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Hugh Avery named to CCA board of governors

The Nova Scotia Curling Association (NSCA) is pleased to congratulate former board member and 2010 Brier co-chair, Hugh Avery, on his recent election to the Canadian Curling Association's (CCA) board of governors.

"I am committed to helping the sport of curling reach its fullest potential and I am looking forward to the challenge over the next five years," said Avery. "From the very first time I walked into the Westville Curling Club in 1981, I knew I loved this game," he said.

Avery has a lengthy resume of curling administration experience. Getting involved as a junior curler in the early 80s, Hugh has balanced his time between playing on and off the ice in the Maritime curling clubs and board rooms.

In 2003, Hugh became president of the Halifax Curling Club where he served for two years and is still a member today. Hugh joined the NSCA in 2004 as Treasurer and then in 2006 moved to Director of Competitions for two years. As a player, Hugh has participated at the Tankard level in both Nova Scotia and PEI.

Avery’s five-year term is the result of a nomination put forward by the NSCA and subsequent election by the CCA's 14 member associations. Nova Scotia’s Georgina Granchelli, former president of the NSCA, is the only other NS representative on the 10-person board.

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Competitions Committee Recruiting

The Competitions Committee of the Nova Scotia Curling Association is recruiting two new members, one Male and one Female, to serve on the committee for the 2010-2011 season. The new recruits would be responsible for the protcols surrounding the Championships at a recreational level; the Dominion Club Championship, Intermediates, Masters, etc.

If you are interested in one of these positions please contact Aaron Sweeney at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Turning Point Curling School Dates Announced

Turning Point Curling School 2.0

The second phase of the Turning Point Experience: Discover what it takes to be a great team.

October 23^rd & 24^th, 2010

Bluenose Curling Club

New Glasgow, NS

Turning Point Curling School

Building a More Effective, More Efficient Team!

…a technical and mental enhancement camp for competitive junior teams, who are prepared to take their game to a higher level.

November 6^th & 7^th, 2010

Lunenburg Curling Club

Lunenburg, NS

Contact: Donalda Mattie, Development Coordinator

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Telephone: (902)232-2977

AGM Report - A President's View

by Shirley Osborne

The Annual General Meeting was held Saturday morning at the Mayflower Curling Club.

For the upcoming year, the slate of officers, remain the same with the exception that Stu Slauenwhite moves from Secretary to Central Director. The Northern Zone remains without a Director and Julie Morley will represent the Valley as a liaison, on a short term basis.

We now are also in need of a Secretary and the Junior Director’s position is vacant, and we are desperate to fill both.

Special Rules for Curling were passed. The biggest change has been the elimination of zone playdowns for the Mens’ Seniors. We have also returned to the original seeding with self-ranking gone for the Tankard.

Our Scotties Women’s Teams had asked that there be a need for an undefeated team to be beaten twice in the playoffs. This was defeated.

There was much discussion regarding the state of our finances. We have made a commitment to improve the bottom line for the coming year. The hosts sites that have been placed were presented, more sites will be decided shortly.

The Competition Committee is making an honest attempt to place events in a fair and equitable manner, with distribution throughout the zones, and in particular where sites have not been held before. Not all sites received the event/events they requested. The Committee, in their efforts to try and make the events all inclusive of the different zones in the province, concentrated their attention on clubs who don’t normally place a request on a regular basis. This will be the first year, in a long time, that the various events have been placed, throughout the zones, in an equitable fashion.

6th Annual Awards Banquet - A Success!

The 6^th Annual Awards Banquet held Saturday, May 15th at the Mayflower Curling Club was, by all accounts an unqualified success. Over 150 curlers, parents, sponsors and guests were treated to a roast beef dinner and saw the presentation of 28 Banners to the Provincial Champions, 7 major awards and the introduction of 4 individuals/teams to the NSCA Hall of Fame. Under the capable MC, Brad McCaughan, and the great catering job of D&G Catering, the event started on time and ended 15 minutes early! The Parade of Champions lasted almost an hour but the highlight of the event was the awarding of the 7 major awards.

The winners were:

Coach of the Year – Shane Carson (Dartmouth Curling Club)

“After a very successful curling season in his home province, this nominee guided his Junior Boys Under 18 team to the Provincial Championship. He then went on to coach the team to the Gold Medal at the Optimist Under 18 International Curling Championship in Regina competing against teams from Canada, the US, Scandanavia and Asia”

Organization of the Year – Sydney Curling Club

“Our third nominee hosted the Senior Men’s North Zone as well as a number of charity spiels. Of special note, this club not only hosted a major hospital charity spiel but on the same weekend, a number of its members also found time to support the Schooner Curling Club as Schooner hosted this year’s Men’s Challenge Round. By the way they also directed surplus food from the hospital charity spiel to Schooner so the Challenge Round competitors had lots of food and Cape Breton hospitality A great example of one club supporting another while helping the community.“

Volunteer of the Year – Pam Cortello (CFB Halifax Curling Club)

“Our second nominee is from the CFB Halifax Curling Club. Despite having a young family, Pam found time to coach her own children in Light Rocks – they won this year, took on the job of the club’s coordinator of Junior Curling, acted as a “stand-in” coach at numerous Junior events, worked at the Brier and oh yes, found the time to organize and run a highly successful Light Rocks Provincial Championship with no less than 43 competing teams.”

Female Athlete of the Year – Wendy Currie & Karen Hennigar (Truro & Dartmouth Curling Clubs)

“Our second nominees, are the dynamic duo of Wendy Currie from the Truro Curling Club and Karen Hennigar from the Dartmouth Curling Club. These two ladies had identical years. They won the Senior Women’s Canadian Championship last fall, the Senior Mixed Provincial title in the early spring, and runners-up in this year’s Senior Women’s Provincial Championship. Oh yes, did I mention that these two curlers also won the Senior Women’s World Championship in Russia.”

Male Athlete of the Year – Michael Brophy (Dartmouth Curling Club)

“Our first nominee is a member of the Dartmouth Curling Club. Michael won two provincial titles this year; the Under 18 PANS and the Under 18 Provincial Championships. He then followed these wins with a gold at the Under 18 Optimist International Championship in Regina.”

Team of the Year – Team Pinkney (Truro Curling Club)

“Our third nominee is from the Truro Curling Club. This dynamic foursome were unbeatable at the Senior Women’s World Championship in Russia with a perfect 7-0 in Round robin play. The team then went on to beat Sweden in the Semi-finals before beating Switzerland in the ninth to claim the World title. To quote the skip Colleen who cannot be here today “from the 2009 win at the Senior Women’s Provincial Championship to the World Championship...our win/loss record was 27-2. Also at the World’s, we only gave up a steal of 2 ends. With skip – Colleen Pinkney, Wendy Currie, Karen Hennigar, Susan Creelman and coach Judy Burgess”

Joyce Myers Merit Award – Doug Bryant (Bridgetown Curling Club)

The following is part of the presentation speech delivered by Peter Macphee in awarding the Joyce Myers Merit Award to Doug Bryant.

“…in the fall of 2005, Doug joined the Bridgetown Curling Club and I think part of the deal was that he agreed to sit on the Bridgetown board. Smart board at the time, for shortly thereafter the NS Department of Labour declared the Bridgetown ice plant unserviceable. Guess who was elected to head up the fund raising committee? Right – Doug!

Through 2006, 07 and 08 Doug and his committee raised approximately $9,000 a year which at the time was considerable considering the population base in the area.At the same time Doug took on the role of junior coordinator for the club. Outside of his job with the county and his work with the curling club, Doug also found time to become a volunteer firefighter.

In 2009 the chiller failed and the ice was unusable requiring a complete replacement of the entire plant at a cost of some $100,000. Doug’s job – get the funds!

By this time Doug was the club president, his curling had been reduced to almost nil, and the club membership was on a downturn. Well, the government agreed to fund $66,000 if Doug could come up with the other $37,000. With the help of many others the Club was able to raise the funds and the club is now in the tendering process to have the ice plant replaced.

His new challenge is to try and create a club atmosphere, get the membership back and up, and have the club opened by next fall. I’m sure Doug will succeed.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to present this year’s recipient of the Joyce Myers Merit Award – Mr Doug Bryant of the Bridgetown Curling Club.”

In addition to these awards, 4 new inductees to the NSCA Hall of Fame were announced. The actual induction will take place in a separate ceremony planned for later in the year. The new inductees are Alan Darragh, Nancy Delahunt, Peter Corkum and the 1980 Junior Women’s Canadian Champion (Kay Smith, Krista Gatchell, Cathy Caudle & Peggy Wilson – Truro Curling Club)

Congratulations to all our competitors, you’ve done us all proud! Additionally, thanks to the organizers, the members of the Awards Committee and volunteers who helped make this a very special event.

The NSCA represents over 6,000 curlers at all age levels, 35 Member Clubs and hosts over 40 annual championship events leading to 28 Provincial Champions.

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