Here is a post from Donald MacCuspic of the Strait Area CC:
I am writing to let everyone know that we are planning to have our annual Cashspiel next month, on the weekend of Nov. 20th = 22nd. With the original return to play guidelines that were issued in July, it did not appear practical to proceed with the Cashspiel, but with the recent revisions to these guidelines, it now seems doable with a number of modifications to our normal format. I am just trying to gauge how much interest there would be among the teams who normally attend. Please read the following information and let me know if you would be interested in entering your team. We are still trying to get up to speed on all of the Covid requirements/protocols, so some of the information I present here may be subject to change.
We have always viewed our Cashspiel as a fun season kick-off event for club curlers who are interested in combining some good curling with a lot of fun and entertainment. This year I think there will still be lots of good curling, but not so much opportunity for the fun and entertainment part. We will not be able to do our supper on Saturday evening, and it will not be practical to have our usual party on Saturday night. So, this year the focus will be more on getting some good games in, getting the rust off, and getting a small piece of our lives back to normal.
We had our club AGM last Friday evening, and up until that point I was not sure if the executive was in favor of hosting the Cashspiel. With the recent revisions sent by Virginia Jackson, they felt it was doable, but will require a little more volunteer support to comply with the sterilization requirements between draws. Since we are late getting out of the blocks this year, along with the fact that the sponsors I normally tap are having their own struggles this year related to Covid, we will not have sponsorship money to put towards the prize pool this year. However, we will put the bulk of the entry fees back into the prize pool, but our payouts will not be as high as previous years.
The maximum number of people we can have in the clubhouse is 40 people, and we can have 24 people on the ice (3 sheets). However, in between draws it is normal to have more than 40 people in the clubhouse, so we will have to space out the time between draws to give people coming off the ice time to have a drink and then depart the club to make room for the people coming in for the next draw. I am thinking we are going to need to leave around an hour to an hour and a half between draws. We will also most likely start the outside sheets about 15 minutes ahead of the middle sheet. This should assist with social distancing in the ice shed, but will also make for some oddball draw times.
Due to the increased amount of time between draws, we will not be able to schedule as many games over the course of the weekend. As a result, I am thinking the maximum number of teams we will be able to accommodate this year is 12 teams. I have not had a chance to see if we can even schedule 12 teams, so there is an outside chance that may need to be reduced. If we can do 12 teams then I am hoping we can set up three pools of four teams and you play a round robin in your pool, along with the possibility of a shorter 4 or 6 end game with a team outside your pool. This will allow you to know your draw times for Friday and Saturday at the start of the spiel. We would set up a points system for wins, loses and ties, and on Sunday the top 4 teams would playoff for the A-Division, the middle 4 teams would playoff for the B-Division, and the bottom 4 teams would playoff for the C-Division. Again, not carved in stone – depends on the # of entries and number of draw times we have available over the weekend.
We are told that we cannot use the locker rooms downstairs to get changed. You will need to arrive at the curling club with your gear on and change into your curling shoes in the curling club. Another change is with the mem’s and woman’s washrooms downstairs; we can only have one person per washroom at a time. All clubs will need to abide by the Covid rules for on-ice play, so by the time the Cashspiel rolls around you will all be familiar with all the new Covid on-ice requirements, so no need to review them here.
While this year’s Cashspiel will not be a big money maker for the club, it will still be good to see the club in use, and people enjoying some good curling. Hopefully we can sell a few drinks at the bar over the weekend and make a few $$ for the club. As you are all well aware, it’s going to be a challenging year financially for most curling clubs, so every little bit of revenue helps. There will likely be some more Covid information I will need to pass along as we move forward, but for now, if you could let me know if you would like to enter your team, that would be a big help. You just need to send me an email – as in the past, we will collect your entry fee when you arrive on Friday.
Thanks,
Donald MacCuspic, Strait Area Community Curling Club
