Once every four years, our wonderful sport of curling experiences a fantastic growth in new interest thanks to the amount of airtime it gets on during the winter games. It’s a dynamic sport, featuring all the best of what you may be looking for in a new pastime, including great sportsmanship, strategy, athleticism and community.

Growing up, I always watched curling on TV. I caught every Slam, every national competition, and of course watched all of the best in the world compete in the international competitions. I got deep into the strategy, I watched with excitement when my calls matched what the commenters and the skips called. I just absolutely loved everything about the sport.

I never once thought about how easily I could have started to play!

The interesting thing is that I grew up 15 minutes away from two different curling facilities and could have taken up the sport at any time. It wasn’t until I was in my late 20s that my friend Erin (now my business partner!) took me out and I realized how easy it was to get into this fantastic sport.

If you’re here, I want you to know that getting started in curling is simple, you’ll meet a lot of great new people and have a ton of fun.

Let’s start off with the first, most obvious question:

Where can I try curling?

The good news is that there are curling centres all over the world. If you’re looking for a facility in Canada our national organizing body, Curling Canada, has created a fantastic page that lets you find the Canadian curling facility nearest to you! With nearly 1,000 curling centres in Canada, chances are you’ll have a few close by to choose from. Most run regular Try Curling events, which will lead into Learn to Curl courses and then beginner leagues.

USA Curling has a similar tool to find the USA Curling facility nearest to you, and I bet you’ll be surprised by how many places there are to curl in the US! In recent years there has been an explosion of new facilities, with several new launches every season.

Elsewhere in the world, trycurling.com is a great place to find a facility in Scotland, England, or Wales. Curling has expanded to countries all over the world too. If you’re looking to try curling somewhere else internationally, contact your national curling association. These are people who are passionate about curling, and they’ll be thrilled to hear from you and help you find your closest curling facility.

What equipment do I need to try curling?

We’ll give you a complete list of the standard curling equipment, but don’t get too hung up on this if you haven’t even tried it out yet. Most Try Curling events, and even Learn to Curl courses, have equipment that you can borrow. The first time you go out the most important thing is to make sure you’re not wearing jeans, and bring a clean pair of comfortable shoes. You’ll want to wear a pair of pants that has enough flexibility for you do lunges, so you can get down and slide out of the hack when you throw the rock.

List of equipment used in curling:

Once you’ve decided to get started in curling, you’ll want to invest in your own equipment. The two most important pieces of equipment are shoes and brooms, and you’ll want to get these first. We even wrote up guides on how to choose curling shoes and how to choose a curling broom that give more information on these two items. Over time there are a few things that you may pick up along the way:

If you’re ready to get started, Goldline Curling offers a wide range of curling equipment. Our equipment is used by people at all levels of play, whether they’re stepping onto the ice for the first time or competing for gold at the highest level of play. With over 55 years of experience, you can trust that you can compete at the top of you game when you trust in Goldline Curling equipment.