Presidents Annual Report
2006
The 2006 Copper Country Curling Club season will long be remembered as one of great change. We only have to look at the list of active members from one year ago, and compare that with today’s, to gain an appreciation of how far we have come.
One year ago we had 4 teams, 18 members. That’s it! Looks at us now. My list shows 40 members and 25 paying MTU members.
Last year we had one shift of regularly scheduled games and one poorly attended pickup night. This year, 4 nights filled with curling, and for a short time, one afternoon of youth curling.
Before continuing, I want to express thanks (and hope you will take the time also) to Steve Woodworth and those who helped him, for the wonderful ice we had this year. It was overall, the best ice ever, and even more impressive considering the warm weather we had in January and late in March.
Regularly Scheduled Events:
This year’s regular Tuesday League night championship goes to the Woodworth team with a
record of 8-2. Congratulations to Steve, Paul Lyle, Gerry Lamppa, and Tom Cole.
Our PickUp Curling Night (Thursday) was well attended, frequently with enough people to have two games going.
New to the CCCC this year was the reinvigoration of the on campus MTU curling club (Keweenaw Curling Club). This club now seems poised ready to be a permanent fixture on campus AND as part of the CCCC. All of this took place after MTU’s Winter Carnival activities in February. I will reference Pete Reno’s report as the President of the Keweenaw CC for details on that club’s activities. HOWEVER, I will say that the KCC used the Drill House two evenings (Wednesday and Friday) per week for the months of February and March.
For three weeks, we hosted after school youth curling, coordinated with the Baraga-Houghton- Keweenaw Child Development Board’s Great Explorations Program. Twelve Middle School age students took part with one classroom session and two on ice sessions. In conjunction with this, I had hosted a training session with Physical Education faculty of the Calumet School District. The intent was to start a Curling Section to the Calumet School District’s PhyEd curriculum. Regrettably, both activities were cancelled due to concerns about the structural integrity of the Drill House.
College Nationals:
The Keweenaw Curling Club sent four players to the College Curling National Championship’s
in Chicago in March. The team played in Division IV (divisions based on team experience) and
made it into the medal round by defeating University of Miami-Ohio, Lawrence Tech, and
George Washington University. They lost in the Championship Game to Oakland University.
Special Events
The biggest change this year took place outside of regularly scheduled events at the Drill House.
The CCCC hosted over 970 visitor hours of special events.
The Drill House hosted Winter Carnival curling for the first time ever. Blue Key had been dissatisfied with the amount of time curling at Dee Stadium provided. The offer to have the Drill House be the site for curling this year was accepted. For the second year in a row, curling was the largest Winter Carnival sport (by number of teams). Forty five teams in 4 divisions played in the single elimination, 4 end games, tournament. The biggest outcome of this event was the resurgence of the Keweenaw Curling Club.
This year, for the first time, the CCCC was able to bring in outside groups for recreational curling parties. This year saw 5 outside groups use the Drill House for Corporate or Organization. Four of these groups donated money to the club. These parties were scheduled for 2 hours, and included from 30 to 45 minutes of basic curling instruction, followed by a curling match for the remainder of the time period. I want to thank everyone who assisted me in at these events. Everyone came away happy, and the club earned $400 in the process.
Summary:
I think the most telling moment of the season took place Winter Carnival weekend. We had some
visitors in the area from the Detroit and Appleton Curling Clubs. Several CCCC members were
in attendance to assist hosting. The infamous bright orange "Curling ->" signs were put out to
help the visitors find there way. Within a half an hour we had a stream of people wandering in
‘off the street’ to find out about curling and hopefully give it a try. If you build it, they will come!
In all respects, our biggest and best year EVER. More public exposure than EVER. Tremendous response from members volunteering for special events. Thank You to everyone, now lets make next year even better.
Gordon Maclean
President
| Top of Page | Back to Minutes Page | Home |
|---|