It’s hard to believe but the end of the 2008 / 2009 curling season is in sight. Our regular season will wrap up at the end of March. The current plans are for a “playdown” during the first 3 sessions of March to determine a club champion rink. March 29 will feature a special curling event, modeled on our Weirdspiel that was held in December. Watch your email for details as the plans are finalized.

We will hold our annual membership meeting in April. At this time, we will also hold elections for President, Vice President and board members for the 2009 / 2010 season. I would like to thank all of the club’s executive board members for their time and efforts this season.
Bob will have an election sign up sheet at his table each Sunday curling session, so I encourage anyone who is interested in becoming more involved with the club to stand for election. You can participate in an executive position, such as treasurer, secretary, membership, communications and special events, or as a board member at large. It involves meetings once per month ( we try to jazz them up and not make them into “bored” meetings ), plus some extra time if you join a committee.

As you may be aware, 2010 is an Olympic year. In fact, the Winter Olympics open in Vancouver, British Columbia almost exactly one year from now. With good television coverage, curling should have some excellent exposure. A critical objective for next year’s board is to coordinate local publicity for curling. We should also hold open house sessions to introduce people to curling, and help to grow our membership. It promises to be an exciting year.
I also wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the Texas Open Bonspiel. As most of you have heard, due to difficulties in arrangements with Chaparral Ice, the board decided to decline holding the 2009 TOB in Austin. The Houston Curling Club volunteered to host this year’s bonspiel on April 17 to 19 at the Space City Ice Station. I encourage everyone to show their support for our neighboring club by submitting entries – check our web site for the entry form. The entry fee is $350 per rink. If you would like to play but don’t have a rink, Bob has a sign up sheet, and we will help to form rinks.

As is traditional at bonspiels, our club president ( aka me ) will have the “party” room for this weekend. All attendees are encouraged to stop by to regal us with tales of your games, lively conversation, food ( don’t expect anything too fancy ) as well as traditional curling refreshments.