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Playdowns Feedback and Q&A

April 24, 2020

Curl BC reached out to the curling community to ask for feedback on our playdown proposals.

We had 130 people attend a webinar and received hundreds of questions over email and through the Q&A section of the webinar. We also had more than 200 responses to this year’s surveys.

While we were able to answer many questions on the webinar, there were some outstanding questions and comments that were not addressed.

Below you will find 114 questions and comments. There were multiple questions/comments that were repeats so in some cases we have consolidated the questions/comments.

We have organised the feedback by topic.

Please note that the competitions committee is in the middle of the review process and the final documents will not be posted until May 15. We will publish the results on the Curl BC website and on social media.

Questions: bold blackAnswers: navy blue

 

32-team open provincial

Two questions: 1) Why a limitation on teams whatsoever? If you are removing any regional events to pare down finalists, then logic dictates your single event must be open without any limit on entries.  2) If you’re going to have one single event then will it be permanently held in the geographic centre of BC to ensure fair access to curlers in all parts of BC? The 32-team event proposals (Mixed and Mixed Doubles) were determined based on historic numbers since 2012 not being above 32 teams entering playdowns. In our discussions we talked about expanding the field if more than 32 teams registered and that is what we plan to do.  We have to partner with clubs to host events so we hope that a big open provincial will be attractive to clubs. That being said, we cannot dictate exactly where they are hosted so we hope that clubs near airports with the capacity to accommodate 32 or more teams will be excited about hosting this event.
How many teams entered Mixed last season in the province? 23
Mixed shouldn’t be about 1. How willing you are to travel to the event, and 2. How fast you can fill out an online form. The qualifying needs to be done on the ice, in two zones leading to the Provincial Final. Thanks for you feedback.  We have only had more than 32 teams in mixed 3 times since Curl BC formed. The largest number of entries we have ever had is 36 back in 2005. We would be happy if the numbers increased above 32 and would adjust the draw accordingly as long as it worked in the host club venue.

BC Winter Games

In regards to BCWG, why does anything other than age and zone factor into player and team qualification? It’s a multi sport event and we have criteria and agreements that we have to meet with the BC Games Society each Games cycle. 

Club Challenge

Two questions:
1) When scheduling these events will they be planned outside of March so it does not interfere with club playoffs? i.e. Club Challenge this year was smack in the middle of club championships.
2) Why issue a host team berth for clubs hosting the Club Challenge?
1. Thanks for this suggestion, we hope by publicising our dates in May that clubs will have time to schedule their wind-ups. 2. This provides the host club an additional benefit to hosting.
Is there any consideration to change the time frame of the mainland challenge? Prior to the changes last 2 years, this event was highly considered an esteemed event by the recreational and competitive teams at the club level and many clubs considered this a recognition for these types of teams. What are thoughts of this event in the future? It’s a great event. When club champions were only able to go, we received feedback that the event had become exclusive for 1-2 teams from each club. This is a grassroots event intended for all eligible club teams to have an opportunity  to take part. If they are up to a challenge. Our current proposal is to have the 2021 provincials in March. We will look at adjusting this but due to our efforts to reschedule the 2020 event this fall we may have to consider this for the 2021-22 season.
Is the timing for the Club Challenge provincials staying the same or moving to say early October? Our current proposal is to have the 2021 provincials in March. We will look at adjusting this but due to our efforts to reschedule the 2020 event this fall we may have to consider this for the 2021-22 season.
Any chance of changing the club championships so it’s not the same time as another qualifying event or are we running out of weekends. The 2020-21 draft schedule does not have this event conflicting with any other category.
Would you change this back to the end of the season to allow teams to complete internal club championships? We will look at this.
For Club Challenge, can you give the first qualification back to the clubs to decide a champion? This would ensure correct lineups being fielded and moving on to the regional championships. Curl BC is going to continue to open this event up to any men’s or women’s club team that meets Curling Canada’s eligibility requirements. When club champions were only able to go, we recevied feedback that the event had become exclusive for 1-2 teams from each club. This is a grassroots event intended for all eligible club teams to have an opportunity  to take part. If they are up to a challenge.
For Club Challenge can you have the Provincial Championship in October to make the March/April schedule less busy? We will look at this but due to our efforts to reschedule the 2020 event this fall we may have to consider this for the 2021-22 season.

Coin flip

How does a coin flip work? If berths are being prorated and two regions have the same number of entries, a coin is flipped in the Curl BC office (heads or tails) with a witness and the winning region gets the berth.
And when would a coin toss happen? If proration cannot determine how a berth is distributed because two regions have the same number of entries.
The flip of the coin to address if two regions have the same number of entries: that could mean a team in one area not having the equal opportunity.  I’m not sure of a solution but are you open to review of this. We welcome suggestions for a better way to do this to wsutton@curlbc.ca.

Consultation

To what extent were curlers from all regions in the province consulted as these proposals were developed? Some (U21, Men’s, Women’s) formats do not appear to facilitate the development of competitive curling in rural areas. Curlers and coaches from every region were contacted. The staff and the chair of our competitions committee also make a point of approaching athletes at events to get a sense of what they like and don’t like about the event format or the qualification process. We also received survey results along with several emails from those involved. We also took the new step this year of holding a webinar and taking feedback and questions.

Cost

One of the factors, stated in the primary slide is to reduce costs not only to Curl BC but also to the teams. Does this plan potentially increase costs to the teams.  Paying for all the Junior Events and then possibly open playdown. And the the provincial itself. The primary slide talked about reducing costs in some categories. The calculation was based on teams who take part in the new Mixed and Mixed Doubles formats not having to travel to a qualification event.

Covid-19

If the quarantine for Covid-19 breaks into the season, is there a plan in place for what happens in terms of qualification if it lasts until September all the way into early January. If there is a delayed start to the season or another scenario that impacts our qualification processes we are looking at our options and will keep members updated.
I’m worried there will not be sponsorship available to host these events and the tour bonspiel events.  Have you taken that into your considerations with our current time? Yes it’s not part of tonight’s topic but this is an ongoing consideration in all of our decisions.
Have we considered how the potential pending depression could impact competition entries, or the health of our local curling club and grass roots curling this coming season? Are we having discussions about preventive measures or support to help local clubs survive survive coming year(s)? Yes it’s not part of tonight’s topic but this is an ongoing consideration in all of our decisions. As stated in the webinar we will be keeping competitors updated as we know more. Please visit COVID-19 Resources to see updates on the response in BC.

CTRS

This is a comment regarding Men’s/Women’s. I’d rather for next year we don’t go with the extra CTRS berth. Funding for teams next season are going to be a struggle with the current economic climate. Down the road this isn’t a bad idea. Thanks for this feedback. 
Do the number of teams that travel out of province warrant 2 CTRS berths for Men & Women? Disincentive for entries for the 2nd open. Teams can collect CTRS points from WCT events within the province as well. 
For the 2 CTRS points berths, is it if you are only ranked in top 25? 50? Or just the top 2 within BC regardless of where they are ranked. A top 50 ranking on the CTRS is required to either of the CTRS berths. 
Would you consider making it harder to get CTRS berth?  Moving it from being within the top 50 in Canada to being within top 25?  It seems almost too easy now with our tour. Thanks for this idea. 
Would it be more beneficial to have 1 CTRS and 3 tour spots? Promote the tour more. How many teams are you thinking will be playing outside of the BC tour? Thanks for this question. Teams can collect CTRS points from WCT events within the province as well. 

Defending champion at seniors and masters

Have you considered giving the defending champ direct entry into senior and master provincials like it’s done on men’s and women’s provincials? We feel in the Active for Life categories that berths should be kept within the regional proration given that only eight berths are being divided among five regions. 
When you consider having seniors and masters previous year champs automatically part of the following year’s playdown, please also consider that these events are in the Active For Life category unlike the men’s and women’s. It does not make as much sense to have previous year’s teams automatically entered if you are trying to spread the representation around. In some ways, it is preferred to actually earn your way into provincials… but if that is off the table due to the Active for Life category, then please also consider NOT having auto-entry of previous year’s champs. Thanks for your perspective. 

Direct entry

How does direct entry ensure the top teams are attending the provincials? It doesn’t, it ensures regions are represented. In the U18 category it makes it easier for high school teams from some of our more outlying areas to stay together and enter playdowns. In the senior and master categories, our Active for Life categories, it ensures that rural athletes get the same opportunity to compete in a BC championship as athletes in more urban centres. 
If you allow direct entry in seniors and masters should you increase the number of teams to 12 from 8 to ensure all the best team can enter? Over the past four years senior men’s has had between 25 and 32 entries and senior women’s has had between 13 and 17 entries. We do not feel these participation numbers warrant increasing the size of these fields. 
U18 – direct entry. For a competitive event, shouldn’t we have teams subsidized to go elsewhere? Wouldn’t that allow for a better development in a regional event, rather than having teams show up and get smashed by better teams? Many rural teams use avenues other than the BCJCT to prepare. This include leagues within their clubs and bonspiels within their geographic area. At this age and stage of development, we feel the 7 + games these teams get at a BC championship are invaluable to Long Term Athlete Development. 
In regards to U18 since there is no open event if there aren’t any entries in a region what happens to that berth if there isn’t enough teams at others . For example if there are 3 teams In  a region there shouldn’t be 3 berths in my opinion. If there are no entries in a regional event that berth would go to the regional event with the highest number of entries. Based on our proposed  change, as long as a region has 1 entry they will get 1 berth in their region. 

Excel Cup

For the U21 tour spots, will all 3 teams that earn spots through BCJCT be able to go to that excel cup, or is it 1 team? Or 2? Or none? We are working out what next year’s Excel Cup process will look like. Stay tuned.

Guaranteed Games

I am concerned that 3 games would not be enough value for travel and time off work from regular life/work. Two games are guaranteed at a regional or open event. If there are 3 berths available we go with a triple knockout. In terms of a BC Championship event, 3 games is the minimum that is being proposed. Guaranteeing 3 games is similar to most bonspiel formats. Most team will play far more than three. If you are referring to the triple knockout format for the Mixed event, that event has been a triple knockout for a number of years. 

Page playoffs

Brier and Scotties have Page playoff. Why no page at provincials? With a Page Playoff system in an 8-team round robin half of the field makes the playoffs. We have received feedback in the women’s game that this is not ideal. So if we go with an 8-team men’s format, we want to avoid this scenario. Remember that the Canadian Scotties has 16 teams as opposed to 8 participating. The Brier has 16 teams, not 8.
You can avoid the 3-4 Page qualifier by having a 12-team provincial final, two pools of 6 round robin, Championship round robin, and then a Page playoff. Thanks for this suggestion. 

Juniors

U21 – No more than 3 tour berths. Even though in the women’s side it was fairly competitive even for the one spot. Men’s not so much. The proposed format was for three tour berths. There are no plans to give more tour berths than that. 
For U21 why are you not having regional events the same as the U18?  This is inconsistent and, quite frankly, geographical discrimination. This year we had zero entries in the north and Kootenays for U21 men’s and women’s. In past years a team would ask another team to sign up, just so a minimum number requirements for playdowns was met. At this age and stage teams are now forming with players from all over BC. We have lots of great U21 curlers from the north and Kootenay regions, they just play on teams with players from all over BC now. 
I understand that we want some of the best teams in BC at the provincials but I don’t like getting rid of the regional events in the U21. The definition of provincials in most sports is that teams from all around the province are represented at the provincials. This change lends to the possibility of having a lot of teams from one area and few or no teams from quite a few  other regions. A provincial championship at the High Performance level should feature the best teams in BC. Those teams could come from any region of the province but that doesn’t mean that every region of the province will produce a High Performance team every season. 
As a previous junior curler, I have always believed the tour could benefit significantly making teams play in adult events to push themselves to learn. If we are looking to make the best teams we need to look at the junior level. Is there anything in the works to make the high performance junior curlers to play adult events to both significantly increase chances at a national championship as well as decrease the jump from juniors to adult level play. Great comment. We support our High Performance Program teams to compete in WCT event by paying entry fees and giving them access to additional coaching etc. 
For U21  I am in favour of more spots from the tour. The teams competing and supporting these events are the ones you want at the provincials. I would argue to go back to 4 from the tour with 4 at open events. Thanks for your feedback. 
Juniors. If one team wins more than one bcjct event what happens with the berth? The berths are based on points over several events. Last year’s BCJCT rules are already up at www.bccurlingtours.com and the new season’s rules will be up there soon. 
More of a comment about the U21 by sending the 3 top teams from the tour you are ensuring that you get some of the top teams at the provincials. Isn’t there some sort of compromise depending on the region because some regions are competitive. Thanks for your comment. 
Will you ever have a U21 open event in the Kootenays? Yes, it will need to be within proximity to an airport. 
What if a U18 team qualifies for U21s from the junior tour? Would they also qualify automatically for U18s? No. Some curlers curl on a U18 team and a separate U21 team.  
Won’t having three direct births for U21 decrease the entry at open events maybe two is better? It is something to consider. 

Men’s 8-team format

How does making Men’s provincials 8 teams encourage more teams to participate? In my opinion if we encourage curlers that are not perhaps the most elite to strive and compete, great things will happen. Ashley HomeStore Classic would not be happening if we only catered to top teams in the province. Like the Ashley Homestore Curling Classic Curl BC works towards supporting  competitive curlers in BC as well as High Performance curlers. In BC we have approx 26 men’s teams enter regional & open playdowns each season. More than half of those teams are fully engaged on the BCCT. The goal with these changes is getting the BC  Men’s back to being something big that you need to earn the opportunity to compete at. With 8 teams, approximately 1 in 3 teams are going to the provincials. 
Men’s, why have you changed it from your stated post on social media from 3 Open events to 2? The infographic regarding the men’s proposal showed 8 berths with two open events. (The first open event had two berths and the second had one – assuming eligible teams got the other defending championship, CTRS and tour berths). So there has been no change.
Where would the berth go if the defending champ doesnt have three retuning players from the previous year for the men’s and women’s event? In our proposal it would be the second open event. This would also apply if the top CTRS teams are not within the top 50 in Canada. 
In a province that seems to struggle with numbers of entries for men’s events, are you worried about losing some of the teams that previously would have entered/participated to have a chance in a 10, 12 or 16 team provincial? The number of men’s teams participating in curling playdowns has been trending down across Canada since 2004-05. This can’t be explained simply because of the format of the event. 
With 8 teams and 3 qualifiers. Historically with juniors we have seen the team that gets the bye to the final have a day of no curling between last round robin game and finals. Will there be any means to eliminate this day off? If we are trying to prepare our teams most for the Brier and Scotties those teams never have a day off so in my opinion we are preparing for something that would never happen. Also a day off could impact the team that was playing well to make the final and could make an impact on the final result. This day off was because of tiebreaker possibilities and TV contracts. We still may have tiebreaker games so this could be a possibility going forward depending on if television coverage is scheduled. If there is no TV requirement, it can be avoided. 
Do you think the men’s is catering only to elite teams?  Going from 11 qualifying spots to only 3? We are assuming you mean that with the proposal for men’s there are only three spots available through playdowns. We think that most men’s teams that are looking to play in provincials are playing on the tour so they have opportunities to win those berths. If they are not playing on the tour or in other CTRS events then their goal should be to be able to train to win a berth at an open playdown. 
When 60-80% of entries in the Men’s playdowns are from teams from outside the Lower Mainland, why are you cancelling regional events for the Men?  Last year the Lower mainland only had 20% of entries, the island and Okanagan 19% each and the Kootenays 15%.  If your previously stated goals are to gain participation and hopefully growth  in competitive talent, why are you practising geographical discrimination? Most teams are made up of several players from different regions in our analysis. We are looking forward to holding tour events and open qualfying events in all five regions of Curl BC in the future. 
What is the justification for cutting the Men’s teams at provincials in half? Going from 12 to 16 to 8 seems a bit drastic. Is there no middle ground that we can find to help bring the numbers up instead of down? This decision seems like it could hurt numbers of curlers in our province instead of helping it grow. Which would be a goal for us as a province no? Based on past numbers, don’t feel the size of our BC championship impacts the number of teams that participate. There are so many more factors at play in High Performance men’s curling. With an average of 26 teams competing, 8 teams at the provincials is not out of step. We would love to see the numbers increase over the years but it will not be because of our format or the size of our men’s event.
How many different men’s entries did we have in 2018/19? Why are we making drastic changes to the format with one year of low entries? In 2019/20 – 20, in 2018/19 – 31, in 2017/18 – 27, in 2016/17 – 27. Note that these are the unique entries. Some teams will enter the regional and the open based on previous years’ formats. 
Do you think going from  11 qualifiers to 3 spots provincially is not a drastic change and teams would travel across the province for a chance at one spot? This is a major change. We received feedback that teams should have to win more than a game or two against another competitive team to make it to provincials. 
I have long advocated for a 12 team provincial with two pools of 6. It increases the minimum amount of games a team can play (5) for teams still trying to develop on the competitive scene. It would also not add much additional play for the contenders that would have made playoffs under the triple elimination.  Thanks for this suggestion. 
The last 2 years, only 50% of the teams that got auto berths qualified for playoffs. Playdown avenue is still an important way to qualify the good teams that aren’t able to tour as often as others.   Thanks for this feedback. 

Misc

If you are concerned about pre-qualifying half the field for Men’s and Women’s playoffs, why are we choosing to pre-qualify 5 of 8 of our teams for these provincials? I think 50/50 would be more fair and create more reasons to host clubs to host an Open zone for more than 1 spot on the line as well as more teams to be interested in travelling to compete in an event. Thanks for this feedback. 
How do these proposed changes compare to playdown formats in other provinces? Has Curl BC looked at how other provinces do their playdowns and how our numbers and formats compare? Yes we review the formats from other member associations. 
Don’t reduce prices for regional/provincial entries!! Curling is already too cheap! Provide more funding to host clubs!! Make it appealing and financially beneficial to host clubs. A bidding scenario would be awesome! Thanks for your suggestion. We do have a bid process already in place for BC Championship events. Please review the events and results section of our website and click on Host a Curl BC event for more information. 
I just hope that we do not use the LSD record to eliminate teams, this is a very singular and one dimensional aspect of the game (true very important) but games are rarely won because of just one type of open shot, but everything that leads up to it in 8 or 10 ends. Thanks for this feedback. 

Mixed

If Mixed is considered more of a ‘participation’ style of event why are changes being proposed to better suit high performance athletes? Mixed leads to a world championship each season. Think of it as a hybrid event that involves a variety of Curl BC members competing. 
For a Mixed 32 team open provincial, how many days is this planned to be played over? For curlers working and juggling multiple events this seems like it is taking up more time than a playdown weekend and an 8 team TKO. Five days. This is one more day than mixed and mixed doubles is in their current formats (2019-20 season). 
Is there a proposed rotation for how the mixed playdowns will move around the province? Host clubs can bid for this event. We will be looking for a club within reasonably proximity to an airport. 
In Mixed, number of playdowns teams, in recent years, has been good. Better than other categories. Why are you changing the Mixed qualification format? The proposed format is more attractive to host clubs and more accessible for athletes who play in multiple categories. 
From a competition point of view. For the mixed. You said your intention is to get high performance players to do well at nationals etc. Are you worried abut taking away a weekend that is kind of like a warm-up weekend before provincials as opposed to just throwing in teams that sign up into a triple KO? No, mixed is not intended to warm up curlers for other competitions. We will hold the mixed open in March after the season is complete for most competitive curlers. 
Do all 32 or all 32+ teams get patches? If this format is approved the deadline to register will be far enough in advance that teams will likely get badges but that has yet to be determined. 
For Mixed is a 32 triple knockout the only style of tournament being considered?  Could a world cup style with small pools with 3 game round robin be considered? Then a 16 single elimination round robin.  If the cap grows this style could be easier to manage.  Yes, this could be an option. We will pass this onto the Curl BC draw team for feedback. 
If the mixed is at a remote club, will Curl BC help with team travel costs?   Regional events would eliminate some of this cost. No, Curl BC does not provide travel subsidies for any category. We now provide prize money to the three top teams at each event. In juniors and U18 we do provide a small subsidy to all 8 teams of $300. We also note that clubs that are remote to some people will be very accessible to others. 
For any Mixed/Mixed Doubles.
Have we considered a round robin model similar to a bonspiel? For example, pools of 5 or 6. Odd numbers of teams could basically be a waitlist, maybe those waitlist teams will help drive teams to participate. Overall, 3 games isn’t enough games to train and invite those recreational players into the event. If you look at the lower mainland doubles, we’ve had 25-35% of teams over the last two years be truly club teams exploring regionals/provincials. How can we best help this new discipline grow?
This format is something to consider. We do want to help this discipline grow so we will continue to engage with the community on ways we can help facilitate this. 
I really like what you guys are choosing to do with the Mixed having it an open event for provincials now. This is a great idea which allows any and all teams interested to enter.  Thanks for the feedback.

Mixed Doubles

Has any consideration been applied to having Mixed Doubles as more of a sports for life side vs competition side? While it does lead to a National and World (and Olympic!) event. It’s not only still new within Canada, it’s still in its infancy within BC. But most importantly the National has around 50% of the teams qualifying via CTRS points vs from a Provincial playdown. As a strong advocate for growth in doubles, I’m very worried that a 3 game Provincial with disqualification from the club challenge. That we will severely set back or slow growth in this new discipline.  Lastly, for future growth of our sport, the fast, fun and active nature of doubles could be critical to our sport and culture. Sounds like a potential new category? I think it need to start with more clubs having leagues and recreational curlers wanting to take part in doubles bonspiels. It would be great to have two 32 team events with people self selecting their event based on their goals.
Why doesn’t the Doubles playoff format reflect the National format? Shouldn’t it be a single elimination playoff after a round robin? Like the National Champ. Good suggestion. We will look at this.
Why is a discipline which qualifies for the Olympics is a first come first serve format? With teams who play on the doubles tour and try to qualify for nationals through points, if they don’t get in through points do they not get to go to provincials because they didn’t sign up fast enough? Seems odd to sign up for doubles then find out you qualify through points then that creates a lopsided draw with 1 team potentially missing. Hopefully Curling Canada will announce who has qualified for the Mixed Doubles nationals well before our provincial in the early part of the competitive season. I would encourage you to enter the Mixed Doubles provincials and withdraw should you qualify through another process. We will ensure we have a refund policy that makes sense for this type of situation.
Doubles can succeed with 2 zones and provincial final. Thanks for this idea.

Open events

For the Men’s, is there any discussion about at least one guaranteed Island-based open event every second year? No, this would be unfair.
Will the two open U21 events be in the same region? No, the goal is to have these events in different regions and accessible by air.
What timeframe and what locations are being considered for the Men’s/Women’s open events? Will this change from previous years given that there will be less playdowns total? They will be held at clubs within proximity to an airport. This could include places like Cranbrook, Prince George, Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver, Abbotsford, Kelowna and Kamloops.
Comment rather than question – re: my previous question about a Men’s Island-based open event every second year, this was to ensure some fairness in terms of travel (for a region that put several very competitive teams in the BCs every year). The tour already puts Island teams at a disadvantage due to the cost of travel, and several years of non-Island based open events would do the same. All regions will have an equal opportunity to host open events. It would be great to see a tour event started on the south and north island so there are more opportunities for all BC curlers to compete.
I truly think if you guys want to make all playdowns better and more appealing to all teams in the province you should consider open entries in all events like you have done in the Mixed. This is something to consider.
Regional representation is dead, I don’t care what XXX XXXX says.  As an Islander who apparently should be all for it, I’m not.  We need to run open events. Thanks for your feedback.

Other Mixed Doubles categories

Is there going to be a Masters or Seniors Mixed Doubles? At the moment we just have the one discipline. Some provincices have U18 and U21 Mixed Doubles events. It would be great to see some senior Mixed Doubles bonspiels happening first.

Proration

Is the proration done the same way as it is now, trying to match the eight berths allocated as closely as possible to the entries in each region? Proration will be the same as last season. In Active for Life categories each of the 5 regions will get  1 berth, the other 3 berths will be distributed based on proration.
How does the proration work for the U18s? What is it based upon? Proration works the same for all categories that use proration.

For X entries in 5 regions to determine 8 qualifiers:

Kootenays:         A/X * 8

Okanagan:          B/X * 8

North:                   C/X * 8

Van. Island:        D/X * 8

Lower Mainland: E/X * 8

Where A+B+C+D+E = X and all 5 regions have at least 2 entries. If a Region just has one entry in an Active for Life category, then that team will receive a direct entry and X-1 will be used as the divisor.

Example with 24 entries in 5 regions:

Kootenays: 3/24 * 8 =  1.00 =>  1

Okanagan: 4/24 * 8 =  1.33 =>  1

North: 2/24 * 8 =  0.67 =>  1

Van. Island: 5/24 * 8 =  1.67 =>   2

Low. Mainland: 10/24 * 8 =   3.33 =>  3

So how do you prorate the U18s? Does playing on a U21 team affect that? No. Proration is a formula, the only thing that matters is the math. It is simply calculated based on entries in each specific category. See above.

Regional representation

Why would you discriminate against juniors base on geography? The evidence shows that regional events in this category were not happening on a consistent basis in the north and Kootenay regions. Our proposed system will allow all regions to host junior open events, we feel this is in line with the way U21 teams form.
Is there no concerns with lack of regional representation in these categories, and newer teams in Men’s and Ladie’s that want to take a shot, as this format doesn’t help them very much? We see teams form both regionally and inter-regionally. The feedback we have received over the years in that BC curlers want flexibility in the way they form teams. We do require regional representation in our U16 category (BCWG).
I agree with round robin for Men’s/Women’s but do not agree with cutting the regional berths. This would likely make teams from the lower entry regions to quit curling. This will not be cheaper for northern/Kootenay/island teams. There are a number of competition options in every region of the province for people who, for whatever reason, cannot commit to the travel that is required at the High Performance level in curling.

Regions/Zones

Why are there 11 regions? 11 is an ancient Curl BC number. There is no need to identify 11 regions. Or what am I missing? We have 11 regions that are divided up into 5 inter- regions. At the executive and board level Curl BC is reviewing the BC Games Zones as a future structure. In that structure, if approved, there would be 8 zones but we would group the Lower Mainland zones together. We would also group the two northern zones together.
No need to bring this up now, but I was going to ask for clarification on Senior / Masters Region 5&6. It shows they will be Zone 7&8. So, does that mean they will get 2 spots in the provincials. Zones 7&8 are the equivalent of Curl BC Regions 5&6 and, if the new Zone structure is approved, would be grouped together as a region for our events with regional playdowns. In the example of an 8-team round robin in seniors and masters, there are five regional berths and the next three berths are distributed by proration. This means a region could get two or more entries if warranted.

Seniors

In the senior division if two regions have the same number of entries for playdowns how will the prorated spots be assigned? It is determined by coin toss.
Has there been consideration of open provincial for Seniors and other categories as well as the mixed? Yes, this has been on the table before.

Statistics

How many teams participate in each event? It is hard to know if the changes are appropriate because we don’t know how many curlers register and participate in each playdown. Can statistics on this be provided? The numbers are visible on playdowns.curlbc.ca.

Stick

Why is there not a Men’s Stick category? Our categories are created based on the categories at the National Stick Championships. In the open stick category it is common for the team to be made up of men only.

Team make-up

If there is 1 person from the interior and 1 person from the island and 2 from lower mainland where do they do their playdowns? Lower Mainland. There are currently no plans to change Rule 6. c. i-iv. (See https://www.curlbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Curl-BC-Rules.pdf).
How many players on a team must be living in a region? One.

BC Curling Tours

Will the tour points now be accumulative to determine the top 3? Or still just top 3 finishes? Our BCJCT and BCCT standards and best practices for 2020-21 will be posted on www.bccurlingtours.com soon.
Will every tour spot count towards total tour points to justify the travel to them? Our BCJCT and BCCT standards and best practices for 2020-21 will be posted on www.bccurlingtours.com soon.
Are you going to change the BC tour… meaning start dates and # of events?? Events are run by host clubs, as long as they meet the tour criteria they can be added to the schedule of events for the BCJCT and BCCT.
The current BC Tour structure ignores small cashpiels that do not meet CTRS criteria.  Why is this? why is Curl BC discouraging the development of ANY competitve event in our province.  Why is the BC Tour structure not reflective of the reality in BC?? The only piece of the criteria that events like the established ones in Nelson and Quesnel do not meet is that they allow open teams (with men and women on them) to compete. The WCT does not allow this in order to make it more simple and more fair to award CTRS points. The BCCT is in ongoing contact with these events and we encourage them to make a change to allowing just men’s teams compete against men’s teams and women’s teams to compete against women’s teams so that we can have two more events. The other challenge is the date of these events. We do engage with these events through our BCCT committee.
Is there a plan to grow the BC curling tour? How do we get more entries? The tour was started two seasons ago after our junior tour’s first season. We are always looking to grow these events and are always looking for people to help with ideas.

U15

Question regarding U15, what month is the age cutoff determined? EG. I am 15 until November this year, so am U15 with the start of this season. Athletes need to be 14 years and under as of Dec 31st, 2020.

U18

Instead of 3 berths from the tour, could you make it 2 berths from the tour and one of the berths be the winner from the U18 provincials? Because of age eligibility requirements, players that might be on a U18 and separate U21 team and other factors, we believe this would be complicated.
In the U18  category, why no open event?  Last season I believe there were a lot of teams in the open event even with it being run prior to the regionals. We only had three boys teams and six girls teams take part – and this was before anyone had qualified. It would be great to see a U18 cashspiel start at one of our clubs.
If we are thinking of allowing direct entry into U18 to encourage teams, would you consider it being an open registration provincial? Thanks for this suggestion.
Twenty-five girls teams registered for U18s last year.  Instead of a direct berth for a region that only has one team registered, why not open the provincials up to 10  or 12 teams, and give a region with a higher number of entries a larger number of qualifiers.  The regions with only one berth would be asked to move that team to the closest regional qualifier, which would likely increase that regions number of entries to provincials.  This falls in the Learn to Train mentality with more teams playing and qualifying. We had 17 unique entries for U18 girls in 2019-20. Thanks for these suggestions.
Is there going to be a U18 tour event in the future? We first need club-based U18 events, then a tour could be formed.
Many of our U18 teams and many of those were on the U21 tour and were participating in the high performance program. There were 14 women’s teams on the tour this year, many who were U18. Yes, it is great to see the number of U18 girls teams competing.