OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR ICE TECH EDUCATION
Saskatoon Nutana Curling Club ~ James Gordon
“Ice quality is one of the big key factors a club has to consider when it comes to making a club healthy, and grow.
Bad ice, or ice that is not fun to play on, can make curlers frustrated and not want to continue curling. Or, if ice is really bad, it can put added stress on limbs and lead to curlers leaving due to injuries.
On the flip side, great ice can attract teams to your bonspiels, and your current curlers may be more inclined to refer their friends to come try.
So how can clubs or ice makers find out how to provide better ice?
Sometimes it just doesn’t work with an ice maker’s schedule to travel to an event to volunteer, in order to watch and learn from the pros. Or there is not enough time to commit going to a weekend training seminar.
I am offering to travel to ANY club in Saskatchewan, and can offer a complete range of services to help grow a club including, but not limited to:
Training/Information:
– Ice install (painting, flooding, sealing, vinyl house install, etc)
– Ice maintenance (Pebbling, Scraping, Temperatures, Rock texturing and care, etc)
– Water quality, including which purification system is best for your club.
– How to add GLOW CURLING to your club to add another revenue stream, and make your young junior curlers have MORE fun. Great for small town clubs!
-ANY other questions related to ice
Ice Services:
– I can provide complete installs, or paint only services, for those clubs that struggle with finding people capable of installing ice (whether it is lack of time or skill) and want a quality paint job/install
– I can prepare the ice at your club to a provincial/national quality standard for your big bonspiel or playdown event, while providing training to your local ice maker(s).
– ARENA ICE – For those clubs looking to host an even bigger bonspiel that requires more sheets of ice than the club has available, I can install curling ice on your hockey rink ice surface. I will provide all the materials and equipment needed to provide arena ice, all the club has to do is locate rocks (which I plan to be able to offer at some point in the future).
Equipment:
Having worked with a variety of equipment, and seeing where it can be improved upon, I am now starting to provide quality ice making equipment. My goal is to also offer it at an affordable price, so that even smaller clubs can afford to have quality ice making equipment.
Currently I am able to offer backpack pebble cans, with comfortable straps that will reduce stress on the shoulders and back. They are far more comfortable to use than any other pebble can on the market.
Coming soon:
– Plastic pebble heads – no more replacing heads due to pure water making the holes bigger as seen in the traditional copper pebble head
– Wider string mop – adequately overlap the center line AND divider line in 1 pass in rinks with no divider boards.
– Affordable ice/air temperature and humidity monitoring system.
My past 13+ years experience in making ice includes working with both sand and concrete bases, various rocks (inserted and not), arena installs (Alameda, SK 64 team bonspiel in 2015) and volunteering at numerous events including:
World Women’s
Brier (x2)
Grand Slam (x3)
Sochi 2014 Olympics
I was also an assistant at the 2017 Tour Challenge Grand Slam in Regina, working alongside Mark Shurek, Darren Gress, and Mike Merklinger.
If you are at a club that could use any help, or looking for equipment, you can contact me at james@prairieice.ca
You can also find pictures of my work on my facebook page at facebook.com/PrairieIceCurling or visit my website at www.PrairieIce.ca
PRICING:
I can offer hourly or daily rates for training/work at your club. For clubs in a bad financial situation that are trying to grow to survive, I may be able to offer lower rates in exchange for advertising at your club. I want to make help affordable to all clubs in Saskatchewan, as a thriving curling community helps us all!
I am also able to offer remote guidance through messaging, if that is all that is required in your situation. While this can be provided free of charge, donations are greatly appreciated for my time.
BONSPIEL PRIZES!
For clubs looking for unique bonspiel prizes, my girlfriend and I also make athletic home decor. We have items such as keychains, fridge magnets, trivets/hot pads, soap dishes, and christmas ornaments spanning various sports.
Our curling decor currently consists of curling rock fridge magnets, christmas ornaments, keychains and soap dishes.
All of our products are handmade by us in Saskatoon. We can also offer wholesale pricing for anyone looking to add them to their pro shop.
You can view all of our current products at www.AthleticHomestyles.com
James Gordon
