Women's curling is sure to receive a lot more exposure this year, thanks to a new international calendar that features nude and scantily clad female curlers.


The calendar is the brainchild of Ana Arce, a photographer who skipped the Andorran women's team for three seasons before moving to Spain this year. All proceeds will be split between the teams of the curlers who pose in the calendar, called the Ana Arce Team Sponsorship Calendar 2006.

Arce contacted only women she knew personally through her years in curling, including two Canadians: Melanie Robillard of Ottawa and Lynsay Ryan of Kelowna, B.C., the daughter of two-time world champion skip and 2006 Olympic hopeful Pat Ryan.

The 12 models represent curling teams from Denmark, Italy, Spain, England, Poland, Germany and Canada. The calendar isn't the first of its kind. The Canadian women's rugby, water polo and cross-country ski teams all have produced similar calendars. On the men's front, there has been beefcake calendars from the men of Australian Rules Football and the Stade Francais rugby team in Paris.