How curling connects people and builds community: focus of new book

Hurl a rock. Raise a pint. Make a friend.

The camaraderie of curling, and the role it plays in building community, will be examined in a new book by Ontario writer Sean Foley.

• Ling Lee's restaurant makes $25K donation to help curling club buy new ice chiller

"In a way, every club you go into, if it's working right, you're welcome there and you have a home there," says Foley of the research which has taken him to neighbourhoods, towns and cities all across Canada, including the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

He's discovered that the rituals of curling, on and off the ice, helps connect people by breaking down the barriers between them.

"You get on the ice, you compete against another team and you shake hands before and when it's over you shake hands again and then you go into the lounge and if you win you buy the people you beat a drink, and if you're hanging around at the table long enough, then the people you beat buy you a drink and you get a sense of each other's humanity."

Foley, who has just started playing the sport, said it's the time spent sharing stories with people from a diversity of backgrounds and experiences, which also help to build community, especially when people spend so much time commuting in their cars, or interacting only through social media.

"I think what I take away most from playing is that feeling of getting to know someone, who I had seen around but never had a chance to figure out what makes them tick or what moves them."

What moves many people is the chance to contribute to their community and somehow make it a better place, such as the annual Hope Classic bonspiel in Thunder Bay, which has raised several million dollars for breast cancer research.

• Women take to the ice for Hope Classic curling competition

In fact, what made him want to visit northwestern Ontario in the first place was the story of a substantial donation from the owner of Ling Lee's Chinese food to the Port Arthur Curling Club - where the restaurant is located - to help the group buy a vital piece of ice-making equipment.

"There's certainly a general sense of goodwill, like the way you behave on the ice and most of time in the lounge, it fosters ideas of family connection and friendship," said Foley.

"There's that one-on-one sense of who really lives in your community."

CBC Superior Morning is taking a look at the role of curling in Thunder Bay with a special live broadcast, beginning at 6 a.m. on Wednesday March 22, 2017 from the Fort William Curling Club, the site of the U Sports - Curling Canada Canadian University Curling Championships.

Features include:

• meeting the skips of the Thunderwolves Lakehead curling teams
• hearing about the long and colourful history of the Fort William Club
• how championship curlers are being put through their paces
• how curling ice is made

Coffee and refreshments will be available.