2020 has been unlike any year in recent memory. COVID-19 has certainly had a significant impact on our curling community, dating back to our USA Curling Club National Championships at the Potomac Curling Club in March.

On the heels of the March outbreak that led to the lockdowns and quarantines that have become a part of our daily life, I set out on a virtual nationwide tour of our clubs. Along with Steven O’Keefe, our Growth & Development Manager, we held “Zoomstacking” meetings with most of our clubs. We listened. We exchanged ideas. We offered our recommendations for curling in a covid world.

These Zoomstacking meetings were incredibly valuable. They were informative and frankly, they were often fun. As we all know, our curling community is talented, interesting, eclectic, and knowledgeable. Ultimately it is passionate, and for that trait alone I remain incredibly optimistic about our future.

However, one of my most important takeaways was learning the long-standing misconceptions about the USCA. We learned that many curlers do not even realize that they are already members of the USCA (our current process has our clubs passing through your fees that have historically been collected as part of club dues). We took the opportunity to dispel the erroneous claim that USCA dues underwrite our Olympic-level National Teams (not one penny goes from dues to our competitive programs). Most importantly, we found that as a collective membership, we are materially under-insured. As the governing body for any sport, there is no greater responsibility than to ensure the safety and security of our curling community.

Another apparent frustration has been what seems to be the historical lack of transparency from the USCA. Since that is not the way I will manage the organization, nor the way Courtney Schmidt manages the USCA Board, we were happy to offer our transparent plans to transform our organization in these challenging times.

We took the opportunity to have productive virtual meetings, first with our entire Board, and next with the Council of Presidents, representing the States & Regions. In each meeting, we shared and discussed our plans in real time that staff was diligently working on. Of specific importance, is our closing developmental stages of our new CRM system. At no point did we convey that our work was done, nor were we ready for information to be shared with the wider curling community.

So, you can imagine our concern when misinformation was released by others outside of USA Curling about the plan and our efforts. The inaccurate information was materially damaging and confusing, and we must take this opportunity to correct the swirling data.

For starters, we have never discussed selling or sharing our email database. We have not done that in the past, and we will not be doing it.

Secondly, we have never discussed forcing clubs to send their Learn to Curl or corporate monies through the USCA. What we have said, is we are hopeful of using our new CRM system to help us better communicate with our Learn to Curlers so we can develop long-term relationships and/or membership. Currently, we believe we have potentially 60-70,000 people go through these programs, yet we only drive about 1% in new membership. We need to use technology and collaborative marketing to our advantage.

Finally, our efforts to be responsive and helpful to our clubs has been defined as a “money grab.” To be clear, the insurance program we will be implementing will be done with zero margin to the USCA and a 50% reduction on the current pricing.

What is apparent is we urgently need a new and updated membership model. Against that backdrop, we are very excited to embark on a new membership model where you, the individual curler, will have the opportunity to sign up for membership directly with USA Curling. We will be rolling out our new and robust CRM platform, myusacurling.com, where you can manage your personal profile in a secure and 21st century digital environment. Importantly, now your membership can be an annual one…no longer tied to the historical start of a season. Consequently, there is no pressure to sign-up before you are ready. If COVID or the resultant economic fallout has you uncomfortable about returning to curling, you can wait until you are ready, and we will be here for you when that time comes. The flexibility of this new model also lends itself to the reality that some clubs start their seasons in summer…maybe our future will have clubs seeing demand year-round.

Of course, we will work in partnership with our clubs to on-board both club and curlers alike. Our singular motivation is the responsible growth of our sport in a safe, secure, and fun environment. We will commit the time and human resources necessary to be certain that each club feels valued in this process.

Additionally, we have created a national insurance program that will ensure that everyone who steps on the ice will have the same level of coverage. This is the same policy that we currently offer, but by using the law of large numbers to our advantage, we’re able to secure this coverage for just $6 per member instead of the $12 it was in the past. And an added benefit is the portability of the coverage. For instance, if you have interest in bonspieling this year, but your home club is closed, the USCA membership and accompanying coverage will travel with you to any event in the USA. Importantly, we will not be adding any administrative fee on top, as we view this as both a member benefit and a critically important standard of proper governance for the future of our sport.

The unfortunate reality is that COVID isn’t going away any time soon. As such, we will be rolling this out very deliberately over the next 15 months. We will start in a targeted way with select clubs who want to help us in a beta test. These clubs will be spread across the geography of our country and will be inclusive of dedicated, both old and new, as well as arenas and country clubs.

For clubs that choose not to open this year, there will be no financial expectations from the USCA. These are challenging times and we will work in partnership with our clubs to navigate them to the best possible solutions. We will continue to provide resources to help these clubs manage through these trying times. Of note, compliance in the foundationally important SafeSport program will still be required.

In addition to the safety and security components, the launch of myusacurling.com will also allow for a new digital media interface where we can push relevant content to our membership. This, coupled with a soon-to-be launched new website, will allow for a much more timely and immersive content platform to bring our unique curling stories direct to our membership. The future holds a much more robust streaming platform including our 2021 Men’s & Women’s National Championships.

An updated and collaborative membership model is long overdue. The unprecedented 2020 year has exposed weaknesses in the old model, but also illuminated opportunities to work in unison towards a unified and progressive system. A system that prioritizes the individual curler, the club, the states and regions, and the United States Curling Association equally. We are all in this together. And in working together, with passion and purpose, we will move our sport forward and ensure its long-term viability.

Good curling, 

Jeff Plush
Chief Executive Officer
USA Curling