Formative steps underway for creation of curling players' association

A new quadrennial has done little to improve the often perplexing elite curling scene. A sport that still clings to amateur roots despite a growing shift to professional status seems stunted by a lack of unity among the various power brokers.

Many elite domestic and international curlers have had issues for years with scheduling, convoluted ranking point setups, rule changes and in many cases, a general lack of communication.

"There's not a whole lot of working together with this," Canadian skip Matt Dunstone said in a recent interview. "It's a bunch of separate entities running their own thing."

Rylan Hartley is hoping to change that.

One of Hartley's main goals is to give athletes a stronger voice to tackle core concerns. While still in its infancy, he envisions the group working as partners with existing circuits, federations and event organizers.

"Just making sure that everybody gets together and gets on the same page is the primary focus this early on," Hartley told The Canadian Press.

"Once we can develop a better channel for communication in the sport, then I believe that we can move the needle forward on running some of our own events, and start to push forward on a broader, more commercial tour and giving the athletes a more equitable voice within the sport."

Some high-profile curlers are listed with Edin as executive group members. They include Canada's Emma Miskew, Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni and Americans Korey Dropkin and Tabitha Peterson, among others.

A number of elite players have already signed an initial letter of support. The group plans to hold seminars and canvass active competitive curlers around the world over the coming weeks.

"I think this has been a long time coming and I'm just really