The goal is in sight. Left, right, left, I move my feet along the ice and progress toward the net. I have the ball under control and am surprised by the fact that I have not yet fallen straight on my butt. I am thinking to myself, Boy am I glad that club hockey played right before this game and that the ice is all scratched up and not glossy. My defenders are nowhere near me, and I raise my elbow and arm back to go hit the ball straight into the goal. I slowly turn my stick so that I hit the ball with the part of the stick that will allow me to apply the most amount of force on the ball, and I swing.

A miss. The ball went straight into the goalie’s… wait what? PILLOWS?

This is Broomball people. Possibly the most fun intramural sport I have played in my college career, I finally have been able to experience the sport of Broomball. It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be! It was actually a lot of fun. If the ice had been glossy and “like new”, I think that we would have had issues, but the texture of the ice was just right so that you did not slip around when you were jogging along the ice.

The concept is pretty simple. We get these “brooms” that were more like sticks with plastic triangles on the end. You can have more control of a small heavy ball and hit it with the flat side of the triangle. However, you can get so much more speed out of the ball by hitting it with the “profile” view of the stick. You then use the broom to hit the ball, but the key thing to remember is that you can use your feet to stop and place the ball– you just couldn’t kick it. Then, you and your 5 teammates (plus 1 in goal) try to move the ball into the other team’s goal and score!

PS We won 4-1!