Within the last week, preparations for broomball teams have already begun. Captain’s Meetings, team registration, and rink setup have all occurred within the last few weeks. With this early prep phase of the 2022-2023 broomball season, there have been many rule changes that students should be aware of.
First is the conference that teams can be in. This year there are a total of nine conferences. The On-Campus Conferences are East and West Wads Conferences, McNair Conference, and DHH & Apartments Conference. The Off-Campus Conferences are Competitive Off-Campus Conferences Agate and Copper, and the Non-Competitive Off-Campus Conferences Beginner and Advanced, and the Women’s Conference. Players cannot be included in more than one team that is within the same conference. Also, each listed conference is a separate entity. Captains have to be careful, since their teams cannot share more than three players with another team, regardless of conference. Additionally, the Off-Campus and Non-Competitive Conferences were expanded this year to allow more teams to participate.
Another new rule states that players can be on a maximum of three teams during the broomball season. This allows players who want extra broomball time to be a part of three different conferences, and many more games throughout the season. Griffin Abbot, a multiple year member of the Inter-Residence Housing Council (IRHC), says that the increase of teams a player can be on “was related to our increase in the number of leagues in the off-campus and non-compete divisions.” Since there are more teams that would be able to take part in the 2022-2023 broomball season, they needed to increase the number of teams players can be on, to allow more flexibility for students wanting to play. A third-year broomball player Betty Jo Swajanen also said “hopefully if more people enjoy it this year, they’ll want to ref it in the future,” referencing broomball’s history of having low number of referees in the past few years.
Also related to referees, pay for referees has increased to $11.75/hour for starting referees, and $12.00/hour for returning referees.
