To be a good sweeper, and to heat up the ice as much as possible when
sweeping, you want to get your body in a position where you have as much
of your body weight as possible on the broom.
“When I’m sweeping, I’m essentially trying to hold a plank at an angle while
using my broom to hold me up,” says Courtney. “If you kicked my broom out
from under me while I’m laid out sweeping, I would fall on my face. While
holding that position, I have to move my broom back and forth and also
move sideways down the sheet of ice.”
In curling Joanne is best known for her sweeping ability and is in the con-
versation as being one of the best female sweepers in the world. Her skill
in sweeping and her fitness level associated with that is the main reason
why she got the call three years ago to join the team that she’s on today.
She admits that she hasn’t always been the best player when it comes to
throwing the rock but her teams have always appreciated the athleticism
that she brings to the game.
To play at an elite level it takes a greater toll on the body compared to the
recreational level. Like any sport, the high repetition of a movement can
lead to injuries. There are a lot of knee injuries and shoulder injuries in curl-
ing. That said you could play competitively for a very long time if you can
avoid serious injuries. There are many thirds and skips in elite curling who
are over fifty. The career span for someone who does a lot of sweeping can
be a bit shorter; the more senior sweepers on tour are in their mid-forties.
“Given the high level of commitment involved, I’m not sure how long I
will play at this level,” says Joanne. “After the Olympics next year, life may
change a bit if my husband and I decide to start a family. I can see my-
self playing for at least one more Olympic cycle, but the commitment level
would change if I have a few little ones to look after.”
The great thing about curling is that it is accessible to a wide variety of
people. You can start around six or seven years old and play for as long
as your body can handle it. Once your knees can’t handle delivering the
stone anymore there’s the option to push the rock with a stick. There’s also
wheelchair curling, deaf curling and blind curling at the national and inter-
national level.It’s taken some time for curling to catch on as being viewed as a sport and
not just a hobby. The common perception is that it’s a game for middle-aged
men who drink a lot of beer and aren’t in the best shape. To be fair, it defi-
nitely used to be that way before curling was introduced at the Olympics.
There used to be ashtrays built into the benches on the ice and a ton of
partying throughout events. If you stop by a recreational league or event,
there might be some pints on the backboards but you won’t see that at the
elite level.“Curlers are still very social and enjoy a good time, but most of us know that
there’s a time and a place for that,” says Joanne.The Olympics have done some amazing things for the sport of curling. Jo-
anne recalls how she used to get made fun of in school when she would
talk about her sport. It wasn’t cool like soccer or hockey. She found after
the Vancouver Olympics however, that people started to appreciate the in-
tricacies of curling. That year the Canadian men and women’s teams did an
incredible job at representing curling.“I often get asked what sport I play because of my huge arms, and there
used to be a lot of surprised expressions when people would find out it’s
curling. There’s still some surprise but I feel like it’s less than before,” she
says.