What is Broomball ?

During the winter months, two groups can be found playing broomball on Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis on weekends. The team at the south end wears broomball shoes, has official nets, balls and markers and shovels all the snow off its neatly bordered rink. The team at the north end plays on slush or snow and uses no special gear. Its players use a ragged soccer ball, don’t keep score and until recently used firewood chunks to mark off the goals and playing surface. The majority of players on the teams are 25 and older. Yet, they have the kind of fun that is usually the exclusive territory of small children during winter. Broomball is hockey without the skates. It also is similar to soccer in that players may pass or move the ball with their feet. However, you can’t kick the ball into the goal. The game, which is played with a goalie, two defenders and three forwards, is played in two 25-minute halves. The Minneapolis Park Board officially started organizing broomball games in 1961, although records show it had been played for at least 30 years before that. By 1964, there was so much interest in the game that the number of teams exceeded the available facilities and the Park Board had to limit the number of teams. The first state tournament took place in 1966, and women’s leagues were launched the following year. Records show that there were 160 teams around the state by 1970, 60 in the metropolitan area. Jerry Nalepka is coordinator for the Minneapolis Park Board’s 24 broomball leagues that play Sunday through Thursday at six Minneapolis outdoor rinks. "It’s a way to get together and do something outdoors in the winter, " Nalepka said. "Some take it very very seriously." St. Paul Parks and Recreation sponsors men’s, women’s and co-ed broomball leagues Monday through Friday at five outdoor rinks on McMurray Rinks in Como Park. Deb Holtkamp of Oakdale coordinates St. Paul’s 135 teams. One-half to two-thirds of the 50,000 broomball players in the United States live in Minnesota, making this the unofficial capitol of the sport. In fact, the national broomball championships will be held at Bloomington Ice Gardens the first week of April.

Not surprisingly, the sport was developed in Canada in the 1890s, according to Marc Hunter, president of the U.S. Broomball Association (USBA), which is located in Salem, Ore. There are 20,000 players in the metro area alone, Hunter said. The majority of them are in their upper 20s and lower 30s, but players range in age from 14 to a 71-year old goalie, he said. Bill (Buzz) Evans of Inver Grove Heights, who has been playing the sport for 30 years, is supervisor of broomball officials for the USBA and for the Minnesota Sport Federation. "There are pockets of broomball all over the country, but Minnesota is the hotbed and has the elite players," said Evans, who switched from playing to officiating 10 years ago after suffering a knee injury. "St. Paul has probably the largest concentration of female players in the world. There are about 40 women’s teams on Thursday nights alone. "Broomball isn’t really a spectator sport, although it can be if you watch the elite players. We use all three rinks and have checking, no checking and a co-rec [men and women] division.

"I do it because of the camaraderie with the officials and the players. Through broomball I’ve met people from all over the world."

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