For its entire history, the curling broom resembled, well, brooms. Made with natural fibers, they looked like a miniature version of what you might sweep your porch with.
But, over the course of the last couple of years, these have come to be made with artificial fibers, and they have started to look more like Swiffers than regular brooms.
Two Canadian companies were at the forefront of this new curling broom boom—Hardline Curling and BalancePlus. Two years ago, Hardline Curling’s IcePad was at the forefront of this movement, and then BalancePlus came up with a set of brooms that even surpassed capabilities of the IcePad.
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This new style of making brooms has allowed curlers to have an extraordinary amount of control over the stone, making athleticism and skill factor less into the game. The brooms have an almost sandpaper-like effect on the ice, and they craft grooves in the ice, making turns easier than ever before. Opponents of the new make of broom have dubbed the manufactures “Frankenbrooms.”
With this issue at hand, the World Curling Federation (WCF) enlisted the help of Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) to study the actual effects of these brooms on the game. In the interim, the WCF has issued a moratorium on these “Frankenbrooms,” in order to keep the game on a level playing field for the time being.
The NRC recently held three days of intensive testing on stones maneuvered with these brooms as compared to regular brooms at the North Grenville Curling Club in Eastern Ontario. In their trials, the NRC used sensors to measure speed, spin, temperature, acceleration and rotation, and they had laser scanners to create images of the surface of the ice.
After the NRC adequately analyzes the results of these tests, with the help of the WCF they will look to set a new degree of regulations. While these will only be at the professional level, the WCF hopes that the rules trickle down to the local and amateur level of curling.