January 22, 9:00-11:30 AM PST – PNWCA Skills Clinic on Strategy & Tactics
This interactive, off-ice session will cover the core concepts of curling strategy and how to apply these concepts in game scenarios. This session is suitable for those that are new to skipping, want a refresher on the basics, or just want to be a more effective member of their team from any position. This session is virtual so you can participate from anywhere! Sign up here
“Super(market) Sweepers” win PNWCA 5 & Under Championship
The PNWCA 5 & Under Championship returned to Granite Curling Club of Seattle on December 16-18, with an expanded field of 12 teams. Curlers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, and Arizona participated in this event that also served as a qualifier for the USA Curling 5 & Under National Championship. Following pool play, the teams were divided into “A” and “B” events, both of which were extremely competitive.

The “Super(market) Sweepers” (Brandon Ellison, Kimber Maroney, Woody Wu, Jeff Hansen – Coyotes CC) emerged victorious in the A event and punched their ticket to nationals with a 5-0 record.

Team Dimmit (Will Dimmit, Matt Rockett, Sonja Wesch, Thorsten Frank – Granite CC & Evergreen CC) waited until the playoffs to begin their winning streak, ultimately earning the title of B event winners. Not too shabby for a team with two brand new curlers!
Special shout out to Team Cornwell (Jayson Cornwell, Raymond Gawenit, Zac Crawford, Ean Scholz) of Inland Northwest Curling Club, who got their first experience on dedicated ice at the event. We look forward to seeing you back at GCC again!
Team Larway Sweeps the PNWCA Senior Championship
Team Larway won the 2022 PNWCA Senior Championship held Dec 26-28 at GCC. The rink of John Rasmussen, Ken Trask, Doug Kauffman, and Joel Larway (see picture) swept the round robin phase of the tournament.
Joel writes, “I’d start with a huge thank you to the ice crew for providing the ice for all of us. Also a thank you to the other teams. It was great to have five teams and many past GCC presidents as well. We know this event is for bragging rights only, but we will take full advantage of that. Phil Shryock showed us the way. We are so looking forward to being having the GCC host the US Senior Nationals this year and we have been working on peaking for that event. We hope many of the members will come out and support that event.”
The tournament was organized by the Pacific Northwest Curling Association and invited men and women from the Granite, Evergreen, Bend, and Inland Northwest Curling Clubs. While the regional tournament was not a qualifier for the 2023 USCA Men’s and Women’s Senior Nationals, it provided great preparation for the national event.

USCA Western Director Report 12/7/22
*Note: Darryl Horsman is the USCA representative for the Western region, which includes the PNWCA, MOPAC and Alaska regions. We’ll be posting his updates here for the members of our region*
Good morning everyone! I hope this note finds everyone well and that you are in the Christmas spirit – the big day is fast approaching! Whatever your beliefs or practice – I hope that you get to spend time with loved ones over the holidays.
We had a Board meeting 12/5 that I wanted to provide a recap on and some other goings on at the USCA.
First of, we hope that you are all finding that Interim Dean Gemmell is doing a fairly good job so far. He has engaged in a few town halls already, made the USCA’s appearance known at a few Arena championships, and has attended a new club opening recently. As we all recognized, the leadership and the support staff of the USCA needed to do a better job openly communicating to the membership and to be actively involved at events that weren’t just high performance or Olympic. Also you should be seeing more communication – with a significantly better tone from the USCA via social media which again is another avenue that needed an overhaul. Organizationally, the staff that is at the USCA have all stepped up in amazing ways to assist in the rebuilding and changing the culture after recent events which we can all be thankful for.
Due to expenses and an unclear revenue picture (dues) – the USCA has tabled hiring a DEI Director which was on the list of things to do until a future date. In the interim, Dean, Bret, and myself have engaged with the DEI Committee and have had a couple of good meetings. The hope is that we can use the talents and input from this group to help steward thoughtful change until the time comes to hire an actual DEI Director. We are thankful that both groups have come to the table solely to help curling, DEI, and the USCA to be better.
From some of the discussions with the DEI Committee and a few others, at this latest meeting the Board worked on and approved a USCA Core Value statement. A number of years ago I was on a committee to redo the Mission Statement of the USCA. I believe the Core Value statement does a better job communicating the guiding principles the Board and the USCA must lean moving forward. Watch for this to be presented to the membership shortly. I also believe that these core values will provide the membership another way to hold the organization accountable – hopefully not from an “I gotcha” perspective, but maybe from a shared understanding and agreement of purpose and expectation.
We are almost ready to have the Governance 4.0 committee announced. The plan is to have 10 curler representatives and 5 athlete representatives on the committee. We have tried to get a broad cross-section of the curling community on the committee; from arena to dedicated, big clubs to small club representation, and we tried to get someone from each member region. While the organizing committee is still reaching out to those who volunteered (there were 32 who did), from the West, the Board have highlighted Mikhail Simin from San Francisco, Kris Klinkhammer from Portland, and Mimi Stevinson from Denver to be on the committee. I suspect the committee with be in touch with those to confirm they are still wanting the job.
The plan for a CEO search moves forward. What we are trying to do with a small committee from the Board, is to choose a company to assist with the CEO search. As you may know, the company that was used to find Jeff Plush and others, was a company that most other NGB’s have used – we may not go that route again. Armed with all the previous CEO search data from Roger Rowlett from the GNCC, the new CEO Search committee is busily working on determining what USCA needs in a CEO and what company will be used to assist in finding quality individuals. The plan is to have those details hammered out before January – and maybe we might have some candidates to vet by February. As this progresses I’ll share updates with the group.
Finally – In January/February we will be looking to replace the three open Directors positions, two WCF representatives as their terms end, and potentially one Regional Director position as the clubs that are no longer with the GNCC will need to have their person. For now – the remaining Directors and Chair are working closely with each other to make sure this ship continues to move in the right direction. More to come on this in the new year.
As always, if you wish to discuss anything, I encourage you to email me. I am here to help. I hope that all of your clubs are doing well and have had time to heal from the recent events and are encouraged by what they see and hear. The curling community is passionate, resilient, and we are able to do much together.
I wish you all the very best this holiday season and for prosperity and health for the New Year.
Thank you and Good Curling!
Darryl Horsman
December Skills Clinic
PNWCA is running another clinic at GCC on Sunday December 4th from 9am – 11:30am. This clinic is open to all members of curling clubs in the Pacific Northwest Curling Association
Practice with Purpose
Learn how to make the most of your practice ice time, whether you are practicing by yourself, with a partner, or in a group or team. We’ll go over how to set goals for your practice session and different drills you can utilize to reach them. We’ll also work with you on-ice during this 2.5-hour session to offer tips and coaching to make the most of our favorite practice drills.
Please RSVP here, so we have an idea of how many curlers to expect.
November Skills Clinic (Postponed)
***POSTPONED TO December 3rd***
PNWCA is running another clinic at GCC on Sunday November 27th from 9am – 11:30am. This clinic is open to all members of curling clubs in the Pacific Northwest Curling Association
Practice with Purpose
Learn how to make the most of your practice ice time, whether you are practicing by yourself, with a partner, or in a group or team. We’ll go over how to set goals for your practice session and different drills you can utilize to reach them. We’ll also work with you on-ice during this 2.5-hour session to offer tips and coaching to make the most of our favorite practice drills.
Please RSVP here, so we have an idea of how many curlers to expect.
2022/2023 Playdown Dates
Registration is open for all PWNCA 2022/2023 Season Playdowns. Details about the national events are available on at usacurling.org. Details on event registration for sanctioned qualifiers are available here.
U18 Boys’ & Girls’
Date: December 16-18, 2022
Location: Evergreen Curling Club
Registration closes: November 23, 2022
Regional fee: $10 per participant / $40 per team*
Club Mens’
Date: January 13-15, 2023
Location: Evergreen Curling Club
Registration deadline: December 21, 2022
Regional fee: $25 per participant / $100 per team*
Club Womens’
Date: January 13-16, 2023
Location: Granite Curling Club of Seattle
Registration closes: December 21, 2022
Regional fee: $25 per participant / $100 per team*
Mixed
Date: February 17-20, 2023
Location: Granite Curling Club of Seattle
Registration closes: January 25, 2023
Regional fee: $25 per participant / $100 per team*
5-and-Under
Date: December 16-18, 2022
Location: Granite Curling Club of Seattle
Registration closes: December 1, 2022
Regional fee: $37.50 per participant / $150 per team
Registration via curlingseattle.org
*These fees are on top of the fees charged by USA Curling
PNWCA Statement on Jeff Plush & USA Curling
PNWCA 5 & Under Championship
Registration now open! The PNWCA 5 & Under Championship is back! Twelve teams will compete from December 16-18 at Granite Curling Club of Seattle in order to win the title of best in the Pacific Northwest! This event is also a qualifier for the 2023 USA Curling 5 & Under National Championship.
Registration opens Saturday, October 8th. Priority will be given to PNW teams until October 22nd (or until the 12-team cap is reached), so be sure to sign up early! All curlers must have 5 years of experience or less to be eligible. For more details and to register, visit https://curlingseattle.org/competitions
Slide Tuneup at GCC
The PNWCA is hosting a free “Slide Tuneup” at GCC September 11th from 1:30pm to 4:00pm. This is an opportunity for curlers with 2 months to 20+ years of experience to get feedback on their deliveries and tips on how to improve from a number of coaches. Two 75-minute sessions are available, each with room for up to 20 curlers. To sign up, please email development@pnwcurling.org with your preferred time slot (1:30-2:45 or 2:45-4:00).
Note: If you are a GCC member and brand new to curling, please consider joining GCC’s Novice League instead (first session is 11:30am on 9/11)
You must be logged in to post a comment.