Floor curling technology has enabled the sport to spread to venues without ice – such as the Mexican beach resort of Cancun ©WCF

Non-traditional curling nations without ice rinks, such as Brazil, Guyana, Nigeria, Mexico and Kosovo, are benefiting from the development of "floor curling".

This has even been adapted in some cases to "beach curling" which has been played in the Mexican resort of Cancun.

The discipline, which uses special mats and floor curling stones, has been developed by Rock Solid Productions, an official development partner of the World Curling Federation (WCF).

It was created to promote the sport to schoolchildren in Canada and the success of this initiative over the past 10 years has been supported by the production of FloorCurl and Street Curling equipment, which is now being used worldwide.

Partly as a result, nations including Kosovo, Mexico and Nigeria competed for the first time at this year's World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Stavanger.

The World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships saw three nations without ice rinks competing for the first time at this level – Kosovo, Mexico and Nigeria ©WCF
The World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships saw three nations without ice rinks competing for the first time at this level – Kosovo, Mexico and Nigeria ©WCF

"The biggest challenge is that every one of those countries does not currently have an ice rink," said Chad McMullan, owner of Rock Solid Productions.

"Our products and services help in these cases because they help raise awareness of curling, and generate interest from groups that can eventually make real ice a reality, through connections or financial contributions."

This year, the WCF Congress will be held in Mexico – another first – after a bid on which McMullan advised.

"The rewards are seeing the growth and the public coming out of the woodwork to help build this dream," McMullan said.

"Mexico and Brazil are very close to opening their first ever dedicated curling rinks."