Agenda:

Business of Curling

Details

Written by Kevin Nakonechny

Even as the end of the 2016-17 curling season has passed, AMCC volunteers remain hard at work preparing for next season (and beyond).

Loyd Olson (Club President), Paul Batchelor (Club Manager), and Kevin Nakonechny (Webmaster) were among delegates from a minority of Winnipeg curling clubs, and several rural Manitoba curling clubs of all sizes, in attendance at the Business of Curling seminar on April 21-23 at the Best Western Plus Winnipeg Airport hotel.

Sponsored by Curl Manitoba and presented by Curling Canada, formal presentations by full-time curling experts from across Canada covered topics in the following broad areas:

Attracting new curlers

• Curling 101 (a curling introductory follow-up to "Rocks and Rings," which was presented at AMCC this year for the first time)
• Adult Learn to Curl
• Social Media Buying
• Building Capacity

Servicing our customers (everybody who sets foot in our facility - to curl or not) better

• Scraping, stones, water, paint
• Bonspiels
• Delivering Superior Customer Service
• IMF Registration System

Tools and techniques for making our curling club financially sustainable (without simply raising membership fees every year!)

• Risk Management
• Energy Conservation
• Volunteers

Informal networking and discussion of success / failure stories between seminar attendees also provided an invaluable learning experience.

What does this all mean for AMCC? - exciting possibilities for the future of our Club and all of the people it serves. Further details will be shared through the Board in the weeks and months to come; attendance at this year's AGM is highly encouraged, if you are curious for a sneak peek.

Ice Turning to Sand

Details

Written by Paul Batchelor

It's been a week since Matt turned the plants off, following a busy season at the AMCC, and the purple and yellow houses have all but disappeared along with the layers of ice. Events which took place since my last report include the Senior Spiel, Daytime Championships, Fun Spiel and the Aboriginal Mixed Spiel.

Thanks to the efforts of Archie and his committee the Senior Spiel continues to be the most popular event for the "more mature" male demographic (low entry fee, great prizes, lots of comradery and good revenues some of which are donated to the facility for the purchase and/or repair of equipment). The First Event was won by AMCC's Wayne Johnson team, Second Event by Don Puls curling out of AMCC and Charleswood, Third Event by DLCC's Jerome Kirby with Roger Miller capturing the Consolation Event.

The Daytime Championships were an acknowledged success with Dewar McKinnon's Pembina team team capturing the 10 team Mens Event and Pat Malanchuk's St Vital team emerging victorious in the Women's Division. All participants and guests spoke very highly of our great facility further acknowledging the quite competitive, yet social, atmosphere of this Championship. The Winnipeg Curling Club Association, in particular primary organizer Marion Krienke, are to be commended for a job very well done in staging this annual competition.

As with previous seasons, Loyd Olson did an outstanding job in organizing the FUNspiel. A total of 16 teams, comprised of a wide variety of curling abilities and relationships, competed over a period of 4 evenings for an array of prizes (it was absolutely thrilling to see the looks on some of the younger participants as they picked their prize from the table). Loyd promises to deliver an even bigger and better Funspiel in the 2017/18 season.

The season wrapped up 7-9 Apr with the Aboriginal Mixed Bonspiel comprised of 32 teams representing Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario. The staff is to be commended for their untiring efforts in keeping pace with the demands of this Event culminating in many positive comments and a promise to return for the 25th anniversary spiel in March 2018 (the AMCC has hosted all but one).

On the social front the AMCC will be hosting the MCA Past Presidents Dinner 24 April, volunteer appreciation night 28 April, Mens League windup 13 May and MCA Past Presidents golf day BBQ 15 June 2017.

A number of events have already been included on the 2017/18 club calendar and every effort will be made to ensure that disruption to league schedules is kept to a minimum with the understanding that revenues generated by outside bookings are critical to the ongoing financial success of the Club.

Hope to see many of you at the AGM scheduled for 7PM, Tuesday, 20 June.

Have a great off season.