Established 1958 USCA region Mountain Pacific Rock colors Red, Yellow, and Blue Date founded 1958 | Club type Arena Sheets of ice Five Headquarters California, United States | |
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Arenas Oakland Ice Center, 18th Street Similar Chicago Curling Club, Pittsburgh Curling Club, The Country Club Profiles | ||
The San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club is a non-profit corporation serving the needs for the play and development of the sport of curling in the San Francisco Bay Area and its surrounding outskirts. Headquartered in San Jose, California, it is the largest curling club in California as well as in the Mountain Pacific Curling Association.
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History
The San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club (SFBACC) was founded March 13, 1958 in Mountain View, California. In the club's early years, it had a dedicated curling facility. Since the early 1990s, the club has curled on arena ice.
The San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club is a registered non-profit corporation in the state of California. The SFBACC is a member of the Mountain Pacific Curling Association and also of the United States Curling Association (USCA)
Current Facilities
As of February 2017, the SFBACC conducts activities at three separate locations under a single club organization, a rare characteristic of North American curling clubs. The three venues are owned by the cities in which they reside and are operated by Sharks Ice, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sharks Sports and Entertainment, the ownership group of the NHL's San Jose Sharks. Markings for curling are permanently installed in the ice at each facility.
San Jose
The SFBACC has been curling in San Jose since 1994 and currently curls at Solar4America Ice at San Jose. Until 2006, the club rented ice for short seasons, sometimes as infrequently as six times per year. After the 2006 Torino Olympics, club membership grew rapidly and the club partnered with Sharks Ice to establish regular league times and to provide curling instruction.
Oakland
The club expanded its geographical reach to include the Oakland Ice Center, located in the city's Uptown district. The club began operating at OIC in the summer of 2009 in the lead-up to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Oakland hosts a large portion of the club's weekly and educational activities. These include introductory "Learn-to-Curl" sessions as well as multi-week lesson series. Oakland currently hosts three year-round leagues.
Fremont
Seasonal curling is played at Solar4America Ice at Fremont in the Warm Springs district of Fremont. This facility plays host to the club's annual tournament, the Golden Gate Bonspiel. As this event takes place during the traditional curling off-season (May through August), it draws curlers from clubs across California, as well as curlers from the rest of North America and Europe. The bonspiel is held each Memorial Day weekend and is the first bonspiel of the California Bonspiel Tour which runs through the summer months.
Events
After the 2010 Winter Olympics, the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club hosted numerous Learn-to-Curl events for hundreds of new curlers. This occurred once again during the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, where Learn-to-Curls were taught to over 1,500 people.
The SFBACC played host to the World Curling Federation Olympic Celebration Tour in October 2013, which brought 2010 Olympic silver medalist Carolyn McRorie to Oakland to participate in multiple clinics.