Olympic Broomball 2004
The family rumble!
Back by popular demand--straight from Minnesota to a sitcom near
you its the 4th
ever AI/CSAIL Olympic Broomball.
Wrap up:
We had a great time and some of the evidence is available at:
this
URL
Vital Info:
Where: Hills Pond in Menotomy Rocks Park in Arlington (On a
frozen lake like it was meant
to be played) Directions and safety
When: January 28, 9am to Noon (including transportation
time)
How: Meet in the lobby at 9am
sharp and drive to the pond. Each team will need someone to round up
drivers and try to get hold of one or two brooms (although we will
provide a number of them).
What on earth is broomball?
Broomball is the poor person's hockey. All you need is a frozen
lake and a broom. The following are the fundamental changes from
hockey:
- Tennis shoes replace ice skates.
- Brooms (yes, you can use the kind you sweep the floor with)
replace hockey sticks (but make sure it has a sturdy WOODEN handle. The metal and
plastic ones will break in about 2.5 milliseconds).
- A volleyball replaces the hockey puck.
- Fun replaces skill.
Equipment
Necessary Equipment
- Helmet. A hockey helmet
would be the best but pretty much anything will do (including a bike
helmet). I'll try to round up some extras but we do feel strongly
that you wear one.
Optional but suggested equipment
- A broom. We will try to provide some brooms. Broomball
brooms have very sturdy shafts and the broom part is made of
rubber. While they are not very useful for sweeping they can
apparently be used to terminate rabid foxes.
You are also encouraged to bring a sturdy broom from home. Don't bring a plastic one since they
break quickly. The old fashioned ones with a dense set of
bristles wrapped in duct-tape can go a long way.
- Warm cloths: It will be
cold out so dress appropriately.
- Gloves. Any winter gloves or hockey gloves should be
fine.
- Shin, knee and elbow pads are all good to have to
cushion
your falls (which are often since ice is often a bit slick).
- Hockey pants are also helpful for protecting your
keister.
- A hearty Canadian or Minnesotan accent (or just saying "aye" and
"you betcha" on a regular basis are a good start)
Forbidden equipment
- Ice skates of any kind. (During the game anyway, there
are nice rinks for skating afterwards though).
- Any shoes with spikes or anything that might dig into
the
ice.
- Broomball shoes. This sounds silly but they are a huge
advantage that not everyone will have so wear tennis shoes or boots
like
the rest of us.
Some Important Rules
- There is absolutely no checking.
- The stick cannot be raised above your waist.
- You can use your hands to control the ball but you cannot hold
onto or throw the ball to a teammate or into the goal.
- You can use your feet to dribble and control the ball, as in
soccer, but you cannot shoot or pass to a teammate with your feet.
- Substitutions can occur at any time (including during the play)
as long as the exiting player leaves the ice before the entering
player.
Olympic Scoring
- We will be playing without referees.
- We will be playing with 6 players and a goalie.
- We will be merging two Olympic teams for each game so that all 4
teams can play at the same time. In the event that there are
enough people for 2 games we will run two at a time since there are
more than 2 rinks.
- The scoring will work as follows:
- 1 point for each player that takes a shot. A shot attempt, is
defined as a ball struck in the vague direction of the goal from within
the offensive zone (i.e. inside the blue line). In other words if you
touch the ball in the offensive end you are almost guaranteed to get a
point. :)
- 3 points for each goal scored.
- The participation score is for your team only. The goal score
is for the two Olympic teams that are playing together.
- Your team's total score for the day is the sum of all of the
above for each game.
- Olympic points will be assigned at random at the whim of the
commisioner. (Don't forget the coffee and donuts. Krispy
Kremes and Boston Cremes are the comish's favorite).
Links
Directions and Safety
The lake was very solidly frozen on Monday (Jan 26, 2004) so we should
be all set. Also Hills Pond is small and shaded for most of the
day so it tends to freeze solidly.
We will be converging at the lab at 9am and then driving together
to
the Pond. The directions are quite simple. Take Mass Ave to
Arlington and take a Left on Jason St. Park on the side streets
across from the park entrance Brantwood and Hillsdale roads.
Map of Jason St At Brantwood Rd
Arlington, MA 02476
Mike Oltmans (moltmans@csail.mit.edu)