The Jasper Curling Club is back and ready to rock after some restrictions due to COVID-19 and is looking to raise awareness of the sport, showcase the fun of curling, and become a more active member in the community of Jasper.
Official leagues for both Ladies’ and Mixed/Open have already begun, with the Corporate League starting on December 2nd. The current league schedule is as follows: Tuesdays - Ladies' League, Wednesdays - Mixed/Open League, Corporate Thursdays - Open Community League, and Senior Drop-in every Tuesday and Thursday from 1pm-3pm. Since there is no Men’s League this year, men are encouraged to participate in the Mixed/Open Leagues every Wednesday.
In addition, the Jasper Curling Club hosts its famous Bonspiel events, which have been already scheduled for 2022. This year the bonspiel dates are as follows: Mixed Doubles: Jan 14-16, Men’s: Feb 4-6, Ladies’: March 18-20, and finally Mixed: April 1-3. Both Men’s and Mixed Doubles will be livestreamed on the Curling Alberta website.
With leagues and bonspiels scheduled for the season, the club hopes to host more themed “funspiels”, with a community “give-back”component to each event. “We are looking to bring some more fun, community participation, and awareness of one of Canada’s favourite sports back to Jasper”, says Jeff Perham, the new Jasper Curling Club Manager.
“The first funspiel we did this year was the ‘1st Annual Shirley Dorin Halloween Funspiel’ in honour of the late Shirley Dorin”. Perham adds that the Jasper Curling Club did a 50/50 raffle with half of the winnings going to Shirley’s family and the turnout was great.
A “funspiel” is a curling event where individuals sign up and are placed on a team at random. This typically happens on a Saturday and goes the full day with lots of tricks and turns to the “regular” rules of curling, with prizes and food to end the event. This is a great way to introduce curling in a less competitive way, and to attract younger generations who will be the future of the Jasper Curling Club.
The next “Funspiel” is currently planned for December 11th with an Ugly Christmas Sweater theme and a community component to the Jasper Food Bank.
Learn more on our website at www.jaspercurling.ca
Submitted by the Jasper Curling Club
