The PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games will take place in March. The games will feature six sports, one of which will be wheelchair curling. Did you know that curling is Canada’s national sport?
Curling involves players sliding stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area that is divided into four rings. There are two teams of four players who take turns sliding the stones toward the “house” which is a circular target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones. The team that gets the highest score by sliding their stones closest to the “centre” of the house at the conclusion of each end wins the game.
Magee Rehab defines wheelchair curling as “an adaptation of curling for athletes with a disability affecting their lower limbs or gait. The game is played with the same rocks and ice as regular curling, but the rocks are thrown from a wheelchair and there is no sweeping. The rocks can be thrown by a delivery stick, which is a pole with a bracket that fits over the rock’s handle, or by hand while leaning over the side of the wheelchair.”
Check out the 2014 Road to Sochi video of wheelchair curling!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLJ5oAor6aU