Disability Criteria
The athletes who use a wheelchair for daily mobility, i.e., those who are non-ambulant or can walk very short distances are eligible to participate in wheelchair curling competitions.
Sheet
For wheelchair events, the sheet used is the same as curling, but the only difference is the wheelchair lines that are placed parallel to and on the opposite sides of the centerline, extending from the hog line to the outermost edge of the nearest circle at each end of the sheet.
Equipment
The main equipment used in Wheelchair Curling is the Delivery Stick and Wheelchair itself.
- The Curlers may not use the delivery stick in any World Curling Federation (“WCF”) competition or qualifying event, except in wheelchair events.
- Players who choose to deliver with a delivery stick must use it throughout the game for delivering the stones.
- The Stone must be delivered straight from the hack to the target zone.
- The Stone must be released from the delivery stick before the Stone has reached the tee line at the delivering end.
- A delivery stick shall not have any other advanced technology other than just acting as an extension of the arm/hand.
- Stones should be delivered from a stationary wheelchair.
- When the stone is delivered between the hack and the outermost edge of the top of the house at the delivering end, the chair must be positioned on the center line.
- When the stone is delivered between the outermost edge of the top of the house and the hog line at the delivering end, the chair must be positioned so that at the start of the delivery the entire width of the stone is within the wheelchair lines.
- During delivery, the feet of the player must not touch the ice surface and the wheels of the chair must be in direct contact with the ice.
- The delivery of the stone is done by hand release or by the use of an approved delivery stick.
- Stones must be clearly released from the hand or stick before the stone reaches the hog line at the delivering end.
- Sweeping is prohibited.
- For World Curling Federation (“WCF”) wheelchair competitions, each team on ice surface must have four players delivering stones and must have both genders for all games.
- All games will have 8 ends.
- Each team shall receive sixty-eight minutes for playing. When a team delays the start of a game, the playing time allotted to each team is reduced by eight minutes for each end which was considered completed.
- When extra ends are required, the clocks will be reset, and each team shall receive 10 minutes of the playing time.
To be eligible to play in the World Wheelchair Curling Championship (“WWCC”) and qualifying events, a player must have significant impairments in lower leg / gait function (e.g. spinal injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, double leg amputation, etc.), so that a wheelchair is used for daily mobility.
Each team is allowed to call one sixty second time-out during each game scheduled for eight ends and one sixty second time-out in each extra end.
Only the team with the stone closest to the tee gets score. The team scores one point for each stone closer to the tee than any of their opponent’s stones.
