VCC skip wins U18 provincial girls' championship
VCC coach Erin Fitzgibbon by the championship final scoreboard. Erin skipped a 453 League team of juniors to second place in the VCC championship last April.
VCC coach Erin Fitzgibbon is heading to Ottawa, Feb. 4-10, representing BC at the Canadian U18 Championships. Erin skipped her team to the BC title at the 2024 Safetek Profire BC U18 Girls Curling Championship over the Christmas break in Victoria, defeating a team skipped by Megan Rempel of Kelowna in the final.
In the round-robin stage, five teams finished with three wins and two losses each. An extra tiebreaker was required to determine the four teams advancing to the playoffs. In the final, Erin's team was up 4-0 after three ends, but was up only 5-4 after six ends before eventually winning 9-4.
“It was pretty tense," Erin said in a Curl BC interview afterwards. "We left a lot of rocks sitting, which made me a little nervous but in the end, I’m really proud of my team for pulling through. The early lead in the game was similar to what we felt during our semi-final. We reminded ourselves to keep our heads down, stay focused and don’t let the lead get ahead of us. I know one of my goals is to represent B.C. and even Canada. I’m really looking forward to the sense of pride and also being on that bigger stage will be so much fun."
Left to right: coach Len Chong, fifth Bryelle Wong, lead Ella Wang, second Ashley Fenton, third Morgan Bowles, skip Erin Fitzgibbon.
A VCC boys' championship team won two games in their first appearance at a provincial championship. Left to right are skip Aydan Wong, third Sean Brennan, second Brody Dhaliwal, lead Aldan Wong and coach Suzanne Malfair.
Grandy team wins cashspiel in Scotland before heading to provincials
Left to right with the Mercure Perth Masters trophy: lead Sarah Loken, second Lindsay Dubue, third Kayla McMillan, skip Clancy Grandy
The Clancy Grandy team from VCC has turned around a mediocre season, compared to last year, with a win at the Mercure Perth Masters cashspiel in Scotland, Jan. 4-7. Heading into the event, the Grandy team had a 23-28 record on the cash circuit this season, dropping from 11th place in the world rankings down to 28th. The win raised their ranking to 25th.
The Grandy team will be at the BC Scotties Championship, Jan. 23-28 in Esquimalt, returning as the defending champions. VCC board member Diane Gushulak will be skipping a team in the BC Scotties as well, after leading the BC team to a third place finish in the Canadian senior women's championship earlier this season.
VCC ice tech skips Brazilian team at World Junior-B event
VCC ice tech and curler, Vitor Melo (left), skipped the Brazilian team to a 2-4 record at the World Junior-B Curling Championships in Lohja, Finland last month. Twenty-two countries took part with the Canadian team, skipped by former Richmond CC junior Johnson Tao, winning the event to qualify for the World Junior Curling Championships back in Lohja, Feb. 17-24.
2024 Barry Naimark Charity Skins Bonspiel coming in March
Registration is open for the 25th annual Barry Naimark Charity Skins Bonspiel.
The Barry Naimark Charity Skins Bonspiel will be supporting Camp Choice BC in raising funds over the next two years. Camp Choice BC’s purpose is to empower youth to create positive change in themselves and their communities by realizing the power of choice, responsibility and their effectiveness as positive leaders. Camp Choice BC gives 40-60 youth the opportunity to be kids for a week in a safe community of caring, loving adults. At-risk youth attend the camp and come from various communities and schools across British Columbia. Camp Choice BC works closely with various organizations and institutions to identify youth who would most benefit from the camp, and support them when they go back into their communities.
If anyone wishes to donate items to the event or volunteer, please contact Kathy McInnes at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
We need your help for the Charity Skins Bonspiel
The annual Barry Naimark Charity Skins Bonspiel is an opportunity for our sport, our club and our members to use the power of sport and our community to contribute to a local charity where we feel we can make a significant impact. To help make the bonspiel a success, the events committee is asking VCC members if they can support the bonspiel and the charity with the donation of a product or service.
Your donation can be anything from a gift certificate or service to branded or unique merchandise. All funds raised through the silent auction at the March bonspiel and raffle of your donations are passed directly on to the Camp Choice BC, this year's charity recipient. If you would like to donate, have questions or require more information, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Registration open for two spring leagues
Last year we tried a spring league at the last minute and were overwhelmed with the response, so this year we're going with two of them and announcing them earlier. One league will run on Monday and Wednesday nights in April, and the other will run on Tuesday and Thursday nights starting Mar. 26. Curlers can enter a full team, partial team or individually, as we will put teams together as needed. Both leagues run for six games. Click the links below for more information and registration.
Monday/Wednesday Spring League
Tuesday/Thursday Spring League
VCC senior men raise funds for the food bank
Left to right: campaign co-chair John Pike, campaign co-chair Joe Strasser and senior men's league president John Mathews
Several years ago, senior curler John Bell (who passed away in 2021), made an appeal to the Vancouver Senior Men’s Curling League members to donate to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank in support of its mission to provide healthy food for those in need. Every year since John made that challenge, the league has continued this tradition of making a personal donation in support of the food bank, culminating at the annual Christmas luncheon. This year, the members of the Vancouver Senior Men’s Curling League very generously donated $14,120. Over the last three years, league members had donated over $34,000 to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Many thanks to campaign co-chairs John Pike and Joe Strasser for all their work co-ordinating and collecting the donations.
Volunteer Help Needed
Are you a Google Ads expert? VCC has a grant for Google Ads and we need help spending it! We are seeking a volunteer with experience in Google Ads online marketing to manage and optimize campaigns focused on driving leads to the VCC website. If you think you can help us, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject line 'Google Ads Volunteer', answering the following questions:
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What is your experience with Google Ads?
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How are you connected with the VCC?
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Are you able to commit to 5-10 hours a month to help us with this project?
CurlFit drop-in classes start Jan. 28
CurlFit is a program specifically created to build strength where curlers need it, and we are back with new classes for 2024.
In CurlFit classes you will build strength, improve your core, steady your stability, calibrate your cardio and improve your game. You will learn to enhance your strength, stability, and overall athleticism on (and off) the ice through the use of resistance bands, weights with strength- and endurance-focused training.
We are holding sixteen CurlFit classes at the club this Spring. Classes are Sunday mornings at 8:30am and Tuesday evenings at 5:30pm. This season we are selling 5-class packs and 8-class packs which you can use on a drop-in basis.
VCC name tags for sale
VCC curlers can now purchase a VCC name tag for $10 including taxes. To get yours, click here.
Sweeping help at the final intermediate clinic
Broom pressure, technique, weight judgment and split times were the focus of intermediate sweeping clinic on Jan. 13 at the Marpole Curling Club. Thanks to clinic leader Chris Summers and all the coaches!
Saying goodbye to 2023 with the Hogmanay Bonspiel
Sixteen teams took part in the annual Hogmanay bonspiel on Saturday, Dec. 30 at the Vancouver Curling Club. It was a festive year-end atmosphere as all the teams each played four games to help ring in 2024. Hogmanay is the Scottish word for the last day of the year. It wasn't quite the last day of 2023, but it was the last bonspiel of the year at our club. Thanks to organizers Ron McKay and James Carpick for making the day filled with extra activities including the traditional iron toss, ugly Christmas sweater contest and a German band to sing Auld Lang Syne.
A piper led teams onto the ice to start the day. You can't get more Scottish than that!
Ugly Christmas sweater team winner, Hog Line Syne. Left to right are Jarrett Morrison, Bryn Weese, Daniel Friesen, Marion Braun.
Robin Wong took first place in the individual ugly Christmas sweater contest.
First place team, Ryan’s Reindeer. Left to right are Vitor Melo, Ryan Thummel, Wade Carpenter, Cher Choi.
The second place team, Whole Hogline, travelled in from Chilliwack for the event.
Old curling irons, actually made of metal, were used in the iron toss contest.
Stone Stealers steal an eight-ender
We had an eight-ender scored in the Tuesday Intermediate League just before Christmas. Congrats to the Stone Stealers: James Martin, Andy Dang, Ross Shen and Cole Wu. Curling Stadium video can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5SNpU1K2Qfo. Start watching from about the 1:23:00 mark.
Book a curling event at Vancouver or Marpole clubs
Some happy customers during a curling rental at VCC.
Remember, both the Vancouver Curling and Marpole Curling Clubs have event rentals that are great for team building, birthdays, field trips and special occasions. A two-hour, one-sheet rental accommodates up to eight people with instructors and equipment provided. Tell your friends and colleagues about this opportnity. Click here for more information and online booking.
