I see that @Devin_Heroux’s article has a lot of people who didn’t actually read it giving a knee-jerk defensive reaction to it. “Curling is inclusive! Curlers are welcoming!” We like to think it is, however...

Until we can admit that we don’t know what we don’t know, we won’t be more diverse & more inclusive. Have we ever asked someone who doesn’t look like us if they felt truly welcomed? Have we ever done an outreach/marketing event somewhere where we we’re the minority?...

I am very guilty of having to answer no to those two questions. It’s true we welcome anyone who searches us out or finds us with open arms. But in order to call ourselves truly inclusive and truly welcoming, we have to be the ones going somewhere out of our comfort zone...

...to try to grow the sport. My opinion is that right now as a sport we put the burden on others to go out of their comfort zone and meet us on our terms. It’s easy to be inclusive/welcoming when that’s the case. That’s why it’s easy for us to claim we’re amazing community...

...And we are! The vast majority of curlers and curling communities are great! But we can be so much better and we have to be willing to admit that before we can grow in the ways that we need to...

And if you maybe think that we don’t need to grow in those ways and we can keep being insular and have others come out of their comfort zone if they want to take up curling, then in my opinion you are signing the sport’s death warrant.
-RM