“Our House Is Your House”: Everyone belongs in curling

While an event such as the BKT World Women’s Curling Championship 2026 is — quite rightly — a spotlight for the talents and performance of curling’s elite athletes, it also brings together many other aspects of what makes the curling family so special. This includes enthusiastic fans, friendly volunteers, fair-minded officials, and a welcoming host community.

This all combines to make the world of curling a better place, but this diverse environment can always be improved, and how to do that was the focus of a special ‘Our House is Your House’ seminar hosted by the Partners Transforming Curling (PCT) project team.

Research and action for a more inclusive sport

PCT is a collaboration among community sport researchers from several academic institutions and curling stakeholders. The partners include Curling Canada and World Curling.

The PCT team delivering the seminar included Doctor Heather Mair from Waterloo University in Ontario, Dr Simon Barrick from Cape Breton University, and project co-ordinator Laura Leitch.

Speaking about PCT’s work, Heather said, “This work is about diversity, equity and inclusion and building curling spaces that are more welcoming, more accessible and more easily understandable — basically more accessible, easier to understand, and more comfortable.”

Heather has been researching curling for several years, and she has some interesting observations.

“When I was doing my first couple of projects, I would say to people: why did you join? And they’d say, because my dad curled and my mom curled. Now, when I talk to people and ask why they joined, they’d say because someone invited them.”

Heather sees that as an improvement in how welcoming curling clubs have become, “So, there isn’t a problem in welcoming people, but we love this game so much we always need to ask ‘how do we get more people?’”

Dr Simon Barrick leads the seminar © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Voices of change

Heather also explained the format of the seminar. “For the first hour, we’ve brought in three presenters who are doing work in breaking down barriers — passionate changers of our game!”

These three people were Nicky Kaufman, whose particular interest is in helping people of all neurotypes feel they belong on the ice; Neville Headley, who has a spirited commitment to making curling a welcoming place for everyone; and wheelchair-bound Wendy Frazier, a passionate champion of inclusive curling for people with disabilities.

They all took the audience through their experiences, exploring strategies to expand curling’s impact with diverse communities.

L-R Wendy Frazier, Nicky Kaufman & Neville Headley © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

DEI: A permanent commitment

For the second half of the seminar, Heather explained, “We wanted to try to share — to get people who love the game to share with one another things that they see that are working well and things that we can maybe address.”

It will come as no surprise to learn that Dr Heather and Dr Simon are both members of World Curling’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission.

This Commission is tasked with raising awareness of what diversity, equity and inclusion means across the sport of curling and advising how DEI can be embedded into programmes and initiatives in curling.

Their work at the BKT World Women’s Championship is a welcome example of how curling is taking this agenda forward.