As this year’s Broomball season should be kicking into
high gear in most parts of the country, there have some problems the past few
seasons in some parts of the West. Do
you remember the great Bay area teams from California that haven’t been around
for a while? The Golden Bears and
The Nuggets were always on top and the teams to try to beat. Stockton had the
Blades. What happened to these
teams?
Most coaches know how difficult it can be to keep their
squad together year in, year out. It
is nothing new to avid broomballers.
So what can we as developing areas do to keep Broomball
alive and well as we head into the next Millennium?
While we as intermediate teams have strived to compete
against elite-level teams, [and have paid the humbling price] I believe that we
should no longer be there. We need
to look back at our humble beginnings to recruit teams and players for the
future.
Perhaps house leagues should loosen-up a bit on some of the
rules and requirements that are currently in place for the beginner broomballers.
Here in Reno, our first-time player must have a helmet of his/her own,
shoes and stick. No other equipment
is required, but we all know the risks of continuing to play unprotected.
The first session for a beginner player costs him/her
$10. Did you have to
pay ten bucks the first time you ever played?
In Colorado Springs there are 4-8 organized Bball teams
that have never [in 18 years] played
in house league play. However, they gear up every Spring season for the annual
“Make-A-Wish” fundraiser tournament.
This amazing tournament raises a minimum of
5 thousand bucks and some years has raised as much as 12 thousand for
terminally ill kids and their families.
But the last few years, I’ve noticed how the tourney has changed.
The Men’s competitive division has been dominated recently [until
Guthries took 'em out last year] by a team compromised of WCHA college players
from Colorado College. I wonder if
the Golden Gopher hockey team could handle The Flames or The Tres Crownes?
Anyways, they also used to have a media game where the local fire
department had a team of guys
dressed as the Hansen Brothers [with mops on their heads] would play a group of
local radio and TV personalities. This
was a 15 minute game that was filled with pranks and tricks and was a joy to
watch! It was hilarious! That game
no longer exists.
I think in some cases our house league broomballers are
taking themselves WAY too seriously. What
was fun for me years ago when I started to play Bball was playing without Bball
shoes, without helmets, with taped up straw brooms, sometimes on outdoor rinks
with no lines, sometimes with rules
that were only in place by that particular tourney director, sometimes with very
few rules at all, sometimes on
terrible ice!
Now most of the rules in the book are needed and serve the
players and the leagues very well. By
my point is that we need to make the game as fun and as cheap as possible for
the beginning players and if that means adding or changing a few rules to
“spice-up” rec league play then so be it.
Why not? Bring on the
Minnesota ball! Bring back the
goalie toss! Why not call a Penalty shot for all penalties? Forget offsides!
Why not try it in some co-rec house leagues?
It’s not like any of these teams or players will ever have a chance to
go to Minneapolis and win the Nationals! Just
ask some of the players from Colorado or from USBA who have tried. Can you say
snowball’s chance in hell?
House league directors should have the freedom to do
exciting things to get people involved and to keep them involved.
If that means playing with different, regional rules, we should at least
look into it.
We also need a great level of assistance from the rink
management and ownership. These
people need to understand that their fees need to be very cheap or in some
cases-free. At least one session
for the first-time player to give it a try.
I hate to see guys buying new sticks and shoes and other
equipment and then they can’t
play because the broomball session is at 6am on a Sunday morning or at 9pm on a
work night. Get real !!!
Just look at the growth of other recreational sports, when do they play?
Is every other session on
the weekend always packed? How
about every third Saturday
afternoon at 3pm? Can’t we take
turns?
We need a chance at a decent session every once in a while
even if there are only 14 people playing. Because
sooner or later, all teams [except the Wizards] will go the same way as the
Bears, the Nuggets and the Blades without development recreational leagues.
And with the current rise of women’s hockey in this
country, we’re missing the boat as broomball is the perfect stepping stone for
girls to start their climb into the
competitive world of college hockey. Go Bulldogs! Or are they the Bulldoggettes?
Whatever…
That’s
another area of broomball we need to get going with.
We’ve got quite a bit to get going with, and there’s no time to lose.
Wayne Gretzky says hockey needs to get back to the days of “pond
hockey” to put the fun back into the game.
I think the same is true in broomball. What do you think?
Speak up, get involved. What have you done for broomball in your area,
lately? We’ve got to do more than
what we’ve been doing [in the West] or we’ll lose what we’ve got.
See you at the rinks.
Yours in Broomball,
Lou Laverty,
founder Nevada Broomball League