CULTURE

Photo: flickr\bensonkua

Curling community

Not just a game, curling brings communities together across Canada

Walk through the doors of any curling club in Canada on a winter evening — say, Pugwash, N.S., or Vernon, B.C. — and you’ll likely see the same scene. Curlers of all ages, swaddled in layers of fleece and nylon, stretching and chatting in the club room overlooking the gleaming white ice, waiting for their turn to throw rocks toward painted rings and holler, “Hurry! Hard!”

The beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking stereotype of generations past has been superseded by stylish athletes bearing lightweight carbon-fibre brooms. But one important aspect of curling culture remains unchanged. Curling clubs have always played a significant social role in their communities, says University of Waterloo recreation and leisure studies professor Heather Mair, and they continue to do so today.

Since 2005, Mair has spent about 600 hours visiting curling clubs in every province — 22 clubs in total. “The smaller the community,” she says, “the more important the club.”

Mair’s research shows that clubs also connect families. In Indian Head, Sask., for instance, she watched a grandmother curl in a bonspiel with her son and grandchildren as other relatives cheered them on. “This large group ate together, laughed and shared stories the whole time,” says Mair. “Where else,” said the grandmother, “could I do this with my grandkids?”

Such intergenerational intermingling is common. “In every place I went, I saw groups of young kids, seniors and people of all ages spending time together,” says Mair. “In a small club in Alberta, I watched two young parents curl while a group of senior curlers took loving care of their three-month-old baby.”

Even in towns without dedicated curling clubs, Mair found that the sport itself drew people together. In Glovertown, N.L., she watched a small group of men work through the night to prepare an arena for its weekly curling session. They had limited curling-specific equipment and had to “craft stuff out of nothing,” says Mair, describing how the men made a boot cleaner — a staple at most clubs — by nailing heavy brushes to a board.

All year long, says Mair, curling clubs are hubs for charity and social events and celebrations. When she visited Glenboro, Man., the town’s population doubled on the weekend of its annual bonspiel as people came “home” to join the festivities, from breakfasts to banquets. The sport, it seems, is only part of the story.