Mountain Pacific Curling Association

This past year has been difficult yet a new curling season awaits and brings the promise of bonspiels, championships and other curling events. It also brings opportunities to reconnect with friends and make new ones, even if done with social distancing. With this in mind the Lake Tahoe Epic Curling club (LTEC) plans to kick off their Spiel season with the Thin Air II spiel, October 15th to 17th, in the midst of beautiful Lake Tahoe.

The organizers hope to have participants from as many clubs as possible.  All clubs within MoPac are invited to send a team! Time for clubs to represent! Anyone interested in playing can contact Eric Hazard (775) 600-1972 to learn about registration details.

Note: Despite recent wildfires, the town and rink were untouched and the rink will be ready to welcome curlers.

Where will you be on August 24th to the 27th? Maybe at Great Parks Ice & Fivepoints Arena in Irvine, California? Tickets are on sale for the event which promises Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed Doubles events in the four rink facility. For ticket information visit the website and join our friends from the Orange County Curling Club as we proudly welcome a nationally broadcast curling event to Southern California! View schedule here.

Nominations are now open for several key positions within the MoPac Board. This season the positions up for election are Vice-Chair, Secretary, and two At-Large Representatives. Descriptions of the positions are found in the MoPac Bylaws. MoPac Assembly Representatives will be voting on the MoPac Board positions in May. Nominees do not need to be current Representatives. Nominations can be submitted on behalf of a third person or by the nominee themselves. To submit a nomination, please send an email with the person’s name, email or phone number and home club information to: nominations@mopacca.org. Nominations will remain open until May 23.

No we are not back to curling. However, you may have noticed our website was off line for a time this past week as we did some fine tuning and got a little carried away! We are sorry for any inconvenience.

The MoPac region is putting forth a call for any curlers from clubs located within the MoPac region who wish to be considered as a candidate for the consolidated position of USA Curling Director for the West Coast. This position takes the place of the former USA Curling Director from the MoPac region. In the past the MoPac region had elected a member from within the MoPac region to serve as a Director on the USA Curling Board. Last year USA Curling changed its bylaws to merge that Director position into a larger area representative which would also include the Washington and Alaska’s regions beginning in June 2021. The candidate will not necessarily become the USA Curling Director but may be put forward as the region’s candidate. Interested inquiries may be directed to secretary@mopacca.org no later than December 8, 2020.

This year our world has dealt with a crisis not seen in 100 years. Our routines have been substantially altered as a result and many events have been suspended or canceled.  As you have seen, Covid-19 continues to take a toll, creating hotspots and requiring renewed shutdowns and uncertain reopenings. While news of a vaccine is promising, the reality is that risks exist and balancing the opportunity for the MoPac region to submit teams to national competitions must be weighed against concerns for the safety of every MoPac curler and their family. With these concerns in mind, the MoPac Board of Directors have made the never-before decision to cancel playdowns for the 2020-2021 season.  Further, the Board also made the difficult decision to not submit MoPac teams to attend the U18 Nationals Championships, the Club National Championships and the Mixed National Championships for the 2020-2021 season.  The Board expects to resume playdowns and submit teams in the 2021-2022 season. 

This year the USCA Members Assembly Meeting is being publicly streamed on the USCA YouTube channel on Saturday, November 14 at Noon (EST)/9:00am (PST). In past years, this annual meeting has been held in-person and typically includes presentations to the USCA Board of Directors’ on a variety of issues as well as votes by the full Board on numerous proposals. This year the USCA will take up consideration of approving permanent club status for a number of new clubs across the country. Also on the agenda is a revision to the USCA bylaws on the definition of Members, removal of General Committees and inclusion of the Council of Presidents. If any Club in the MoPac region would like more information, please feel free to reach out to the USCA Board Director from the MoPac Region, or contact the MoPac President.

In an attempt to assist the MoPac region’s clubs and curlers during these difficult times, the MoPac Board of Directors and the MoPac Representative Assembly voted to suspend the region’s fees for the 2020-2021 season. The MoPac regional fee is $5 per curler.