15 Years of Egg Farmers Rocks & Rings™ presented by Curling Canada

Fifteen years ago, the idea of introducing curling to kids in schools rather than waiting for them to come to the ice came to fruition as Rocks & Rings, the acclaimed elementary school program connecting students with the Olympic sport of curling and the Paralympic sport of wheelchair curling.

Over the past 15 years, Rocks & Rings has brought curling to schools across the country, exposing more than 2 million students to the sport right inside their gyms and classrooms. The program started in just 30 schools in the Greater Toronto Area, with the goal of exposing curling to students who might not otherwise have tried it. The program received such an immense amount of interest that Rocks & Rings quickly made its way all across the country, reaching more than 200,000 curling experiences per year in just over four years.

Rocks & Rings has brought many notable curling stars into school gyms and classrooms over the years to help teach kids about the joys of curling, including Emma Miskew, Lisa Weagle, Marc Kennedy, Scott Pfeifer, John Epping, Joanne Courtney, Brad Jacobs, and many more. Kaitlyn Lawes starred in multiple Rocks & Rings TV commercials and Mark Ideson joined in the most recent ad showcasing wheelchair curling, which was introduced to the program offerings in 2022 with the help of Jon Thurston.

In 2016, Rocks & Rings reached 1 million kids and formed a long-standing partnership with Egg Farmers of Ontario, which expanded to include other provincial egg farming associations across the country. This allows the program to reach all major cities across Canada in 2017 and even up north into Nunavut in 2018. 

In 2019, along with the celebration of 10 years, owner and creator of Rocks & Rings Chad McMullan received the prestigious Curling Canada Board of Governors Award for his unique contributions to curling in Canada. 2022 marked the major achievement of reaching more than 2 million kids and in 2023, more than 50,000 students registered to participate in a Canada-wide virtual Rocks & Rings program to celebrate Curling Day in Canada.

“Our collaboration with Egg Farmers Rocks & Rings has produced so many positives for our sport, and the benefits will be seen for years to come,” said Nolan Thiessen, Chief Executive Officer of Curling Canada. “Chad McMullan and his team have had a profound impact on our sport, introducing our sport to new audiences and we’re excited to see what’s in store in the future.”

“Egg Farmers of Ontario is proud to have been a partner of Rocks & Rings as it has evolved into such an exceptional program for students across the province,” said Scott Helps, EFO Chair. “Not only does this program introduce new generations to a great Canadian sport and pastime, it sets kids up for healthy, well-rounded and positive lifestyle.”

Rocks & Rings programming has evolved immensely over the past 15 years to now include equipment rental options, tournament days, and online education resources to help teachers bring a new and exciting option to teaching class curriculum. 

To celebrate 15 years of curling education in schools, Rocks & Rings hosted a Canada-Wide Trivia Challenge where more than 250 classes registered to join in the trivia fun. Check out Rocks & Rings’ social media pages to check out all the other 15th Anniversary fun and read about all the milestones and highlights from over the years here: https://rocksandrings.com/rocks-and-ring-turns-15/ .