Another Banner Year for Rocks & Rings!

The 2022-2023 school year was an exciting one for the Egg Farmers Rocks & Rings presented by Curling Canada program. The year started off with a new TV commercial and custom-branded equipment, then on Curling Day in Canada, we hosted a virtual live celebration with over 50,000 students registered. As part of the ParticipACTION Community Challenge to get students curling, we reached many Indigenous-focused schools, providing them with training, programming, equipment, and resources. In addition, we added new resources to our online education portal and finished off the year with record-breaking numbers. In total, we were able to engage over 43,000 students in the classroom and provide over 230,000 students with in-gym experiences across the country. 

New Rocks & Rings TV Commercial

We had a great time revamping our television commercial, which aired on TSN/RDS during Curling Canada’s Season of Champions Events. For this year’s new advertisement, we wanted to focus on highlighting the fun that is had during Rocks & Rings program visits. We were able to encapsulate the high-energy nature of the gym activities and showcase the additional “In The Classroom” resources we provide for schools. Filming took place in December and the final product debuted during the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Check it out below!

Rocks & Rings Rolls Out New Branded Equipment Across Canada

To kick off the school year, we upgraded our equipment to all-new custom-branded Egg Farmers Rocks & Rings presented by Curling Canada target mats. The new mats bear the branding colours of the program as well as a customized button with the Rocks & Rings logo printed right on it. Combined with new branded program cards and instructor t-shirts, the new equipment package was a hit and ensures our partners’ brands get the recognition they deserve.

Students of Indigenous-Focused School Experience Curling

This past December, students at Kapapamahchakwew – Wandering Spirit School in Toronto experienced plenty of fun with an introduction to the sport of curling as part of a joint initiative between Egg Farmers Rocks & Rings and Curling Canada’s For the Love of Curling program. 

The students first got to experience iceless curling in their school gym through a Rocks & Rings visit, which was followed up by an on-ice field trip to the Royal Canadian Curling Club in Toronto. Instructors included Rocks & Rings staff and curling club volunteers who all donated their time towards this initiative to introduce more Indigenous youth to curling.

The students quickly picked up the fundamentals of the sport both on and off the ice, and some even asked how they could get the chance to play again! Click here to view the segment that TSN aired on Curling Day in Canada.

Thousands of Youth Engaged in Curling at the 2023 Scotties and Brier

A new youth outreach initiative between Egg Farmers Rocks & Rings and Curling Canada saw thousands of youth introduced to curling surrounding the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Brier championships. With the 2023 Scotties being held in Kamloops, Scotties athletes visited local schools to teach Rocks & Rings programs before hitting the ice, while families in London were joined by Brier athletes at a local curling club for a Learn To Curl event. In both regions, several opportunities to try curling for the first time were made available while families were offered complimentary tickets to attend the Scotties or Brier in person. 

Thousands of youth also participated in the For the Love of Curling and Rocks & Rings in-venue games including a fun BINGO curling game card for when they were watching the games. From trivia to curling in the concourse, as well as a variety of other activities, the Scotties and Brier events were able to become family-friendly environments to engage and expose thousands of youth to the world of curling.

Live Virtual Event Reaches Over 50,000 Students Across Canada

In 2021, we piloted a Live Virtual Rocks & Rings Session to keep students learning and engaged in something new. Through these sessions, teachers and students alike could learn more about curling while getting up and out of their seats, engaging with special guest Olympians and Paralympians, and getting a glimpse at our education resources. These sessions were so well received that in 2023 we ran a Canada-wide series of virtual programs to celebrate Curling Day In Canada, reaching over 50,000 students in 401 towns and cities and 881 schools throughout the country. Check out our recap video below!

Rocks & Rings Expanding On Rental Program for Next School Year

After three highly successful seasons of offering our Rental Program for groups that prefer to instruct on their own or those who are not able to have an instructor, we are launching a new 4-day program designed for non-curling teachers to use with ease. 

This specific program was tested in various schools throughout April, May and June and allows educators without any curling experience to teach in their school gym with ease. This expanded offering includes additional resources to our standard fun program cards that provide fun new educational games to a very specific step-by-step plan.

The Rocks & Rings Rental Program includes four sets of stones (32 stones in total), four stick pushers, four target mats, four curling scoreboards, program cards with fun games and activities, equipment delivery and pick-up, and official Rocks & Rings Certificates for all students!

We are so pleased that during the 2022-2023 year, we were able to expose so many students to the sport of curling with our programs and we can’t wait to see what the next year holds! To stay in the know about what’s happening in the world of Rocks & Rings, give us a follow on social media. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. 

To learn more about Egg Farmers Rocks & Rings presented by Curling Canada programs, click here. To learn more about purchasing your own FloorCurl equipment (the official iceless curling equipment of Rocks & Rings), click here. As always, a huge thanks to our generous sponsors & partners for the major part they play in making all this possible.