Getting More Involved!

Women in Curling Leaders’ Circle aims to raise female involvement in sport

By Dave Komosky

Most Canadian young girls and women don’t participate in sports, and some of those who do drop out early. 

According to the Rally Report, only 18 per cent of Canadian women aged 16-63 participate in sports.

The Women in Curling Leaders’ Circle is doing its part to help change that, along with continuing its core goal of inspiring and creating further opportunities for women in leadership roles in curling. 

The Circle — a group of Canada’s dynamic female sport leaders, coaches and personnel — will be active again at the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary, with three days of workshops, social events and presentations to help find ways to open new avenues for women to get involved in all aspects of curling; as an athlete, a coach, an administrative role, an ice maker, and more. One of the objectives is to have every participant take new ideas and information back to their home environment.

The Circle was created five years ago because there was a Sport Canada initiative for gender equity and leadership in sports for women.

“Even though Curling Canada has been a leader in women’s equality and involvement, we wanted to see if we could do an even better job of creating opportunities for women and making them feel welcomed and valued,” says Elaine Dagg-Jackson, Curling Canada’s women’s high performance program manager. “Our goal is to find ways to recruit, advance and retain women to leadership and support roles as well as to ensure every woman and girl has the opportunity to participate in curling.” 

Part of the group’s activities in Calgary will be a female-led, female-participant Girls Rock program at the Calgary Curling Club on Saturday to create a safe and fun space to learn curling. A total of 68 young girls (more than 110 applications to participate were received), with diverse backgrounds, will take part in the event, held in coordination with Curling Alberta.

Cori Morris, who played lead for the Olympic silver medal-winning Cheryl Bernard’s Calgary team in 2010, will lead the program with many local coaches as well as the Circle members also participating. The students will receive instruction from experienced female coaches and players from all across Canada. 

Getting young people involved in the sport is a major Curling Canada objective, and The Circle sees the Girls Rock program as a natural fit for its activities

“Our group addresses gender equality as it’s related to curling,” says Dagg-Jackson. “Our Circle members look for ways to increase the participation of girls and women in curling, as well as provide professional training and development for the next group of leaders, so Girls Rock addresses a whole bunch of those objectives.

“The Scotties and Kruger are lifetime partners with women in curling. It’s just a natural partnership and a natural place to have a series of events related to girls and women in curling. It’s an inspiring environment.”

Dagg-Jackson says that Curling Canada will provide Member Associations funding to hold its own Girls Rock event once-a-year.

Girls Rock will be followed by a Coaches Rock on Sunday, also at the Calgary Club. It will feature guest coaches, with the focus on professional development, including analytics, practice to perform, strategy and tactics and coaching tools.

“We got a tiny grant and for the first time we’re hosting a Coaches Rock,” says Dagg-Jackson. “It’s a grassroots focus but coaches of any level are welcome to come. Presentations will be around strategy and tactics, coaching tools, practice and analytics, aspects that will be valuable to female coaches.”

This year’s conference will also celebrate and revisit the achievements of the Circle to date and prioritize projects and direction for the next two to five years.

There will also be a Champions Reunion, recognizing the achievements and contributions of former Alberta women’s champions. The inaugural event was held last year in Kamloops, B.C., and was a big success, resulting in the formation of a Curl BC chapter of Women in Curling. It’s hoped by holding an Alberta Champions Reunion that Alberta women will also join in initiatives that promote women and girls in curling.