NZ Curling

I hope that all of New Zealand's curling community were able to watch some of the excellent coverage we saw of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, learn by watching the world's best in action, and capture some of the emotion of the Games.

New Zealand Curling has to start planning now if we want to have two teams at the next Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. And so do our next Olympic curling athletes.

Entries are filling fast for the season-opening Doubles tournament at Naseby's Maniototo Curling International rink later this month.

There are still a couple of places available in the draw, and the confirmed entries include the New Zealand and Australian teams who will compete at April's World Mixed Doubles championship in Chelyabinsk, Russia.

A record crowd filled the ice rink at Paradice Avondale for Auckland Curling’s public "Have A Go" sessions on Sunday evening. Exposure from TV coverage of the Vancouver Olympics was the key to the increased interest said Club President Peter Taylor.

"We had a lot of people say that they really got their first proper look at the game during the Winter Olympics coverage," said Mr Taylor. "And once they appreciated the skill and the subtleties of curling, people really wanted to try it out for themselves."

There may be no New Zealand teams curling in Vancouver at the Olympic or Paralympic Games, but there's plenty of coverage to see the roaring game at its best!

• Vancouver 2010 official site and its pages for Olympic and Paralympic curling
• SKYsport has 4 dedicated Winter Olympics channels, and PrimeTV will show some events free to air. See their broadcast schedule and news.
• The World Curling Federation has official results for Men's, Women's and Paralympic competitions
• NZOC's Winter Olympics site will follow the progress of the NZ team at Vancouver

And there's no shortage of commentary and opinion either –

• Skip Cottage Curling blog – with an emphasis on Scotland / UK
• The Curling News blog is always worth a read
• CurlingZone – news, commentary and links to other blogs
• The Canadian Curling Association will feature exclusive pics and the "Olympic Insider" blog

After the disappointment of just missing out on qualifying for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, New Zealand curling came of age in 2006. The NZ Men's team qualified for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics by virtue of their 7th placing at the 2004 World Championship and an 8th the following year.

The team went to Turin with hopes of improving on their ranking of 9th out of 10 teams. Unfortunately it was not to be, and despite some matches going down to last stone they were unable to secure a win at the Games.

The NZ Men's curling team qualified for the 2006 Winter Olympics over a three year period of NZ competitions, Pacific championships and World Championships. Hans Frauenlob and Dan Mustapic share their experiences and thoughts on what that was like and how they achieved their Olympic dream.

The NZ Men’s curling team went to the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics – but NZ didn’t even come close to qualifying for Vancouver in 2010! What changed?

The NZ Curling Association Executive's newsletter has result summaries for the recent Pacific Junior Championships and the Karuizawa International tournaments in Japan, advance notice of the Association's AGM in May and a proposed change to the NZCA Rules.

The New Zealand men will come home from the Karuizawa International Curling Championships in Japan with a 4th placing after an eventful last couple of days.

They played two tiebreakers on Saturday evening to earn their spot in the medal rounds but were beaten in their semi-final and the bronze medal game on Sunday.