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Broomball could be making a comeback in Makkovik, N.L., and residents say they couldn’t be happier.
Before the town’s outdoor rink closed in 1996, broomball — played on ice, but without skates — was one of the area’s most popular sports. That popularity dwindled in the years since.
But earlier in January, ice time at Makkovik Arena was set aside for the game, and residents are hopeful it’s just the beginning.
“We heard people kind of just talking about it. We seen a few Facebook comments and all that, and we were kind of just thinking, like, we have the equipment, like, why not just give it a go?” recreation director Laura Martin told CBC News.
The hope now, Martin said, is to keep busy nights of broomball on the schedule, and get younger kids in the community interested in learning how to play with veterans of the game leading the way.
Barbara Andersen is one of those veterans. She remembers playing on the original outdoor rink when the town had four men’s teams, four women’s teams and youth teams.
“When our rink closed, Postville had an open rink. So I would go in there sometimes in the evening and play a game,” she said of the two-hour round trip by snowmobile just to play the sport.
Andersen said it was fun to be back on the ice with her friends and family, and 18 players showed up for the first game in Makkovik in decades.
Ages ranged from 12 years old to athletes in their 60s. Andersen played with two of her grandchildren, her son-in-law and one of her daughters.
But while Andersen reconnected with the game she once played so often, many of the athletes were playing for the first time.
She said her grandchild asked how she hit the ball so hard.
“I said, ‘I don’t know, you just winds up and gets ready and gives ‘er,’” Andersen said.
The rumble about broomball in the community has been building.
Labrador Morning9:07Broomball returns to the ice
After years off the schedule, broomball is back — and people are lacing up again. Players and organizers share what it was like to see the game return and why it matters to the community.
“Some people were kind of nervous to start because they didn’t know how to play, and myself I’ve only played like twice before in my life, so it’s something new for me as well,” Martin said.
“But then seeing like the older ones, like they know how to play, they know how to shoot the ball, like it shows like the difference, but you can learn from the older ones.”
Broomball teams from Makkovik would regularly travel to Newfoundland for tournaments when the sport was at its peak. One team even travelled to an Atlantic tournament in New Brunswick, and had roster members who played in a national tournament held in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
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