• two nights accommodation in residence at the university (based on double occupancy),
Friday, May 14th
• 7:00pm – 11:00pm
Registration & Check-in
• 8:00pm
Opening Reception
Saturday, May 15th
• 9:00am – 5:00pm
Keynote Address and Business
Sessions
• 7:00pm
Banquet & Entertainment
(guest speaker – Guy Hemmings)
Sunday, May 16th
• 9:00am – 12:00pm
• Business sessions and closing
CONTENT
A. Curling Club Operations
1.The Curling Club Bar
• spirits, wine, and beer - acquire
a greater knowledge of products
and new consumer habits
• learn methods for pricing individual drinks, tracking inventory,
preventing loss
• regulations - stay informed about
new legal issues
• to smoke or not to smoke
2.Our Books – Keeping Track of our
Hard-Earned Money
• getting comfortable with accounting software
• what accounts do we need?
• producing reports – when and why
• to budget or not
3.Refrigeration – an in-depth look at
how it all works
• follow the brine from start to finish
• what are the capital costs of
replacing equipment including
shelf life?
• how to maintain equipment to
lengthen life expectancy
• new methods to save energy and
save money
4.Making Championship Ice at Your Club
• new scraping patterns and why
they work
• improved maintenance
• innovative tips
• ice technician contracts: what’s
in them?
Continued on page 6
What’s
Inside
Guy Hemmings
Rockin’ the House Tour ..............1,2
Curling Clubs Go Smoke Free ............3
Volunteer Burn Out................................4
lastCCA
issue
2003
Volunteer
of the Year Award ..........................5
The Blind River Curling Club ..............5
2003 Curling Development Fund ........6
The Legacy of Montreal Thistle..........6
LaScie - A Success Story! ..................7
Abby and the Curling Chicks ..............7
After the game... ..................................8
Your Curling Club and the
Sandra Schmirler Foundation ......8
2004 Strauss Canada
Cup of Curling..................................8
FEBRUARY/FÉVRIER 2004
Volunteer of the Year #1: François Vary
“I liked the social aspect of curling,”
Vary recalls, “and within a year or so, I
had jumped right in.” Just before the start
of the 1996 season - Vary’s second as a
member - St. Lambert’s secretary quit,
and their board, aware of his experience
with the tennis club, asked him to take
over. From there, it was just a matter of
time, two years as membership director,
followed by a stint as vice-president, until
Vary became club president.
Danny, on Feb 10th
emailed you to let you
know that the 3 images
for St Lambert arrived
corrupt.
Could you please resend?
thx
Kelly
And then, just a few months into his
term as president... poof, it was gone, in
a billowing cloud of ugly black smoke.
The cause of the fire was never determined, but its effects were clear. The walls
remained, but that was pretty much it.
About the only things that could be salvaged were the pipes underneath the ice;
the plant had suffered extensive water
and smoke damage, and would have to
be replaced, as would the brine tanks. The
two-storey lounge and all its contents
were destroyed. Just about everything that
the club had accumulated since it formed
in 1955, with the exception of the loyalty and goodwill of its members, was
gone. Even at that, though, many members were finding other places to curl.
There wouldn’t be enough money from
the insurance company to bring back
what they had lost, and who knew when,
or even if, the club would be up and running again. Things were looking bleak,
indeed.
“It was important to rebuild, and to do
it as soon as possible,” says Vary. “If we had
missed a full season, we felt, the morale of
our members could have been bad.
“There are other clubs in the area, and
although none of them preyed proactively on our members, they were there.
We could have lost many more members.
“As well,” he adds, “the longer you take
to rebuild, the harder it is to keep your
volunteers.”
So, just as he had jumped feet-first into
curling a half-dozen years earlier, Vary
took it upon himself to do whatever he
could to save St. Lambert’s curling club.
According to club member Walter
Charron, it was a task that might not have
happened, were it not for Vary. “I have
had the opportunity to visit many curling clubs in all parts of Canada over the
last 45 years,” he says. “Serving terms as
director and President of St. Lambert
Curling Club, the Governor Generals
Curling Club and the Canadian Branch
of R.C.C.C. have given me some insight
and appreciation of the challenges faced
my François Vary.
“The rebuilding of the St. Lambert
Curling Club is largely due to his efforts
and leadership.”
That leadership began with the club’s
Rebuilding Committee, which Vary
chaired. At some point over its 22 meetings that year, the club realized that it
would have to act as its own general contractor if it were to successfully rebuild
with the limited budget available.
“We had to make some choices,” recalls
Vary. “We had to build a one-storey clubhouse instead of two. We had to do away
with the nice wood panelling inside.
“There were sacrifices here and there, and
some hard bargaining.”
There were challenges around every
corner, it seemed, and Vary, who had the
least curling experience of anyone on the
club’s board, had to manage it all.
“First of all, there was a people-management challenge,” he points out.
“People were very, very willing to help
and participate in the project, and we had
a very good board of directors. But it’s difficult to keep everything in focus. People
were eager to get out and get things done
regrinding and refurbishing the rocks, a
loan here and there, whatever. But it had
to be done in an organized fashion.
“There was a lot to accomplish, and a
lot of decisions to be made, and we needed everyone focussed on the same thing.”
But managing the people was only half
of Vary’s challenge. Rebuilding a club
from virtually nothing involves a great
deal of expertise in a great many areas,
and getting it all done in less than a year
requires that things flow smoothly and
quickly.
“Building a curling club, with new
building norms and having to deal with
all sorts of technology and decisions to
be made regarding costs what kind of
stove are we going to have, for example,
what furniture and what sort of heating
everything had to happen within a few
months,” says Vary.
“There was a lot to do in a very little
time, and in areas of uncharted waters,”
he adds. “We had to do all sorts of things,
all at once. We had to have everyone agree
and focus on about 60 different projects
at once.”
Over the 11-month period from devastation to rebirth, Vary chaired or attended about 45 meetings and devoted an average of 20 hours each week to getting
curling back in St. Lambert. He handled
the insurance negotiations, eventually re-
continued
ceiving the full policy amounts. He dealt
with 15 different building trades.
“History records that adversity produces great leaders,” says Charron, “and
that has indeed been the case in St.
Lambert.”
Vary also set up fundraising and refurbishing committees. He helped organize
the plan to offer members 10-year leases
on their lockers, which raised more than
$2,000. They sold sponsorships for their
rock handles. They participated in a summertime softball game against a local
radio station.
“We did a little fundraising there,” recalls Vary, “but mostly it was to keep people together.”
Another of his initiatives was the club’s
Thank-You Wall, a display case that bears
the pins of the 70 clubs that came to St.
Lambert’s aid, either with material, financial or moral support.
“We sent personalized letters to every
club in North America,” says Vary, “with
a pamphlet that shared some pointers
about what we had done wrong before
the fire, so that they might not make the
same mistakes.
“From that, the Laurier club in
Victoriaville held a bonspiel and gave us
half of the proceeds. Glenmore, in West
Montreal, gave us $1,000. Pointe-Claire replaced our club championship trophy. An
Ontario club offered us their junior rocks.”
Meanwhile, Vary kept in contact with
St. Lambert’s members, mailing newsletters and sending e-mails to keep them informed of the club’s progress.
“Getting the club rebuilt wasn’t the end
of it,” says Vary. “Once we had it up, we
had to bring the members back and manage a half-season, meanwhile continuing
to refurbish the club.”
His efforts have paid off. St. Lambert’s
adult membership, which dropped 30
percent immediately following the fire, is
now back to where it was. The club’s junior program, meanwhile, boasts 30 more
junior members than it had previously,
and was named the best in the province
by Curling Quebec last year.
Vary is quick to point out that St.
Lambert’s rejuvenation wasn’t a one-man
job, and that it wouldn’t have happened
without all the support he received. By the
same token, there might not have been
curling in St. Lambert today without him.
“There are so many great things done
by volunteers at more than 1,200 clubs
in Canada,” he said upon learning that
he’d been selected CCA Volunteer-of-theYear. “It’s a great feeling and a great honour. I’m going to be on Cloud Nine for
the next month-and-a-half.”
Web site hosting
offer to member
curling clubs
Web site hosting offer to member curling
clubs.
It is almost a daily occurrence where a
Canadian curling club launches a web site
to promote their business and the benefits
of membership. To help save your club
some money and get free access to a dedicated web site address – without those annoying banner ads or pop-up windows – we
can help.
The Canadian Curling Association can provide paid web hosting and services to any
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of $40 and a monthly hosting charge of $6.
(Year One cost would be $119.84 – GST
included. Year Two cost would be $77.04 –
GST included)
You do not require a domain name (or
the annual costs of owning your own domain name). The CCA has registered
www.curlingclub.ca and any club can use
this domain with our hosting package by
simply adding the club name, i.e. www.winnipeg.curlingclub.ca.
You will not be connected in any way to
www.curling.ca or any other CCA affiliated
site nor will you be required to host banner
ads or any other form of advertising.
The package includes 10 e-mail addresses
which, for example can be used for your staff
and or board members: i.e. [email protected] or [email protected] or even [email protected]
In addition, the following is list of services that are included in this package:
a) data transfer of 2000 MB/month
b) disk storage of 25 MB/month
c) 10 e-mail Aliases
d) a sub-domain name featuring the name
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e) e-mail technical support
f) unlimited FTP updates which allows
you to make changes to your site 24/7
g) custom ASP/CGI scripts allowed – this
is for advanced users, applications like
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i) Microsoft FrontPage extensions for
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2
FEBRUARY/FÉVRIER 2004
Volunteer of the
Year #2: Joe McGill
By Bruce Deachman
{
“The curling club was number-one, and
I was number-two.”
There is no anger or resentment in
Kathleen McGill’s voice, just a loving appreciation of how important curling was
to her husband.
Joe McGill, who died last August of
complications from surgery to remove a
brain tumour, spent the last decade or
so of his 68 years doing whatever he
could for his home-away-from-home,
Mississauga’s Dixie Curling Club.
Joe did not save the Dixie from some
sudden, unexpected catastrophe. He didn’t single handedly raise tens of thousands of dollars to pay overdue property
taxes. He didn’t recruit hundreds of
curlers to revive an ailing membership.
Joe McGill quietly cut the grass.
He cut the grass, did plumbing repairs
in the washrooms and fixed the air-con-
Is it true what they say about Dixie?
Does the sun really shine all the time?
Well do the sweet magnolias blossom at everybody’s door?
Do the folks keep eating that possum til they can’t eat no more?
ditioning and heating systems when they
broke down. He unplugged grease clogs
in the kitchen and replaced the ballast in
the lights.
He also solicited and examined quotes
to repair the roof, refrigeration and heating systems, dehumidifiers and thermal
ceiling.
He got the ceiling fans working again,
and replaced the boards and walkway
around the club’s six sheets of ice. He
painted, cleaned up garbage and removed mould from signs. If the club’s
alarm went off in the middle of the night,
Joe was the first one to be called.
Last year, he was the club’s vice-president, yet still found the time to curl at
least four games a week; a fiery competitor who might turn his back on a teammate who missed the broom, then turn
around again, the whole matter quickly
forgotten.
“The club was his first love,” says
Kathleen. “He loved going down there
and working and puttering around.
“Then he’d come home for a bit, but
he’d have to go back to the club to do
some work. I used to say, ‘You could take
a bed down there and stay,’” she adds,
laughing.
For decades, Joe, a sales manager with
an insulation firm, had curled out of
Toronto’s Board of Trade. After it ceased
its curling operations, he joined Dixie.
“I can’t remember when he didn’t curl,”
admits Kathleen. “That was his first passion. When we got to (Dixie), he just took
to it like it was home.”
Joe often referred to Dixie as “the old
girl.”
Dixie member and friend of Joe’s, Al
Lauder remembers when McGill arrived.
“Right off the bat he started to volunteer
for things,” he says, “and the first thing
you know, he knew more about the
building than anybody else. He delved
into every nook and cranny of that building, and he knew what was going on.”
According to club president Angie
Anderson, Joe used to keep track of the
odd jobs he’d do, and report each month
to the board. “There were never problems, only solutions,” she says. “No job
was beneath him and most of the time,
our board didn’t even know there was a
problem until he reported at the next
board meeting that it was solved.
“Joe saved the day many times.”
Those who knew him report that he
sought no attention for his good deeds.
“Whenever we tried to bestow and praise
on him,” recalls Lauder, “he’d say ‘Aw, no.
It’s just something that I like to do.’
“It was always a labour of love. He liked
to finish a job and look at it. He got a lot
of satisfaction out of doing the jobs that
he did.”
“Dixie was his home, his baby,” adds
Kathleen. “Judging from the number of
people who came to the parlour and funeral, he would have been awed that he
touched so many lives in so many ways.”
A fitting tribute to a not-so-fitting end,
Joe McGill was buried with his curling
gear: broom, shoes, sweater, the works.
“If he’s not curling now,” says Kathleen,
“he’s sure making a good attempt to
make some ice up there and getting a
team going.”
TITLE for the website story???
Web sites have become effective communication and recruiting tools for
Canadian curling clubs. It is critical, therefore, that you provide the 'right' content
for that potential customer who may
drop in to find out a little about your
club.
Here are five current curling club web
sites that are doing a very nice job of presenting their business to the market place
in an efficient and informative format.
The first web site we encourage you to
visit is www.unionvillecurlingclub.com
in Ontario. The site is well laid out with
key information for new players under
New Member Info which is very easy to
find. Also included are the membership
fees, a schedule of events, the club’s history, and newsletters: both back issues
and the current version on-line. Finally
and most important, the club’s contact
information is simple to find.
Next is a simple yet effective site
for the Mont Bruno CC in Quebec.
www.curlingmontbruno.com has a clean
and elegant look with all the information
you might need to know about this club
that is very easy to find and certainly allinclusive when it comes to content. Their
newsletter is up-to-date and available
from each web page under Le 9ième bout
(The 9th End). The photo section is also
well done and easy to navigate. A new
customer would certainly see that this is
a ‘fun’ club judging from the group of
photos. Nice work!
On to the Lakeshore Curling Club –
www.lakeshorecurlingclub.com – in
Nova Scotia. Again simplicity is often elegant and is certainly the case here. As a
Finally, Delta Thistle in British
Columbia – www.deltathistle.com offers
a combination of good looks; good information and an easy to navigate structure that makes it one of the better curling club web sites.
potential new member/non-curler, I find
this site visually pleasing and it answered
all of my questions on membership / instruction / about the club. More good
work!
The Leaside Curling Club in Toronto
has a superb site. Go to www.leasidecurling.ca and browse around; you will be
impressed at the quality of information
especially for new members. Excellent
stuff.
Summing up the keys to success of
these individual sites can be made with
two statements. The first is that they developed their sites with new members in
mind. They certainly have much in the
way of info for their current members,
but each is well prepared for that new
curler who wanders by to take a look.
Each of these sites gives a new curler
enough reason to contact the club and
ask for a tryout. The second statement is
that each of these suites has easy to find
contact information. You’d be surprised
how many curling clubs have nice web
sites with no way of contacting the club!!.
Good luck with your web sites.
3
FEBRUARY/FÉVRIER 2004
CURLING VERSION 1.0
WCF and CCA get hip with new digital promo
In the Business of Curling© program, much
emphasis is placed on membership retention
and keeping what we worked so hard to get.
The section on membership (available at w in
the Business of Curling section) contains a piece
titled: Retention Realities which includes the
following important points:
• Many clubs give the lion’s share of resources
to recruitment and spend little if anything
on retention.
• Curling members continually evaluate the
value of their membership. To keep
members, clubs must “deliver the goods”.
• Paying special attention to first-year
members can convert them into active lifelong members.
• Retention is tied in part to how a member
was recruited. It starts with the first contact.
We are confident that by using this Mini CDROM as a membership retention tool, you can
be successful in keeping your members,
especially those who have joined the club
within the last two years. By giving this Mini
CD-ROM to new and/or inexperienced
participants to the sport, you will be focusing
on their retention, you will be “delivering the
goods”, you will be paying special attention to
your first or second year members, and, you will
be making a great impression during that first
contact with a prospective customer.
The CDs are $2.00 each and must be ordered
in quantities of 50. For just one hundred
dollars, you will be making a giant step forward
in retaining your members, growing your
business and, as a Board; you won’t have to pray
that your new members return next season.
They’ll be back because you care.
Contact Rachel Delaney at or call 1-800-5502875 (101) to place your order. You can also
order on-line at http://www.curling.ca/store/
index.asp.
(Note: orders are subject to 7% GST. Ontario residents
add 8% PST. Shipping of this product is FREE!)
IN A STUNNING DEVELOPMENT that could
make an enormous impact on the age-old
conundrums of novice curling promotion and
retention, the World Curling Federation and the
Canadian Curling Association have co-created a
major promotional tool, a mini CD-ROM.
The recent Continental Cup was the backdrop
for the announcement, which will see thousands
of CDs packed with new curler information,
graphics, stills and moving pictures made
available in January. Now there is some modern
ammunition in the promotional curling
weapon, and it’s called Curling - Version 1.0.
Just as curling club owners, presidents and
managers finally seem to be getting the message
that they need to provide stewardship and
support to new curlers once they’ve signed up,
along comes a funky CD to make that
orientation job even easier. Once dropped into
the CD-ROM drive of any personal computer
(PC platform), new recruits, prospective curlers
and novice players can walk through a
collection of videos, animations, still
photography and text that illustrate, in a simple
and easy to understand format, how to really
enjoy the sport of curling.
“Interest in the sport around the world is at
4
Axnick and Sticker
the highest level ever, mainly due to the
increased TV coverage of major curling
competitions,” said WCF President Roy Sinclair.
“This mini-CD will, at the touch of a button,
provide the answers to the ‘what is curling’
question and will, I am sure, be a major
contributor to the sport’s development.”
CCA Club Development guru Danny
Lamoureux is equally pumped. “We have high
hopes not to make money, but to get this in the
hands of the new curler and increase the curling
club’s ability to retain members,” he said. “Too
often we take their money at the start of the year
and then ignore them until it is time to renew.
Guess what? They don’t!
“As part of the Business of Curling program, we
are stressing to clubs that retention is critical
and to retain members they need to provide
them as much information about the sport and
their clubs as possible. The CCA and WCF feel
this mini CD is an inexpensive part of that
orientation process and will help clubs cement
a relationship with their first year members instead of praying like hell they come back next
year.”
The mini-CDs will be available for purchase
by Canadian customers from the CCA office;
they will be available in the US from the United
States Curling Association (USCA); and, for the
rest of the world, they will be available through
the WCF offices in Scotland.
Lamoureaux estimates that up to 50,000 new
curers are recruited every year, and every year the
sport loses approximately the same amount.
“Our goal is to help curling clubs reduce that
attrition rate to 10-15 per cent,” Lamoureaux
said.
“The sense of triumph will come when clubs
are bursting at the seams, and we believe the
sport is well positioned to do just that in the
next 5-7 years Lamoureaux said. “This CD is just
a small part of a larger plan of tactics aimed at
improving the business of curling.”
Canadian Curling News recently sat down with
the hackers behind the product, the German
duo of Oliver Axnick and Markus Sticker.
Axnick is well-known in high-performance
circles as a long-time member of the Andy Kapp
team, while Sticker is a recent convert to the
sport -- from his computer desk, that is.
CCN: How did the two of you get involved in
this project?
Axnick: That’s a long story! It started with
Markus, who doesn’t curl, and his daughter,
who does curl... she took a curling trip to
Edmonton and played many bonspiels around
Europe, all of them well-funded by the German
Curling Association. Markus was impressed,
and then he realized curling doesn’t have a real
internet presence in Germany, and he created
the www.curlingbasics.com website, which in
a short time has become well known in the
curling world. His website prompted me to
contact him regarding my idea to develop an
animated curling demo, to help promote
German curling. All this his happened during
the season right before the Olympics in Salt
Lake City -- I had personally experienced the
lack of German awareness of curling during and
after the Olympics in Nagano, and I wanted to
do something to avoid that happening a second
time.
That’s how everything started. We finished
version 1 of the curling demo in German and
made it available for download from several
websites. Then version 2 was produced for the
Italian Curling Association, obviously in Italian.
Meanwhile, Markus created the German
Curling Association website: www.dcvcurling.de, but despite all that we wanted to
spread our curling message to the world, and so
we contacted the WCF.
CCN: Who from WCF or CCA oversaw the
project?
Axnick: I contacted my friend and former
German national coach Keith Wendorf, who
works in development for the WCF, in early
2002. Keith liked it, convinced the WCF to
invest, and since then has been the key driver
for the project. At a summer curling camp in
2002, Keith introduced me to Danny
Lamoureux who was preparing an animated
demo for the CCA at the same time. We agreed
that we should work together on the WCF
demo and exchange knowledge. That was the
first time we thought about doing this for the
CCA, when Danny expressed his interest in
distributing the curling demo on a CD in
Canada.
CCN: How did the team work?
Axnick: This was excellent virtual team work
that required a ton of discipline. Our group
only met in person for the first time at least a
year after we started, in summer 2003, and that
was also the first time I’d actually met Markus
face to face, we’re about 500 kilometres apart.
Keith did a tremendous job with the content,
especially the technical aspects of curling, as
accurate as possible. He was the subject matter
expert, the reviewer, and had to sign-off on the
finished product.
Danny and the power of the CCA was a big
motivator; just knowing that the product would
be used in a country where curling has an
outstanding reputation and importance was
huge. Danny’s flexibility and resources gave the
demo a “complete” feel.
Markus, of course, was the most important
guy in the team. He had to translate all the
curling-specific information into computer
language, and spent tons of time on new
animations, piece-by-piece assembly... really the
guts of the CD.
CCN: Okay, obviously Oliver isn’t going to blow
his own horn. Markus?
Sticker: The entire project was Oliver’s idea.
He structured the project and is the architect of
the whole technical content of this curling
demo. He’s the one who managed
communication, who did the first translations,
conceptual design, structure and support... he
by George Karrys
was the project manager. I don’t think I would
have finished my work without Oli’s direction
and positive vibes.
I want to use this opportunity to thank all the
individuals that somehow helped and
supported this project with pictures, reviews,
background painting, video digitalization etc.
This is why this Version 1 looks like it could be
Version 5.
CCN: Was it difficult for a non-curler to deal
with the details of curling animations?
Sticker: Well, when we met this summer
Keith told us about a draft version of the demo
he showed to a Canadian audience. I was told
that pebbling is like going down the ice sheet
with a watering can, so that is what I showed in
the initial animation, pouring water directly
onto the ice and walking over it in a forward
motion. Apparently the crowd laughed big
time, and obviously I changed it!
CCN: You have competed for a long time Oli -forgetting that you are intimately involved for a
moment, what do you think about the project
concept and its importance for curling?
Axnick: Curling is a very complex sport.
Everyone who sees the game for the first time
has so many questions, like “how heavy is the
rock?”, “why do you sweep the ice?” I believe
the secrets of this entertaining sport come to the
surface if the spectator has an understanding of
the basics. Therefore education is the first step in
strengthening curling’s reputation and
importance. At the same time, Canada is
basically another planet in curling terms and
that’s why we also focused on technical aspects,
like the delivery, in addition to the basics.
The possibilities that modern media allows
were obvious. Today a computer is what the TV
became 30 years ago, almost everyone has one
or can use one. The CD is simply put in a
computer and the demo easily starts. It explains
and shows more than any brochure can. And
it’s even possible to display the excitement and
the atmosphere of curling... I still get goose
bumps when I see Guy Hemmings’ last rock in
that video we included (Ed note: naturally this
was Hemmings’ winning shot in the 1999 Brier
semifinal). This is what you need to finally
convince people that curling is exciting!
CCN: Is this a one-time project?
Axnick: We hope not! I hope we get lots of
feedback in order to get new ideas on how to
enhance the curling demo. Keith has also
prepared a document that can be used by other
curling associations to translate the English
version into different languages. Markus then
uses this document to change the language of
the contents on the CD.
CCN: Okay, why doesn’t Markus curl and when
is he starting?
Sticker: I do not curl because I am much to
lazy to get up at 5:30 AM on Saturday morning
to go to Düsseldorf Ice-Stadium. The training
there begins at 7:30 AM because curlers only get
the ice before the hockey players arrive. The
conditions in Düsseldorf are not good; the ice is
not prepared for curling, the rings are not
drawn into the ice, we have to draw it using
textmarkers. I don’t think these are the
conditions for me to start learning curling. At
5:30 on Saturday mornings, I want to sleep.
FEBRUARY/FÉVRIER 2004
Bénévole de l’année # 1 : François Vary
par Bruce Deachman (traduit par Chantal Poulin)
Imaginez la senteur : des poignées fondues, ainsi que des trophées, un piano incinéré, des livres et des articles en poussière. Une odeur désagréable de fils
électriques d’ordinateur cuits; une puanteur de tapis donnant le vertige, des vêtements, des bulles de peinture, sans
compter tous les autres articles; tous partis en fumée, dans les flammes et finalement arrosés par les boyaux des pompiers. En un mot, près d’un demi-siècle
d’histoire qui était perdu!
Voilà la scène à laquelle François Vary
a fait face au début de l’année 2002, alors
qu’il inspectait les dommages causés par
l’incendie du 6 janvier au club de curling
St-Lambert.
Pour Vary, président de ce club de 3
glaces situé sur la rive sud du St-Laurent
à Montréal, les nouvelles ne pouvaient
pas être pires. La couverture d’assurance
du club était totalement inadéquate, et
après avoir fait le bilan de la catastrophe,
le mieux que nous pourrions recevoir
était la somme de $ 700 000, à peu près
la moitié du coût d’estimation de remplacement pour l’évaluation de la bâtisse
qui représentait la somme de
$ 1,4 million.
Plusieurs membres, bien entendu, ont
alors trouvé d’autres clubs pour y jouer
temporairement, d’autres y sont restés sur
une base permanente. Pourquoi?
Faisons face à la musique! Parce que
beaucoup aiment regarder un feu, mais
peu aimeront jouer à l’intérieur par la
suite.
Pour Vary, cependant, quitter la scène
ou radier le tout n’était pas une solution.
Il était déterminé, tout comme le
mythique Phoenix qui surgit des cendres,… le club de curling St-Lambert
serait encore l’hôte de bonspiels. Ce club
présenterait encore une atmosphère de
camaraderie et un côté social qui a permis à cet établissement de devenir si populaire pour ses membres. Il organisera
encore un programme de petites pierres,
alors que ces dernières sont présentement
réduites à un amas de plastique fondu,
afin de continuer à donner aux jeunes cet
amour qu’ils ont pour notre sport.
Vary a tout fait ça, dans un laps de
temps absolument remarquable, sans
augmenter la dette du club. Onze mois
après l’incendie et seulement 4 mois
avant la longue attente du règlement final
en ce qui a trait à la couverture des assurances, ce qui leur permettrait de commencer la reconstruction, les membres
du club St-Lambert sont revenus sur leur
propre glace.
François Vary est relativement un nouveau venu au curling. Le consultant spécialiste en divertissement de 52 ans, a
jusqu’à ses 40 ans, été impliqué au tennis, en incluant ses 12 ans comme président d’un club de tennis.
Mais durant le milieu des années 1990,
lui et son épouse étaient à la recherche
d’un sport qu’ils pourraient jouer ensemble, quelque chose où ils pourraient
partir de rien. Ils avaient regardé le curling à la télévision, mais ils n’étaient pas
sûrs d’aimer ça.
Par le biais de son travail, cependant,
Vary connaissait Marco Ferraro, (des
blocs de départ Marco), un ancien compétiteur qui avait joué au poste de 2e
pour Lawren Steventon au Brier en 1988.
En 1994, Ferraro a décidé d’organiser un
Bonspiel pour ses collègues industriels,
et a invité Vary à jouer.
« J’aime l’aspect social du curling, » a
dit Vary, « et en l’espace d’à peu près un
an, j’étais vraiment embarqué dedans. »
Juste avant le commencement de la saison 1996 – la 2e année pour Vary – le secrétaire du club St-Lambert a donné sa
démission, et leur conseil d’administration, connaissant son expérience avec le
club de tennis, lui a demandé de prendre
la place. À partir de là, il ne s’agissait que
d’une question de temps, 2 ans comme
membre directeur, suivi par une année à
la vice-présidence, pour devenir président
par la suite.
Et puis, tout à coup, après quelques
mois, au début de sa présidence, … pouf,
tout était parti, dans un gros nuage de
fumée noire.
La cause du feu n’a jamais été déterminée, mais les effets ont été clairs. Les
murs ont tenu le coup, mais c’est tout ce
qu’il restait. Les seules choses que nous
avons pu sauver ont été les tuyaux en
dessous des glaces; l’emplacement a subi
des dommages causés par l’eau et la
fumée intense, et devront être remplacés,
ainsi que les réservoirs de saumure. Les
salles des 2 étages et tout ce qu’ils contiennent ont été détruites. `Tout ce que le
club avait ramassé depuis sa fondation
en 1955, à l’exception de la loyauté des
membres et leur bonne volonté, était
parti. Et qui plus est, , malheureusement,
plusieurs membres se sont joints à
d’autres clubs où ils ont pu jouer. Il n’y
aura pas suffisamment d’argent en provenance des assurances pour redonner ce
que nous avons perdu, et qui pouvait dire
quand, avec des si, … que le club pourrait fonctionner un jour. Les choses semblaient vraiment très ternes.
« Il était important de reconstruire, et
nous devions le faire la plus rapidement
possible, » a dit Vary. « Si nous laissons
passer une saison entière, nous étions
sûrs que ça affecterait probablement le
moral de nos membres. »
« Il y a d’autres clubs dans les environs,
cependant aucun d’eux n’a tenté de rapatrier nos membres, ils étaient tout simplement là! Nous aurions pu perdre davantage de membres ».
« De plus, a-t-il ajouté, plus vous
prenez de temps pour rebâtir, plus il est
difficile de conserver les bénévoles" »
Et puis, tout comme il avait plongé les
pieds devant dans notre sport il y a une
demi douzaines d’années auparavant,
Vary a pris sur lui-même de faire tout ce
qu’il pouvait pour sauver le club de curling St-Lambert.
Selon un membre du club, Walter
Charron, « C’est une réalisation qui ne
serait peut-être pas arrivée, si ça n’avait
pas été de Vary ». « J’ai eu l’occasion de
visiter plusieurs clubs à travers le pays
depuis les derniers 45 ans, dit-il, « En servant le club de curling St-Lambert en tant
que directeur, puis président, ainsi que le
club de curling Gouverneur et la «
Canadian Branch of R.C.C.C. », tout ça
m’a donné une vision et une appréciation
des défis vers lesquels François Vary avait
à faire face.
« La reconstruction du club de curling
St-Lambert est due largement à ses efforts
et à son leadership ».
Ce leadership a débuté avec la formation du comité de reconstruction, alors
que Vary en était le président. En tout et
partout, plus de 22 réunions ont été
nécessaires durant l’année, le club a réalisé qu’il devrait agir comme son propre
constructeur s’il voulait reconstruire avec
succès tout en respectant le budget
disponible.
« Nous devions faire des choix » a rappelé Vary. « Nous devions construire un
club à un étage au lieu de deux. Nous
avons dû sacrifier les boiseries que nous
avions à l’intérieur. « Il y a eu des sacrifices un peu partout, et nous avons dû
courir les soldes ».
Il semblait y avoir des défis à tous les
coins de rues, et Vary, qui était celui qui
parmi les membres du comité avait le
moins d’expérience, a dû prendre les
choses en main.
« En tout premier lieu, il y avait un défi
au niveau de la direction et de son
monde », avait-il précisé. « Les gens
étaient très prêts à aider et à participer au
projet, et nous avions un très bon Conseil
d’administration. Mais il est difficile de
garder le « focus » sur toutes ces choses.
Les gens étaient empressés de commencer et de faire des choses concrètes,
telles que de replacer des pierres, avec un
prêt ici et là, peu importe. Mais ça devait
être fait d’une façon organisée et bien fait.
« Il y avait beaucoup à faire, et il y avait
beaucoup de décisions à prendre, et nous
avons besoin que tout le monde soit sur
la même longueur d’onde ».
Mais diriger les gens, était seulement la
moitié des défis de Vary. Reconstruire un
club à partir de rien demande beaucoup
d’expertise dans plusieurs différents
secteurs, et le faire dans un délai de moins
d’un an demande que les choses soient
menées doucement et rapidement.
« Construire un club de curling, avec
les nouvelles normes et avoir à rencontrer toutes sortes de technologies ainsi que
toutes sortes de décisions en ce qui concerne les coûts, par exemple : quelle sorte
de cuisinière allons-nous acheter, quelles
sortes d’ameublement ou quelle sorte de
chauffage allons-nous avoir, tout ceci devait être fait dans quelques mois », dit
Vary.
« Il y avait beaucoup à faire dans un
court laps de temps, et dans des secteurs
inexplorés, ajouta Vary. « Nous avons dû
faire toutes sortes de choses pour la première fois. Nous devions tous être d’accord et diriger nos efforts vers environ 60
projets différents en même temps ».
À partir du 11e mois de la dévastation
jusqu’à sa reconstruction, Vary a dirigé et
assisté à environ 45 réunions et s’est
dévoué jusqu’à 20 heures par semaine
pour reconstruire le club de curling de StLambert. Il a mené les négociations avec
la compagnie d’assurances, pour recevoir
éventuellement la totalité du montant de
la police. Il a traité avec plus de 15 différents constructeurs.
« Les statistiques de l’histoire révèlent
que l’adversité produit de grands leaders
» dit Charron. « et c’est ce qui s’est produit dans le cas de St-Lambert ».
Vary a également organisé une campagne de levée de fonds et un comité
d’installations. Il a mis sur pied un plan
pour offrir aux membres un bail de 10
ans en ce qui a trait aux vestiaires, ce qui
a permis de ramasser $2 000. Ils ont
vendu en commandite les poignées de
pierre. Ils ont organisé une partie de balle
molle contre une station de radio locale.
« Nous n’avons fait qu’une petite levée
de fonds avec ça, a dit Vary, mais le plus
important était de garder les gens ensemble».
Une autre de ses initiatives a été la l’instigation du mur des « Mercis », un
présentoir qui permet de voir les 70 épinglettes des clubs qui nous sont venus en
aide, autant par du côté matériel, que financière, ou simplement avec un support
moral.
« Nous avons envoyé des lettres personnelles à tous les clubs de l’Amérique
du nord, dit Vary. « avec un dépliant leur
démontrant les erreurs que nous avions
fait avant l’incendie, afin qu’ils ne fassent
pas les mêmes erreurs que nous ».
« Durant la saison, le club de curling
Laurier de Victoriaville a organisé un
tournoi et nous a donné la moitié des
revenus ». Le club Glenmore, dans
l’ouest de Montréal, nous a donné $1
000. Pointe-Claire a remplacé notre
trophée de champion du club. Un club
de l’Ontario nous a offert ses mini pierres. ».
Pendant ce temps, Vary a continué à
garder le contact avec les membres du
club St-Lambert, en postant des lettres
d’informations et en envoyant des courriels pour les informer des progrès du
club .
« Reconstruire le club n’a pas été la fin
de l’histoire », dit Vary. « Un fois que
nous l’avons mis sur pied, nous avons dû
rapatrier les membres et organiser un
demi saison, en d’autres mots, continuer
à installer le club ».
Ses efforts ont porté fruits en ce qui
concerne le « membership » chez les
adultes du club St-Lambert, alors qu’il
avait baissé de 30% suite à l’incendie, aujourd’hui tout est revenu comme auparavant. Le programme junior, a même
augmenté de 30 membres de plus qu’avant le désastre, et il s’est mérité le titre de
meilleur programme pour junior dans la
province l’an passé.
Vary est empressé de dire que le rajeunissement du club St-Lambert n’est pas
le travail d’une seule personne, que tout
ceci ne serait arrivé sans le support qu’il
a reçu. Soyons honnête, les faits sont là,
il n’y aurait probablement pas eu de club
de curling à St-Lambert sans lui.
« Il y a tellement de travail d’accompli
par les bénévoles dans plus de 1 200
clubs à travers la Canada., dit Varry,
lorsqu’il a appris qu’il avait été choisi
comme bénévole de l’année par
l’Association canadienne de curling cette
année. « ¸Ça fait chaud au cœur et c’est
un grand honneur. Je vais flotter sur un
nuage durant le reste des 9 mois et demi
de l’année ».
5
FEBRUARY/FÉVRIER 2004
Volunteer of the
Year #3: Paul McLean
By Bruce Deachman
It’s a classic story, really, one used in
everything from fiction novels to western
movies to romance tales.
A stranger shows up in some little town
somewhere. The locals might be suspicious at first; the way he does things, well,
it just ain’t the way things are done here.
Soon, though, they’ve warmed up to him
a little, and they’re thinking, well, maybe
we could try it that way. And before too
long, they’re darn near deputizing him,
they like him so much.
Meet Paul McLean, a cowpoke who
rode into St. Andrews, NS, five years ago
and changed the way they curl there.
Now you have to understand, St.
Andrews, just a few kilometres south-east
of Antigonish, is a small town. When
they built their three-sheet Highlander
Curling Club in 1991, they couldn’t find
the big corporate bucks they needed, so
160 community minded investors each
ponied up smaller bucks, and they pretty much put the whole thing up with
only volunteer help. Much like a barnraising, really, only it took a little longer
than a weekend.
At that time, Paul McLean was
doing his curling in the big city
Halifax/Dartmouth, where he served as,
among other positions, president of the
Dartmouth Curling Club. He was involved in the Brier, while at Highlander,
the fiercest competition you’d see at the
curling rink was a friendly draw-fromthe-board. They hadn’t ever held an
‘event’ there, and they weren’t sending
teams to provincials.
Then one day, McLean showed up,
with his wife, Sharon, and two kids,
Robby and Shannon, in tow.
He was the new manager of the
Antigonish Mall, but chose to live in St.
Andrews to be near the club. He and
Sharon signed up to curl in the Sundaynight mixed league, and Robby, along
with his Level-1 coaching dad, began taking part in the club’s junior program.
What followed was a steady blossoming, as McLean sometimes almost unwittingly added one piece after another,
transforming the once-sleepy backbencher into a vital force in Atlantic
Canada’s curling scene. Culminating in
his selection as runner-up CCA
Volunteer-of-the-Year, the 45-year-old
McLean left his prints on every aspect of
the game in St. Andrews, from the oncea-week recreational curler on up to the
top.
From working with juniors, McLean
soon found himself coordinating the
hosting of the PANS (Police Association
of Nova Scotia) March Break event, an
annual competition of under-17 curlers.
If it seems a daunting task to arrange for
50 teams to play a four-day bonspiel at a
three-sheet club, it is.
“It was quite a balancing act,” recalls
McLean. “But we got through it, and that
was the club’s first taste of a competitive
event.”
McLean continued working with
Dominic Daemen’s junior team, taking
them to numerous competitive ‘spiels,
zone playdowns and Canada Games
qualifiers. Last February, he coached them
to Nova Scotia’s Under-17 title, and followed that three months later with a win
at the Atlantic Junior men’s championships in Summerside, PEI.
“(Paul) takes great care to show these
boys the importance of giving back,” says
Highlander’s past-president, Garrett
Juurlink. “His players are becoming wonderful volunteers in the community
under Paul’s lead.”
“His coaching made other clubs take
notice when a Highlander team arrived
to play.”
Meanwhile, with McLean’s help, some
of the best curlers in the Maritimes, including Russ Howard, Sean Adams and
Paul Flemming, started showing up at
Highlander.
A local building supply company wanted to sponsor a bonspiel, and they asked
McLean to chair the event. And so was
born the Central Home Improvement
Hammer Classic, which offers close to
$20,000 in prize money, is now one of
the stops on the Atlantic Curling Tour.
“Without Paul’s tireless effort,” Juurlink
notes, “our members would not have the
opportunity to see this caliber of curling.”
But McLean’s efforts at Highlander go
deeper. He serves on the Ice Committee
and, with a group of adult and junior assistants, is the person out there shaving,
sweeping, pebbling and flooding the ice.
He was instrumental in having inserts put
in their rocks, also implementing the rock
sponsorship program that paid to have
that done.
And he gave St. Andrews curlers an opportunity to play competitively at the
club level, forming the club’s first fixedteam league.
“When I got here,” says McLean, “there
was no competitive curling. You’d go,
sign up for the night, draw names out of
a hat and that was your team.
“I said, ‘This is crazy. This is why you’re
losing members.’ That’s fine when you
have a new club and nobody’s ever curled
before. But when you’ve curled for four
or five years, you’d have maybe a dozen
players that were good enough to want to
be on a regular team.”
Still, McLean faced some opposition
from a membership that had, up until
then, been entirely non-competitive. “But
we convinced them to set one night aside
and try it,” he says, “and now we have a
competitive night with eight teams.”
On top of it all, he’s also the fifth man
and coach of Kevin White’s men’s team,
which qualified this year for provincial
playdowns, finishing second in zones to
Flemming, and was elected last year to
Highlander’s board of directors, where he
serves now as second vice-president.
According to club president Harry
Daemen, “Paul McLean is so interwoven
into every aspect of the Highlander
Curling Club fabric of volunteers, that it
is hard to separate his leader and do-er
qualities. Underlying and driving his contributions is the basic love for the sport.”
CURL ATLANTIC SPRING SYMPOSIUM 2004
“INVESTING IN YOUR CLUB’S FUTURE”
Continued from page 1
5.Club Insurance / Liability / Property Taxes
• do you have suitable coverage
and are you paying too much?
• what is Directors and Officers
coverage
• property Taxes – how to ensure
you are paying your fair share.
B. People
1. Recruiting New Customers
• are we missing out on new
markets?
• how to design an effective
recruiting campaign
• sealing the deal
2.Retention or ‘Keeping What We
Worked So Hard To Get’
• what is customer service
• orientation – a new buzz word
• 5 Effective Steps to Retention
6
3.Volunteering – our valuable workforce
• creating an effective volunteer
plan;
• recruiting much needed help;
• “paying” our volunteers for
their work
4.Junior and School Programs
• who is responsible to deliver
programs for our teenagers?
• key components of a successful
junior program
• how to partner with schools for
effective and ‘lucrative’ programs
• safety issues
3.Board Governance
• what type of Board of Directors
should we be?
• roles & responsibilities
• committee structures
• duty of care
C. Learning
1.Corporate Days / Charity Events
• how to take advantage of this
new trend in corporate recreation and charity fundraisers
2.Show me the money!
• how to write effective & successful sponsorship proposals
• hosting championships – the
pros and cons
• where are the grants that can
help your club and how to
write the application
3.Technology and how it affects the business of curling
• membership databases – why
you need them
• web site design – their value
as an information and marketing tool
• e-mail newsletters – everyone
reads them
4.Adult Intermediate Development
• golfers, regardless of handicap,
can get instruction to improve
their game. Now curlers of all
skill levels can too! We will
show you how to implement
and deliver an effective program for your members.
5.The “How To Guide for Little Rocks”
(or youth curling)
• everything you need to know
to organize and operate and
successful Little Rock Program
To register your club, contact
Karen Ouellette, regional development
coordinator for Curl Atlantic, at
[email protected] or call
1-902-463-8847.
FEBRUARY/FÉVRIER 2004
On the road again. Going home from
Deer Lake, Nl (Oct '03); Guy will log
more than 40,000 miles this year.
Anxious young curlers getting their first lesson
(Chicoutimi, Qc - Dec '03)
ritish
uesnel CC in B
Q
e
th
t
a
ll
fu
A club
'04)
Columbia (Jan
Gerald Shymko versus Guy Hemmings. A
replay of the 1999 Brier semi-final. Rumour
has it, the Green Giant extracted a bit of
revenge!! Guy is standing on the end boards
by the way. (North Battleford, Sk - Nov '03)
An on-ice battle with members of the
o (Oct '03)
Virginiatown CC in Northern Ontari
ord. The Hemmings Tour has
A visit to the school in North Battlef
nds of elementary and high school
been fortunate to have visited thousa
students since 2001.
Guy feels stron
gly about visiti
ng se
residences to sa
y hello and mee nior
ting big
television fans
of our sport (N
orth
Battleford, Sk
- Nov '03)
My first slide...and not my
last!!
(Chicoutimi, Qc - Dec '03
)
Young curlers in Englehart CC in
Northern Ontario(Oct '03)
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FEBRUARY/FÉVRIER 2004
The Sandra Schmirler Foundation
has a new pin for sale in 2004. It is only $5
and your purchase of this pin will help this
important foundation achieve its mission.
The Sandra Schmirler Foundation was created
in January, 2000 as a legacy to Sandra in
recognition and celebration of her love of
family. The realization of this idea was a
collaborative effort by the Canadian Curling
Association, Scott Paper Limited (founding sponsor of the Scott
Tournament of Hearts), family and friends. Working hand in hand,
the Foundation’s mission is to help families with children
challenged by life threatening illnesses.
Since its inception, the Foundation has proactively provided
support to charities that are interfacing with the lives of families in
need.
To order your pin,
call Joanne at 1-800-550-2875 (108)
or e-mail to [email protected].
Best Western International is a supplier
to the CCA's Season of Champions and to
the Guy Hemmings Rockin' the House
Tour. In cooperation with the Canadian
Curling Association, they have designed
the Member Value Program for the benefit
of all Canadian curlers and their families.
As a member of the Canadian Curling Association, you are entitled to
savings up to 20% at more than 4000 Best Western hotels
worldwide... each featuring the service and amenities you want at a
price you're willing to pay.
Space for Danny
MultiCast
Networks
Inc. (MCN)
MultiCast Networks Inc. (MCN) a leading sports and entertainment web streaming solution provider, in co-operation
with the Canadian Curling Association
will be providing a global, web-casting
Pay-Per-View package for the Nokia Brier
being held in Saskatoon, Sk, March 6th
to 14th, 2004. MCN Sports will be webcasting the event using the highest quality of Internet technology, showcasing an
exciting brand of world-class curling at
Canada’s premier curling event. MCN
offers unprecedented simplified streaming solutions “as a service”, so media,
sports and entertainment content
providers have ready access to the power
and technology they need, whenever they
need it. “The excitement and quality of
competition displayed at the Continental
Cup of Curling tournament will be delivered throughout the world at a very affordable price through our exclusive SX4
(v.2) software and delivery model” said
Marc Brunet, President and CEO of
MCN.
To sign up for streaming of the
2004 Nokia Brier, look for this logo
Use this service for bonspieling, business travel, family vacations or
any reason to stay at the world's largest hotel chain!
Simply call your special MVP telephone number and mention the
Canadian Curling Association number and start saving today.
MVP Toll Free Number 1-800-441-1114
code number for eastern Canada 00154250
code number for western Canada00151970
Have a safe trip!
Privacy Notice - The Canadian Curling Association is committed to respecting the
privacy of visitors and electronic members to the web site. The CCA does not and
will not gather any specific personal information from this service.
on the main page of the CCA’s web
site at http://www.curling.ca or go directly to the MCN site at http://sx4.mcnsports.com/events.
The cost for the 2004 Nokia Brier
webcasting packaging is $19.95US.
Enjoy!
Editor - Danny Lamoureux, Canadian Curling Association • 1660 Vimont Court, Cumberland, ON K4A 4J4
1-800-550-2875 (106) toll free in Canada only • 1-613-823-2076 (106) all others • 1-613-834-0716 facsimile
[email protected] • www.curling.ca
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