Women's curling is sure to receive a lot more exposure this year, thanks to a new international calendar that features nude and scantily clad female curlers.
The calendar is the brainchild of Ana Arce, a photographer who skipped the Andorran women's team for three seasons before moving to Spain this year.
“I think it's going to change the image of the sport which is not so nice,” Arce, who also poses in the calendar, told The Canadian Press. “I've been playing for eight years and there are so many beautiful girls playing and nobody knows it.
Arce contacted only women she knew personally through her years in curling, including two Canadians: Melanie Robillard of Ottawa and Lynsay Ryan of Kelowna, B.C., the daughter of two-time world champion skip and 2006 Olympic hopeful Pat Ryan.
Ryan, a 21-year-old student at Hamilton's McMaster University, found herself in July posing in a see-through sarong in the forests of Fussen, Germany.
“I thought she was going to say no because being Canadian I know it's more difficult,” she said. “I think things are different for European girls.
The calendar isn't the first of its kind. The Canadian women's rugby, water polo and cross-country ski teams all have produced similar calendars. On the men's front, there has been beefcake calendars from the men of Australian Rules Football and the Stade Francais rugby team in Paris.
“I couldn't, I'm too shy,” said Jennifer Jones, the defending Scott Tournament of Hearts champion from Winnipeg. “It's very European.
“Somebody came up to our team just last week and said we should do one of those,” she said with a chuckle. “I started laughing and said you three go ahead. I'm not doing it.
It's not the first time the idea of nudity and curling has hit the news. In April 2004, former world champion Colleen Jones lamented the problem of getting publicity for women's curling with plans to split the men's and women's championships into separate events.
“I think the women are going to have to curl naked in order to get people out there,” she said at the time. “I'm not kidding.
“Those words were very prophetic don't you think?,” said the six-time Canadian champion, who noted finding a way to compete in countries where curling is not popular can be a serious challenge.
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A lot of people associate Curling with Seniors and not to exciting....Well after seeing the Polish teams lead Kasia Selwand in that Tree, i either want to move to Poland, or take up being a Arborist very quickly.
Great idea to gain exposure for the sport of Curling and it will help lift the stigma that Curling is a older genre game and that many young people are active in the sport.The headlines caught my "eye" and i had to read what was going on..And thats what they are hoping for so its already working....Way to go girls..
This is cache, read story here
