Leagues

The club has a number of daytime and evening leagues that cater to a wide range of levels of curling skills and interests. Every weekday has one or more leagues active. There are also leagues active every evening except Saturday.

In general each league is organized into 3 sessions, each with seven games (more or less, the actual numbers can vary). The leagues start in early October and end in Early April. The start dates for each session and number of games played can vary slightly each year. Factors such as holiday dates and the scheduling of bonspiels can cause minor changes to league game dates. Also some leagues may organize their sessions slightly differently to accomodate the actual number of teams playing. The club calendar provides information regarding overall club scheduling and indicates when the club is available for league play. The actual schedule of play is drawn up at the beginning of each session. Links to the current schedules are listed in the left hand column of this page.

Each of the leagues is described briefly below. To avoid repetition, we should first look at a number of ways our leagues can be classified.

Leagues can be classified by gender elegibility. Many of our leagues are open - that is, teams can be made up of either gender - either all female, all male, or any combination of both. Mixed leagues traditionally are combinations of both genders in alternating playing positions. In our club this has been relaxed to the extent that mixed teams simply must have at least one player of each gender. Of course we also have mens' and womens' leagues with the obvious gender elegibility requirements.

Leagues can also be classified by the method by which teams are created.

A "fixed rink" league is one in which the entrants are teams of players who play together for the whole year. In some cases these teams may have played together for many years. Players are expect to play every scheduled game or to arrange for a spare (alternate player) when absent.

In a "draw" league, entrants are individuals. Teams are made up by the league organizers at the beginning of each session and each team plays together only for that session. Players are assigned positions on a team based on their experience and interest. Players are expect to play every scheduled game or to arrange for a spare (alternate player) when absent.

A "walk-in" league is one for which individual players register and then simply show up on those days when they wish to play. Teams are formed from those players that show up on each day. If you don't wish to play on any date, there is no need to find a spare.

The final manner in which leagues could be classified is in terms of player skill level and interest. This kind of classification can be controversial. In any league there will always be a wide range of player skills levels and interests. Our purpose here is not to compare the curling skills of the players in our leagues. It is simply to help new members determine in which leagues they would feel comfortable and enjoy playing. To this end, the following terms have been used

Nov - Novice might have zero to two years experience.
Int - Intermediate might have two to four years experience.
Exp - Experienced might have four or more years experience.

These levels are only a guideline. A players natural ability and interest in perfecting skills can make a great difference in how quickly skills are developed.

Players primary interest can be the competition or in the social aspect of curling. This is a simplification of course, and players can have both interests in varying degress or other interests that attract them to curling.

The following tables provides a bit of information regarding each of the leagues.