Winter Tuesday Survey
Winter Tuesday Survey
Tuesdays leagues are relatively new at Diamond State. This is only our second Tuesday league since the pandemic. Many Diamond State members requested a less serious league compared to our Sunday league so people who want to learn new positions can get the chance to without feeling like they're letting their team down. Sunday, and really our club in general, was never meant to be that serious but it's hard to change people's perceptions. This is where the idea of the Freshman Skips league came from, a league where preference is given to the newer curler so we can create a learning environment, a developmental league.
Fall Tuesday League had a very light attendance. Often we couldn't hold two full games, we would have to have a game of doubles (2 vs 2) on one sheet and a regular game on the other sheet (3 vs 3 or 3 vs 4). Maintaining any structure was difficult. The Winter Tuesday league has 16 registered, which is 4 full teams. It would take 4 absences to break from the 2 full games structure. There are brand new people, some people with less than a year experience, and some people back to curling after a few years off. With this range of experience, we'd like to know what YOU want from the league. Please fill out the survey linked below so we can make sure you're getting the most out of your 8 weeks in the current league. The survey touches on a few points.
League Structure
Diamond State has two standard league structures. Our standard 8 week league works best with 7 or 8 teams. The schedule is structured with set teams such that every team plays every other team once, there's one bye week if we only have 7 teams, and the last week of the league is a finals week where we place teams in different finals based on their rankings. Then we have 4 week intro leagues. These leagues consist of all pick up games, where teams are different every week. The goal of these leagues is for everyone to get to know all the wonderful people at our club, and to learn more about the sport and develop their skills.
Since our 8 week league has 4 teams we are free to try a different structure. If we want to mimic our normal 8 week league, we can establish set teams. With 7 weeks remaining we can have every team play every other team twice, plus a finals week at the end. We can also run the league like an intro league, where teams are different every week and we're just here to have fun, no ongoing competition. Or we can split it, spend the first 4 weeks getting to know the sport and everyone playing and the last 4 weeks with set teams that lead to a final. Let us know what you'd like to see!
Coaching
With the Freshman Skips concept, Frank Sharp has volunteered to help coach and develop our new players. For those that don't know, Frank Sharp was our first president and basically who is to blame for a club being in Delaware in the first place. If you weren't taught how to curl by Frank, you were taught by someone who was taught by him (or taught by someone who was taught by someone who was taught by someone...). With two games going on and one coach it can be difficult to figure out who to focus on. Some of you may feel you've curled long enough you don't need coaching, some may not respond to coaching and prefer self guided learning and figuring stuff out on your own, and some may be desperate for the help. Let us know your thoughts on receiving coaching so Frank will know what game he should be more focused on, and if he should be paying more attention to the skips or the people throwing.
Broomstacking
Curlers are social people, but most socializing occurs after the games. In our sport we call it broomstacking. Back before the age of refrigeration, when the sport could only be played on frozen lakes, curlers would literally stack their brooms in a pile off the ice, grab a drink or two to warm up, and continue the game. In modern times we do this after the games are over. In the spring and summer we can tailgate outside in the parking lot. Since it's a winter league, we're mostly going to be going to a bar. The Fall Tuesday league was light enough in attendance that we never really had critical mass to meet up and we didn't get a chance to broomstack. There's no pressure, we understand getting off the ice at 9:30 on a Tuesday might be late for a few people. But if you'd like to hang out after the games, we'd like to know what bars you might be interested in. It's a college town, there are several close by. Let us know!
Alright everyone, let's have a great start to 2025! See you out on the ice.
Good Curling,
Brian Hufe
League Coordinator