Rising numbers of Canadians get swept up in discovering curling | Canada Voices

Jayden King, one of Canada’s up-and-coming elite curlers, didn’t see a lot of people like him competing when he was growing up. But he certainly liked what he saw in the sport.

“Like most people without a family background in curling, I saw it on TV watching the Scotties, Brier and Olympics,” says King, 23, whose father immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago.

Back in 2012, the ice, rings, brooms and sound of ‘hurry hard’ had a young King transfixed. “Our neighbours were curlers and after badgering my mom enough, she finally said I could go with them to try it.”

That was the start of what has been a fun and fruitful journey for King, taking him from his family farm outside of Tillsonburg, Ont. to curl all over Canada and the world. Two years ago, the team he skips almost won the right to represent Ontario at Montana’s Brier.

He represents a new, more diverse face of curling. “We’re not the typical curling squad,” says King, a person of colour. His teammates include vice-skip Dylan Niepage, 23, who was born deaf and uses cochlear implants, second Owen Henry, 20, and lead, Victor Pietrangelo, 22.

Curling is among the most Canadian of sports. About 2.3 million Canadians curl at least once annually. The Scotties Tournament of Hearts for women and Montana’s Brier for men are watched by millions each year.

Despite the popularity, there’s a long-held misperception that curling is an older, white person’s sport, King says. He asserts that curling is for anyone of any age, background and ability. “It’s very inclusive.”

Curling Canada aims to make the pebbled sheets of ice even more inviting, with efforts to attract people who may not see themselves as curlers.

“We want to open curling up, and that involves changing widely held ideas about what it is and who it’s for,” says Brodie Bazinet, senior manager for philanthropy and youth impacts at Curling Canada in Ottawa.

Curling is economically accessible compared to other winter sports, which can involve thousands of dollars in equipment costs alone. What’s more, curling facilities are found in almost every Canadian town, often serving as community hubs. That’s a huge part of the sport’s appeal, along with the way it combines a game of chess-like strategy with team cooperation and communication.

“The backbone of curling is its social facet,” Bazinet says. “People are looking for a connection these days, and curling offers that. We have multi-generational families that curl, and we have new Canadians who never saw themselves on the ice, finding their place in the sport.”

Curling Canada has launched several community campaigns to increase participation, and supports grassroots initiatives led by young, avid curlers. In Ottawa, grade 12 student Rebecca Doherty started a program at Hillcrest High School aimed at getting newcomer students, students with autism and those with developmental delays to try the sport.

“The goal was to have two fun days, and that’s what happened,” she says. Nearly 100 students participated first in ‘floor curling’ in the school’s gym, followed by a real curling event at a rink a few weeks later, which 50 students attended.

“It was really about showing how everyone can curl,” says Doherty, who started curling in elementary school and now does so competitively.

Another Curling Canada initiative called Girls Rock brings together young girls to learn about and maybe even come to love the sport, Ms. Bazinet says. Female-led, it features former and current Olympic curlers providing pointers and talking about how curling has positively affected their lives.

It has for King too. Although he hopes his rink will represent Canada at the Olympics one day, he says his journey has been worthwhile for other reasons.

“There aren’t a lot of people of colour in competitive curling yet,” King says. “So who knows, maybe I inspire someone else.”