The Canadian Deaf Curling Program was launched in 2018 to allow national teams to train for international competitions using industry-leading technology at the Morris Curling Club's Cargill Curling Training Centre.

On Monday, March 20th, the program brought a group of kids and staff from the Manitoba School for The Deaf to the state-of-the-art facility to experience a day of curling.

Shawna Joynt, acting president for the Manitoba Deaf Sports Association, says the event was aimed at drawing hearing-impaired young people to this official Olympic sport.

"We've have students - deaf and hard of hearing - learning how to curl. The youth are here to learn how to play curling. Some of them have never touched the ice and we wanted to give them that opportunity. Maybe that's something they're interested in playing."

The program is based on a four-year agreement between the Canadian Deaf Sports Association, the Manitoba Deaf Sports Association, Manitoba School for the Deaf and the Training Center along with the support of Level 4 NCCP Olympic Coaches Lorne and Chris Hamblin as well as Hy Tech Production Ltd,

"This ground-breaking partnership will allow Deaf and hard of hearing curlers of all ages from the beginner to the elite to fine-tune their skills as they learn a life time sport," noted Hamblin in the original news release.

The program took to the ice in 2019 to allow national teams to train for international competitions using the industry-leading technology at the Training Centre.

"We're hoping that they'll come down and come see our high-performance athletes play their event," added Joynt. "We're looking for youth and we are welcome to try anything to get that going."

Morris will host the 2023 Canadian Deaf Curling Championships from April 20th to 23rd.