Rob Swan’s love of curling has led him onto quite the journey.

Swan was at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre on Monday night to play a game with some local curlers, which marked the 224th different curling club in Canada that he has played a game at.

“It first started out as a fundraiser for my hometown club in Harvey Station, New Brunswick, but it has evolved to try to raise the awareness of the sport, which it badly needs,” said Swan.

Over the past three years, Swan has been travelling across Canada to curl in different stops along the way. His tour has brought him to Saskatchewan this week and Moose Jaw on Monday night.

The “Curling Across the Nation” tour has seen Swan head to remote curling clubs and ones in major centres.

Rob Swan from "Curling Across the Nation" delivers a shot during his game at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre on Monday night. (Photo: Marc Smith)

The initial plan was to raise funds to help with renovations for the Harvey Curling Club in the small community of Harvey Station, New Brunswick. Swan embarked on the trip during his time off from work and has kept going through three seasons now and he’s planning for a fourth already.

“The facility itself is aging and unfortunately the sport started to slow down, which means the funds weren’t there to fix things, so I tried to think up a way to help out and decided to curl in every facility in New Brunswick, there’s only 31, and then it built from there,” said Swan.

“The membership is up in Harvey Station and we’ve got some new people in place making decisions to keep moving the club forward.”

While it started out as an effort to save his home club, Swan – who started curling when he was about five years old – said it has now evolved into helping rejuvenate the sport he loves in anyway that he can.

“If I can shake some sticks and start to raise the awareness of the sport, that’s all I’m looking for,” said Swan.

“It’s the only sport that encompasses all of Canadian society, here tonight we have the wheelchair league; there’s leagues for the blind, deaf; there’s gay and lesbian leagues across the country; there’s little rocks for young kids; right through to seniors. No other sport allows so many people to compete and that’s why I’m trying to get it higher up the list.”

Swan has played a game in places from the natural ice rink in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan to even hitting the ice with the Dutch wheelchair national team in the Netherlands.

“I go into every curling facility and I get welcomed with open arms, so I feel like I’m making an impact,” stated Swan.

The tour will continue here in Saskatchewan on Wednesday as Swan makes stops in Abbey, Gull Lake, Hazlet and Swift Current.  Click here for more on "Curling Across the Nation".