Curling in the time of COVID-19
“Our membership dues are some of the lowest in the area, and as a result the inability to cross the border has really affected us a lot this year,” the vicepresident said.
Curling season is getting started this week in the Eastern Townships, despite the added restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. While local clubs face new and complex challenges in continuing to operate this coming winter, their members and boards of directors have been hard at work since the summer to find solutions that will allow the game to go on.
“The safety of our members is the most important aspect of all the decisions we made at the board level,” said Marty Rourke – Vice President of the North Hatley Curling Club, explaining that discussion has been ongoing both within the club and with other local clubs, helped by the direction offered through Curling Canada. That national organization released “return to play” guidelines in the summertime to serve as a roadmap for reopening plans that would require social distancing measures.
The Curling Canada recommendations make noticeable changes to the look of the game that people might be familiar with. These include cutting down on touch-related activities like coin tosses, handshakes, and the use of physical scoreboards, but also take more dramatic steps like limiting the number of sweepers on a stone to one, and barring anyone from sweeping inside of the house. The publication also includes an elaborate guide for where and when players can move during the game in order to keep a safe distance from one another and templates for agreements clubs can have members and renters sign to commit to following public health rules. At the same time, the document acknowledges that restrictions will vary from place to place.
“We decided to limit our curling nights to Monday, Wednesday, Friday evenings, as well as Tuesday and Thursday mornings,” Rourke said. “We’re going to slowly phase back in our junior program on the weekends.”
In speaking with the Presidents or Vice-presidents of the North Hatley, Lennoxville, and Border curling clubs, The Record was informed that the norm at least for the beginning of the year is going to be a members-only model, across the board, in order to try to keep a consistency in the groups of people who are moving through the clubs.
Daniel Mercier, President of the Lennoxville Curling Club, said that his club will be going ahead with an opening bonspiel this coming weekend to try to attract new curlers, but after that only members and their spouses will be able to come inside.
“We have a maximum of 25 people in the ice shed and another 25 in the club house,” he said, adding that the club executive has made the decision to suspend any rentals until at least the new year in keeping with that concept.
In Beebe, Vice President David Edsell said that walkways have been taped out on the floor and the club house has been more or less cleared of tables to encourage social distancing.
All of the clubs have either closed or severely limited access to their changing rooms and closed their kitchens.
“We’re ready to adapt,” Rourke said, sharing that the hope is to revisit restrictions in December or early in the new year.
All three club representatives did not hide the fact that closing the buildings off to visitors and spectators will make for a financially stressful season. Without large, public events to serve as fundraisers, the onus falls on membership dues to cover costs.
Where North Hatley and Lennoxville indicated that the reduction in income will be manageable, Edsell said that the situation of the Border club is very particular.
“Our membership dues are some of the lowest in the area, and as a result the inability to cross the border has really affected us a lot this year,” the vice president said, pointing out that roughly half of the club’s members, including the current president, live in the United States. As a result, it is unlikely that any of them will be able to play casual games this year unless the public health situation changes dramatically from the way it is right now. “A good proportion of the American members, however, have sent in their membership dues
nonetheless,” he added, highlighting the solidarity of these members and their commitment to club operations.
Although one might think that it wouldn’t have been worthwhile for a club to open when half its members cannot attend, Edsell said that on the one hand, there would have been expenses to keeping the club idle anyway, and on the other, there is not a whole lot to do in Beebe in the winter.
“The club is a very important social outlet for seniors and people who live around the area,” he said.
In all three cases, the club executives said there has been a strong spirit of cooperation in planning on how to make it possible to curl this winter.
“People are devoted to the concept of keeping the club going,” Edsell said. “We’re very grateful to them.”