The History of in

Me and my Grandma Love watching and playing curling that’s why I chose curling for my project. Curling is one of the most popular sports in Canada, and Canada is one of the most important curling countries in the world. Today I am going to talk about how curling has spread around the country and talk about how Canada has 2 exciting tournaments and how we dominated the three world curling events.

Curling was started in Scotland but it came to Canada early in 1807, 60 years before Canada was a country. The first club was in Montreal, then it spread all over the country .It continued to grow in size and popularity on the prairies in the time of the great depression and the Second World War. Curling clubs helped people through the long winters on the prairies. Neighbors would come to the curling rink and play social card games. It was a social place for curlers and non-curlers.

Canada has 2 exciting national tournament every year, the Scotties tournament of hearts (for women) and the brier (for men). The idea of the brier is to bring unity to the country by bring the east and the west together to curl. The first ever brier was in 1927. One of the most successful team was from here in . They were the Richardson rink. They won 4 Briers straight and they were brothers. The first ever Scott Tournament of Hearts was in 1982. One of the most successful women’s team was Sandra Schmirler’s team from Regina. The nickname of Sandra was “Schmirler the Curler.”

The Canadian curlers are not just good at home there one of the best in the world. In 1998 at Nagano, Japan curling was for the first time a Olympic event. Sandra Schmirler team from Regina got the first women’s Olympic gold medal in curling. Sadly just 2 years later Schmirler died of cancer at age 36. She also won 3 world championships. Many people thought she was the best curler. People all over Canada mourned after Schmirler died of cancer. The men won their first Olympic gold medal in 2006. I didn’t get to see it because it was 3 years before I was born. The men had been playing the world championship since 1959, and they were dominant through the decades. The very successful Richardson rink won the championship in 1960.

Through all of this we have seen that Curling is one of the most popular sports in Canada, and Canada is one of the most important curling countries in the world.

Justin Chotowetz

Grade 6

2021 Virtual Heritage Fair