The Blue Mooners play Peanut Butter Jelly Time for the DC Broomball North championship. More than 100 people play the game on eight teams across two leagues.
Maybe you’re a Caps fan missing NHL action or are just searching for a sport that requires no experience and involves ice, fun and general ridiculousness. Look no further than broomball, a bizarre cross between ice hockey and field hockey.
Players slide around the ice wearing rubberized shoes with bristles (no skates) and use a stick with a wooden or metal shaft and a rubber broom-shaped head.
Played mainly in the Midwest, upstate New York and Canada, broomball arrived in D.C. four years ago when Ryan Schradin decided to start the DC Broomball League. It began with a Facebook page and a couple of pickup games at local rinks, but the sport has grown into eight teams across two leagues and more than 100 participants playing every season.
“It’s a high-energy, physical sport for people who want something that’s social and competitive, but more intense than kickball,” said Schradin, a public relations and social media expert at Strategic Communications Group in Silver Spring, Md.
In a game of broomball, two teams of six players each try to score the most goals in the opposing team’s goal, which is about 6 feet by 8 feet. They play with rules and tactics similar to hockey, but with a ball instead of a puck.
Wendy Jason, a social worker at Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, plays in both of D.C.’s broomball leagues and serves as a team captain. Although she had to prove herself as a woman in a male-dominated sport, she loves it because of the friendships she’s made while playing.
“Broomball is a strange sport. It’s very masochistic. It’s kind of crazy. I had my nose broken my first season of playing and I’m still coming back,” she said. “But I would really encourage people to come out and give it a try. You just have to be courageous, be willing to fall down and get bumps and bruises.”
Some people join broomball teams because they played in college or grew up playing hockey or lacrosse. But many players have no experience at all, and the friendly, low-ego environment of the D.C. leagues gives new players plenty of time to learn.
“Captains take the time to get newer players up to speed,” Schradin said. “I’ve never seen someone come in and not be able to handle it.”
For those who want to take their broomball seriously, DC Broomball also runs travel teams with government-themed names such as the Legislators and the Regulators.
But their most competitive team is the Nomadic Hordes. The Hordes won their first national championship earlier this year, a big accomplishment for such a young program, Schradin said. He also organizes the annual DC Broomball Invitational, which features teams from around the country competing for the Congressional Cup.
Rep. Bill Cassidy has his blood drawn by Alesha Barbour during a free hepatitis screening in the Rayburn House Office Building hosted by the Congressional Viral Hepatitis Caucus to recognize "National Viral Hepatitis Testing Day."
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