USA Curling Notes for the week of Aug. 24-28

* Scott Baird (Bemidji, Minn.), 2006 Olympic bronze medalist, has been added to the high performance staff assisting the 2010 Olympic men's and women's curling teams headed by John Shuster and Debbie McCormick. Baird, 58, was a teammate of Shuster's in 2005 and 2006 when they were members of the Pete Fenson rink. Baird, a four-time U.S. national champion, will assist the 2010 Olympic teams with strategy and tactics in preparation for and during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

* The 2010 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling, which took place Feb. 21-28 at the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colo., is nominated for a SportsTravel award for best single sports event in the amateur sports division. The winners will be announced at the TEAMS 2009 Conference & Expo held Oct. 13-17 in New Orleans.

* Americans Jerod Roland (Grand Forks, N.D.), John Lilla (Trempealeau, Wis.), Adam Nathan (Minot, N.D.) and Richard Maskel (Green Bay, Wis.) are 3-3 in competition at the New Zealand Winter Games in Naseby, New Zealand. They'll play China's men's 2010 Olympic team in a tiebreaker game to try to advance to the playoffs of the competition.

* 2010 U.S. Olympic Team for Curling members John Shuster (Duluth, Minn.) and Debbie McCormick (Rio, Wis.) as well as 2010 Paralympic team member Augusto Perez (East Syracuse, N.Y.) will be in attendance at the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit, Sept. 9-12, at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. If interested in attending the event, contact the USOC's Maureen Weekes at 719-352-7223, maureen.weekes@usoc.org. (Shuster and McCormick have been nominated to 2010 U.S. Olympic team but must still receive formal approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee.)

* Wheelchair curler Augusto Perez (East Syracuse, N.Y.) won his second world championship title in a sport other than curling when he took the gold in the C2 200m sprint at the 2009 International Canoe Federation World Championships in Nova Scotia earlier this month. Perez, a member of the 2010 and 2006 Paralympic team for wheelchair curling, is a three-time survivor of cancer.