Help, I Picked Up a Broom Once and Now Curling Is My Whole Personality
A friendly case study in the world’s goofiest, most wholesome addiction
If you’ve ever wandered into a curling club “just to try it,” you already know the truth. Curling is not a hobby you dabble in. Curling is a gateway sport, and the moment you throw your first slightly-wobbly stone, you’re fully cooked. One minute you’re asking what a hog line is, and the next minute you’re pricing out team jackets and debating sweeping techniques like you’ve been on tour for twenty years.
This is an intervention, but in the friendliest, broomstacking-approved sort of way.
Welcome to the club. We have snacks.
Before we get too far, consider rounding out your newly formed lifestyle with some funny curling shirts or curling team gifts from our Threadless store. Your skip will thank you, and your vice will pretend they’re not jealous.
Step One: The First Slide, When Everything Changes
Everyone remembers that first delivery. Knees shaking, balance questionable, the rock somehow weighing both everything and nothing. But something happens in that moment. A little click in your brain. The good kind.
Suddenly you’re hooked on the small wins, the big laughs, and the fact that people cheer for you even when the stone drifts into the free guard zone like a confused toddler.
Curling has a way of taking complete beginners and saying, “Yes, you belong here.” It is curling culture at its finest.
Step Two: The Sweeping High, or Why Your Fitbit Thinks You Joined CrossFit
There is a unique rush that comes from sweeping a rock at full speed. Your heart rate spikes. Your teammates yell encouraging chaos. The stone obeys you, ignores you, or does something entirely surprising. It is sport, science, and social hour rolled into one.
Before long, you’re the person who says things like “we need better communication on the broom” during your work meetings. You start practicing sweeping techniques in the hallway. You casually explore whether your tax return can cover an upgrade to your gear.
This is how it starts.
Step Three: The Social Spiral
The real problem, of course, is the people. Curlers are dangerously friendly. The kind of friendly that pulls you in like a cozy gravity well.
You show up early for broomstacking. You stay late arguing strategy with total strangers. You accidentally become best friends with your sheet neighbors. You start going to bonspiels “just to try one” and suddenly you’re planning your vacation days around them.
Step Four: The Merch Phase
Every addiction has a material component, and curling is no exception. You start with a simple tee. Then a hoodie. Then you see a curling-themed shower curtain, and next thing you know the Amazon driver is worried about you.
We can help. If you need to “just browse” some curling merch, you can absolutely do that at CurlingIsFun.com. No judgment, only delightfully wacky designs and shirts like “Skip Happens” or “I Came to Curl, Not to Think.”
Your team might forgive your misses, but they will not forgive you showing up in a boring shirt.
Step Five: Total Immersion, or the Point of No Return
You might be in deep when:
• You say “good curling” under your breath at the grocery store
• Your group chats are now 80 percent curling memes
• You are weirdly proud of sweeping blisters
• You show non-curlers the line score from your Wednesday league night
• You now have opinions about pebbling technique
At this point, you’re not just a curler. You’re an evangelist. You’re trying to get your coworkers, your neighbors, and the random barista on board. You swear it is “not that hard to learn” and promise them they will be addicted too.
Spoiler: they will.
Why Curling Addiction Is Actually a Good Thing
Curling addiction comes with some powerful side effects.
• Community
• Laughter
• Exercise disguised as fun
• A lifelong excuse to yell “Hurry hard” in public
• A global network of people who will buy you a drink after beating you
And honestly, that is not a bad deal.
Final Thoughts From Your Friendly Curling Pushers
Curling is absolutely addictive, and that is a feature, not a flaw. The more you play, the more fun you have, the more people you meet, and the more you feel like part of something big and goofy and warm.
So lean into it. Keep showing up. Bring friends. Laugh at yourself when you miss a hit. Celebrate when you make a perfect draw. And if you need a little more curling in your life, whether in the form of community or curling merch, we’ve got you covered.
Good curling, and welcome to the club.
Read some of other posts!