Pre-Curler Outreach: An A+ Class Project Turned International
Question (Q): What is the origin story of the Curler Outreach Program? How did it come to be?
Alyson: Well, let me tell you, Jenna got an A+ on it.
Jenna: Took care of a lot of my credits.
Alyson: We, me and Jenna, obviously talked a lot about our curling-determined purpose when we wrote the proposals to the club, so proposal-wise, the purpose of the project was that the Eau Claire Curling Club needed a bit more diversity, as far as younger players.
Jenna: The idea originated in a communications class instructed by Nicole Shultz at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire when we were students there. It was a semester project, based in outreach, that required groups of students to identify a social issue within the community. We identified the membership issue at the Eau Claire Curling Club, and that’s how we got it started.
Alyson: It was originally called the Celebrity Curler Outreach Project, which sounds familiar with what we are working with right now. The idea was to bring in a successful, young curler, who can easily be a positive role model to young curlers and non-curlers on a local level. It helps the curler’s presence, gives young athletes someone to look up to, but also contributes to expanding the curling world- someone who may not have any reason to know anything about curling recognizes the name of a curler that presented at their kid’s school, who is now on your television at home. This celebrity curler was quickly identified as Korey Dropkin, because he was more than willing to do it, he was located relatively close to us in Duluth, and he certainly fit the bill for someone that kids could look up to.
Jenna: We had a list of criteria for who we felt would be a good fit for this role, and Korey checked off most of those boxes very quickly.
Alyson: As far as who was involved, it was Jenna’s class, and like she did with many little curling projects in Eau Claire, she cold-called me and was like, “Hey, you want in?” From there it trickled into the university- getting as many student curlers in Eau Claire involved as possible. That’s how Andrea joined us- she did many tasks and errands for us, as well as support from faculty at UW-Eau Claire who were also curlers and board members of the curling club.
Jenna: A lot of making it happen was truly the communication portion between everyone- the curling club, the university, timing with the schools, and Korey who was our “celebrity curler.” We ran the program two years in a row, and so we had to coordinate with local media, as well as a videographer, Braden Doucette, and photographer, Alyssa Rupp, that we hired to create our own content for the project.
Q: The Celebrity Curler Outreach Program ran in two rounds in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. What was the difference in the impact between the first and second round?
Alyson: Round two had an impact. I think it’s fair to admit here, realistically, that the first time we ran the Celebrity Curler Outreach Project, it didn’t have the impact we wanted.
Jenna: Not as big as we wanted. We had a social media impact the first round, but the second year we ran the project we saw a physical impact in the amount of people that attended a learn-to-curl at the club.
Alyson: It had everything to do with the way we set up and changed the execution of the project two years in a row. The first project was us creating a presentation with Korey about his curling journey, growth and challenges, setting him up to present in several Eau Claire schools for a couple of days in town, and getting kids amped about Korey and the sport of curling. The downfall was we executed no call to action- we gave literal children information about the curling club, most of which were too young to do anything on their own, and that information would never make it to their parents. The second year is when we added the learn-to-curl to our design. We spent three days with Korey, presenting in the schools, doing interviews with media, and then followed it up with promoting a free student, family, and faculty day at the curling club, just a couple of days later, where students could try curling with their families and hang out with Korey on the ice. It was a three-hour open house style learn-to-curl, and we saw over 80 people come through. We’ve never seen numbers like that. By the time I graduated UW- Eau Claire, I was coaching three-fold the amount of curlers in our junior program than what we started with as a freshman.
Above: The fleet of instructors and helpers it took to handle the three-hour, 80-person learn-to-curl after the second run of the Celebrity Curler Outreach Program at the Eau Claire Curling Club.
Take a look at Korey's vlogs from his experience as a celebrity curler:
Above: Vlog #1: Prep and presentations at Eau Claire area schools.
Above: Vlog #2: Visiting the juniors' practice and the three-hour learn-to-curl.
Q: What was the difference between those first two rounds and this current version of Curler Outreach?
Alyson: Again, it started with Jenna bridging the gap and seeing a need… and a cold-call to me last summer (2020). It was Jenna connecting me with Team Senneker that really got the ball rolling.
Jenna: First off, Alyson, how many times have you received a phone call from me like, “ALYSON. I HAVE THIS IDEA.”
Alyson: So many. And it's funny because, never have I ever received a call from you that's like, “Hey- real quick…” or “I have a small thing…” Every time I get a cold call from Jenna it's a multiple year commitment I’m in for.
Jenna: Every time I call, I’m like, “I’m on to something here, Alyson, get ready…”
Alyson: Last summer, I got a cold-call from Jenna on a Thursday night in June and I go, “Uh-oh. Here we go.”
Jenna: The way the gap got bridged with Team Senneker was in a discussion during a team meeting. We wanted to bring in guest speakers about different areas and aspects of curling to talk to us over video call once COVID stopped a lot of our other plans. It was Maya Willertz who said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if a lot more people could be involved in, and listen to someone talk? Why does it have to stop at just our team?” With a little more discussion, and especially with COVID, a lack of access to resources, and the same desire to learn and play and be a community in curling, we thought it was the perfect time to start something. Naturally, I got really excited, and I said, “Guys, let me tell you about the Celebrity Curler Outreach Project.” Although the original program was designed to bring a celebrity curler into schools, the program could easily be morphed to bring different speakers, with different areas of focus, to already existing curlers. It gives those speakers a platform to share their knowledge and allow curlers to connect and learn together about all these different things that wouldn't have necessarily had access to before.
Alyson: We were kind of all still in the beginning stages of emotionally managing the impact of COVID, and when we hit that summer and things still did not look great, I think it’s fair to say that the folks on Team Senneker and myself are the type to want to make meaning of a world shut down. We were already making terms with the fact that COVID was probably going to have an impact on our next season, and our curling clubs, and continuing the outreach in a different form was a really good use of our little platform after it was idle for a while.
Above: Andrea Wendt gives learn-to-curl participants the basics on delivery before they go out onto the ice during the Celebrity Curler Outreach Program 2018 run.
Q: What is your personal role in the Curler Outreach Program?
Jenna: Andrea, you’re involved now, but you helped us out with the project when we were in school too.
Andrea: That’s true, when we were in Eau Claire, my involvement was more of a supporter, but I stepped in when I could. I ran some materials to elementary schools for you, recorded a couple presentations… but I wasn’t heavily involved. I just wanted to sit back and let you two come up with the ideas, and I was happy to support in whatever way I could.
Alyson: You were the on-call, 9-1-1 for us when the project was running in Eau Claire. And you were definitely a critical presence at the big learn-to-curl the second round. We needed as many bodies as possible, and competent instructors, at that. You kept the people moving during that event.
Andrea: And now, I’m still the on-call, 9-1-1, really. It was in November of 2020, after you guys had several successful webinars and a following, and you called me like, “Help, help, HELP.”
Alyson: “We’re expanding and we need HELP!”
Andrea: Now, most of the time, I answer emails and check registrations, manage the chat during live webinars, organize feedback forms…
Alyson: Somehow, still moving people.
Andrea: Different than the original project, but yeah, basically still moving people.
Alyson: It's nice that all those skills have transferred well for us into this current version of the project. Before, it was kind of a project management/event coordinator role that Jenna and I took in Eau Claire. When we first started with the webinars, we all found a good role for ourselves with support from the rest of the team, as we were all still learning about each other's strengths. My role is now more about content development, and once in a blue moon when I have a good idea, I do some webinar-producing. It's cool to be able to use skills that I built in the curling world, still in the curling world, because my degree is not even close to any of that.
Jenna: As you can probably tell from early on, with the Celebrity Curler Outreach Program and morphing into this, I am definitely a connector. I love connecting people to do good work. Early on, that was the role I took. When we, Team Senneker, had this idea, I thought, “Great, let's merge that with this thing that I’ve already started that has two years of substance behind it." When we first started to get speakers, I tried to use any connections to get speakers. I contacted people who could step in to meet with us about learning how to run this program- that grew I think a lot faster than any of us expected. I created the website early on, which everyone has done a fabulous job maintaining. Once the 2020 season began, I started to realize that the amount of time that the Curler Outreach Program needed, I wasn’t able to contribute any more. It was not easy to balance work and what I wanted to do with curling.
Alyson: It clearly ended up being something for those of us who did not have consistent curling to do, at the end of 2020 and going into 2021. Especially in the beginning, it took every single day, on top of day jobs, regular 9-5’s, classes and internships, family life, what have you, to really build a foundation for a while. It was consistent those first few months, I couldn't imagine doing it AND trying to curl during COVID.
Q: What supports does Curler Outreach have?
Alyson: From our origins, it is fair to say that we still have the support of the curlers in Eau Claire. It's really exciting to reconnect and run into people from Eau Claire and they recognize the name as someone who used to hang around the club, and I get to say, “We run an international webinar series now. Surprise!” I’ve been a member of three clubs across the state of Wisconsin since Curler Outreach has been present in some form, and when I’m able to have a conversation at those clubs about Curler Outreach, it’s always so well-received and intriguing to those club members and I love to be a resource for them if I can. It proves to me that the impact we have had on individual curlers and local, small town clubs has been significant and is still so needed.
Jenna: Quite a few individual clubs in Wisconsin have been very intrigued, so have many professionals who play a double role- such as, they are athletic trainers but also happen to be curlers. Many isolated programs and organizations have expressed their support as well.
Andrea: A lot of clubs out west, many in California, like the resources we put out, since that area is still developing.
Alyson: Arena clubs. We have quite a collection of curlers who like us just across the border in Canada. The USCA has expressed their support, too. And so many individual curlers, some strangers, some previously known. It means a lot to get any feedback from folks.
Above: Filmed and edited by Braden Doucette, before the age of the Curler Outreach Program’s webinars, an introductory video was played before student presentations during the Celebrity Curler Outreach Program (click above image to view).
Q: How does a webinar come together?
Alyson: Well, first we start by vomiting out a million ideas.
Andrea: Brainstorming… forever.
Alyson: And Andrea usually writes the ones with substance down.
Andrea: I usually have to ask questions, like, “Wait, when do we want to do that topic? Do we have any idea on a good day? We don’t yet? OK. I’ll still make a note.”
Alyson: Stephanie Senneker always likes to say, it’s like herding cats. We look at recommended topics and what would work on the most realistic timeline. Webinars with speakers we have had before can usually happen pretty quickly. Panel discussions can take a lot more time, because we have to build contacts first and chat with people that may be appropriate to present. Then, it’s just a matter of getting it out there, and a check-in with the speaker to make sure they are comfortable and ready.
Q: What has been the most rewarding webinar for you to be a part of? What has been your favorite webinar as a curler/from a consumer perspective?
Alyson: To put together, I loved the Adaptive and Inclusive Curling webinar. It hits really close to home. I’m a speech-language pathologist during the day. I work with a lot of different people, including kids, with a lot of different abilities, so talking to Craig, Jonathan, and Yolanda was very, very cool. As a consumer, my favorites are coaching webinars that I can use with my juniors on the ice, and any time Kristen Conrad comes on to chat about social media or marketing. Her stuff is gold for any club.
Andrea: I think my favorite webinars are Dr. Natascha Wesch’s sports psychology ones. Those are just great- I have a psychology background. I think they make a lot of sense for any curler and I think they are under-utilized. From a consumer perspective, I have to say the ice guys- because they’re free. You guys, they are FREE. There’s so much information, Shawn and Q go into so much detail, you can come with any question and they will answer it, and you’ll get the perspective of everyone else on the call… it’s good bang for your buck.
Alyson: And Shawn Olesen is worth spending an hour or two with… his one-liners are excellent.
Andrea: Shawn and Q’s dynamic is worth it. For sure.
Jenna: I would say one of my favorites to be involved in setting up was Dave Jensen’s Analyzing Your Own Delivery. I really enjoyed that because I’ve worked a lot with Dave in the past, and it was very cool to see a lot of what he taught me on the ice, in a sit-down presentation form. I think my favorite from an informative perspective is either Kristen Conrad’s, or Mimi Stevinson when she does her fitness webinars.
Alyson: Yes, those are some of our super strong presenters.
Jenna: I think its super special to have Mimi’s perspective and background in joga and training, and someone who is also a curler. She can apply things directly to our sport. I think it’s hard to find someone like that just anywhere.
Alyson: I agree, I feel that way about Steph Thompson’s webinars too. It's so neat to have that information presented to you from someone who is also, actually a curler.
Andrea: I think they are perspectives that we just don’t see that often, at least broadly. We don’t see people who are hugely successful in something like athletic training, but also a curler, so they can personally attest to using their craft and applying their profession.
Q: What are your future goals for Curler Outreach?
Alyson: Obviously, continuing to spread the resources we collect. Continuing to serve the curling communities and goals that need it the most. Promoting the development of players on ALL levels, from ALL backgrounds. I would love to do something with kids again. Optimistically, I’d like to say that it seems we are turning a corner on COVID, so I would like to project some hope into having a physical presence of some sort for curlers and organizations.
Andrea: I don’t feel like the primary idea-man here, so I like to offer my support as much as I can. I like what you’re saying though, Alyson. I’m receiving what you’re saying, and going, “Yes…yes… Let’s do it!”
Jenna: I think it would be really great for Curler Outreach to eventually have a physical presence.
Q: What makes Curler Outreach unique? What do you want the world to know about the program?
Andrea: We’re a fairly new organization. We’re all women. We’re smaller. There aren't a ton of people behind the scenes. We are very personable because there’s not very many of us. We’re not intimidating. We take initiative, and we started this on our own. I think that is very unique.
Alyson: Yes, if you send us an email and all it says is, “Hey, what’s up?” someone will actually respond to you.
Andrea: We will read it immediately and all laugh about first, but yes, then we’ll respond.
Jenna: I think one of the unique things about this program, on top of what Andrea said, is the level of determination that the people who run it have in order to build this from the ground up in a year and have this amount of success. The whole point from the beginning has always been outreach- and it is still getting outreach. On top of all of that, I think another amazing thing about this program is there's so much information, more than people realize, about curling and the other aspects that people don’t think about, like the social media component for clubs, or the amount of people that actually ask the ice techs questions during webinars. There’s a lot of information to have and to be shared, and I don't think there’s really ever been a platform to be shared before.
Alyson: Yeah, at least I can say I’ve never seen any centralized library for that information to be shared, and that it is truly being done with the intention just to do that, and nothing else. Like what Andrea said, there are real people behind the scenes, not that there are “fake” people behind other scenes, but there are people behind OUR scenes that all have other jobs and duties. Some of us are in school, working full-time 9-5’s, maintaining other businesses, starting other businesses, caring for family members, and then we come together after hours to make stuff happen, because we want to, and we like it.
Jenna: Building off of what Alyson said, another thing that I want people to know about Curler Outreach is that this program is very pure. There’s no alternative motive to this program other than, “Here’s all this information! Do you want to learn more about this? Let us know so we can make it happen!” There’s really nothing else to it.
Alyson: We are accessible. We are personable. We’re down to have a conversation with anyone.
Andrea: Or take recommendations from anyone.
Alyson: Yes, and when we come together on Sundays for live webinars, coming to learn is a part of it, but it is also about coming to participate in a community, that unfortunately we’ve had to establish online rather in-person because of this past year, but just come hang out on Sunday and celebrate curling with us.
Thank you to friends new and old, who made the Curler Outreach Program into what it is today.
Good Curling!
A special thank you to...
Korey Dropkin
Zachary Schilling
Nicole Shultz
Eau Claire Curling Club
Blaine- Four Seasons Curling Club
Rice Lake Curling Club
UW- Eau Claire Event Services
Spencer Eklund
Terri Thompson
Jeff Thompson
Brian Paral
Wayne Wiedenbeck
Juli Sinnett
Jen Severin
Kelly Berry
Justine Brown
More on people and organizations mentioned in the feature:
Alyssa Rupp, Photographer website
Team Anderson Dropkin on Instagram
Eau Claire Curling Club Website
Eau Claire Curling Club on Facebook
Braden Doucette, Videographer Instagram