Broomball

Broomball

Indoor broomball tournament
Highest governing body	International Federation of Broomball Associations
First played	Modern game: 19th century Canada
Characteristics
Contact	- Yes and no - varies depending on country, league, and location
Team members	2 forwards 2 defencemen 1 centre 1 goalie
Type	Male, female, and mixed divisions Team sport Winter sport
Equipment	Large ball or broomball ball Broomstick or broomball stick Boots, shoes, or broomball shoes Protective gear (sometimes)
Venue	Standard Canadian ice hockey rink with broomball markings
Presence
Olympic	No
Paralympic	No
World Games	No

Broomball is a both a recreational and organized competitive winter team sport played on ice or snow and is played either indoors or outdoors, depending on climate and location.^[1] It is a ball sport and is most popularly played in Canada and the United States.

Unlike most winter team sports played on ice, organized broomball does not use ice skates. Player footwear for formal play consists of shoes created specifically for broomball which are designed to improve a player's traction on the ice. Though the sport can be played outdoors on snow, organized broomball in the 21st century is primarily played on an ice hockey rink.

Players hit a ball around the ice or snow with a stick. Regardless of whether the broomball stick used by players is a literal broom^[2] or a conventional broomball stick with a molded paddle-shaped end, the stick is simply called a "broom." The broom may have a wooden or aluminum shaft and has a rubber-molded triangular head similar in shape to that of a regular broom (or, originally, an actual corn broom with the bristles either cut off or covered with tape or another restricting material).^[2] Players wear special rubber-soled shoes instead of skates, and the ice is prepared in such a way that it is smooth and dry to improve traction. The ball can differ whether the game is played indoors or outdoors. The indoor ball is smooth while the outdoor ball has ridges and resembles a small soccer ball.

In a game of broomball there are two teams, each consisting of six players: a goaltender and five others. The object of the game is to score more goals than the opponent. Goals are scored by hitting the ball into the opponent's net using a traditional broom^[2] or the more conventional paddle-shaped stick designed for the sport. Tactics and plays are similar to those used in sports such as ice hockey, roller hockey and floorball. The sport uses its own offside rules in both International Federation of Broomball Associations (IFBA) rules and American broomball rules, but both differ. While ice hockey goal nets are sometimes used, a regulation-sized broomball net is considerably larger by comparison. IFBA sanctioned games use a 5-by-7-foot (1.5 m × 2.1 m) net, while American broomball uses 6-by-8-foot (1.8 m × 2.4 m) nets.

The sport involves organized competitions and events run by its international governing body, the IFBA. The national organization in Canada is Broomball Canada while in the United States the two main organizations are All Elite Broomball (AEB) and the United States Broomball Association (USBA). Every two years the IFBA runs the IFBA World Broomball Championships (also known as the Challenge Cup), an international event with teams from around the world. Historically, the championships have been dominated by the North Americans teams.

A similar game called Moscow broomball is played in Russia.