From my own experience I think it is safe to say there is little awareness in West Michigan for the sport of broomball. There is a general sense of confusion and misunderstanding at the mention of the name.

Because of an odd twist of fate I played on a broomball team last month at the Broomball National Tournament in Minnesota. I have played so few times that I can barely be labeled an amateur.

In Minnesota, unlike in Michigan, they take broomball very seriously. They and other various states play year-round. Nebraska and Minnesota in particular have schools with official broomball teams that are in it to win it.

Since broomball is unknown in these parts, here are some of the basics.

You should know broomball is played on ice just like hockey. The goal boxes are approximately twice the size of a hockey goal. The game calls for special broomball shoes and a special type of stick unlike a hockey stick. Other than that, many of the rules of hockey apply.

Cornerstone has an unofficial broomball team that competes in a local broomball league in Grand Rapids. The team is led by co-captains Mark Muha and Tom Bos. This team decided to call themselves the Golden Eagles to unofficially represent Cornerstone.

After deciding to go to nationals, the Eagles had a couple of members who were not able to attend.

I got a call. Muha told me the team was short-staffed and needed my help, and I told him I would play in the tournament. It lasted the whole weekend, and we left early Friday morning.

As we were riding in a packed van to the tournament, I was asking about the basic rules of the game. Needless to say, this is not the most ideal time to be learning the basics of any sport.

All the while I was supposed to be in psychology class. I skipped that. I received a mountain of weekend homework. But I overlooked all that.

It worked out well because I am already a longtime expert in procrastination.

The rest of the guys on the nine player team did not want to be left out either. Bos said he skipped three classes that Friday, as well as homework time and time he could have spent with his girlfriend.

“I had to skip a few classes and definitely had to scramble to get some homework done when I got back on Sunday evening, but it was worth it in spite of that,” Muha said.

Joel Thayer, sophomore, should receive an honorable mention for deciding to join the team the night before the tournament began. Andy Fox, senior, was hands down the prize winner for the minute-to-minute award, because I am pretty sure that is exactly how he lives.

Several members on the team found him at his mailbox the morning of the tournament as we were all getting ready to head to Minnesota. They did their best to convince him to come, and he gave us every excuse not to come. About 15 minutes later he walked out of his religion class and gave us a call saying he wanted to come and that is exactly what he did.

When the team arrived at the tournament, I was nerve racked to the core. I have a lot of reason to be nervous unlike Muha and Bos who actually have broomball experience.

Bos said that he has been playing off-and-on since he was 11 years old.

“I grew in Minnesota where broomball and hockey are the sports we play nine months out of the year,” Muha said.

All in all, the tournament was a horrifying blast. I will not get into the specifics of what happened, but I will say we left Minnesota ranked No. 6 in the nation. That is all that really matters.