#42: Broomball

Intramural sports are a much beloved part of student life at Notre Dame since every student participates in at least one sport or activity at the dorm, co-rec, or club level. Since almost all students were varsity athletes in high school, they are all obsessed with intramurals not only as a way to relive the glory of their pre-college years, but also as a way to satisfy the competitive fire inside them.

While many students continue with sports they played in high school such as football, basketball, tennis, and even cross country, some students fulfill their desire for intramural sports by playing games that are not typically seen as competitive sports. Dodgeball, horseshoes, and innertube water polo are some intramural sports that students participate in; but no intramural sport is as fiercely competitive or as brutally dangerous as Co-Rec Broomball.

For those who are unfamiliar with the tenacity of broomball, it is a sport similar to Hockey except that sticks, pucks, and skates are replaced with brooms, balls, and tennis shoes. Teams of three guys and three girls face off across a half rink of ice and try to stay on their feet and get the ball past the goalie. Broomball is the late night sport of choice for Notre Dame Students, and the leagues are always filled to capacity of men and women looking for good old fashioned fun on ice.

However, unlike most Notre Dame Intramurals the majority of students participate in broomball under the influence of the alcoholic beverage of their choice. The majority of the Co-Rec teams spend several hours before their late night games taking shots, pounding 40s, and chugging bags of wine so that they will not feel the pain when they slip and fall all over the ice or get body checked into the boards. This not only helps the games to become more interesting, but the drunken students moving around also make the games incredibly hilarious.

The largest problem with the Co-Rec broomball games isn’t the drunken students shenaniganning around; it is the fact that there is not enough ice time in the winter months for RecSports to sponsor enough broomball leagues. While every student would love to play broomball, only about 500 students get the opportunity each semester, and while RecSports has the incredibly fair system of “first come first served” to register for leagues, many students that want to participate are just not afforded the opportunity. Luckily, the Athletic Department has intervened, and will soon be breaking ground on a new Ice Arena that will hopefully be open 24 hours a day for Co-Rec Broomball madness.