Welcome to Positive Ice

There are more than 200 curling clubs in the United States. Half of them play on rented, hockey, or even outdoor ice… and they’re not satisfied.

In these clubs, members are often asking, “How do we get dedicated ice?” You might chat up your neighboring dedicated clubs, reach out to your regional and national association.

Time and time again, clubs are asking the same questions and asking them independently of each other. The loose social network of facility builders are tasked again and again with providing what is essentially an oral history of How We Built This to newly ambitious clubs pursuing dedicated ice.

So What, Then?

In my years exploring dedicated ice for the Brooklyn Curling Center, I desperately wished for a resource that would shorten the distance from “We should build a facility” to “We’re building a facility.” 

Construction, community organization, and fundraising are at the core of building dedicated ice, and each is a deep and complex area to dive into from scratch. They are also often pursued out of order. Before you begin selecting a chiller vendor, you have to have the funds. Before you have the funds, you have to have a strong curling community.

While we can’t build a playbook that fits every club’s unique circumstances, we can build a toolkit to help clubs kickstart the process. Perhaps more importantly, we can build a community of community builders to help improve curling top to bottom.

A Positive Direction

So often on our outdoor, hockey rink ice in Brooklyn, we’re throwing the wrong handle, our skips practically standing in the neighboring houses to counteract extreme negative ice on our curling sheets. 

What we want is… Positive Ice. 

Not only does that encompass the idea of a facility with perfect ice, razor sharp houses and lines, and new curling stones, but it also embodies the Spirit of Curling. A curling club or organization should be as lively as the stones, and a welcoming, positive place to spend your precious recreational time. 

This isn't just another Google Drive folder full of architectural PDFs, or the forwarded curling_center_pro_forma_FINAL.xls financial model. Community building is built around identity, a strong sense of place and purpose, and a rich narrative. Together with Don Piche, founder of the Traverse City Curling Club, we're going to build an archive of those success stories.

We hope you stick around

Subscribe to Positive Ice and we'll keep you up-to-date with the latest podcast episodes, new dedicated facility case studies, and regular tips and nudges to build the best curling club that you can. Welcome... to Positive Ice.