Broomball may not make it onto most peoples' radar in regards to popular winter sports, but Jenna Rinn, a first-year Fanshawe recreation and leisure student, is seeing first hand the increase in the sports' popularity.

“Broomball's kind of like hockey,” Rinn explained. “It's the same rules really, there's only a little difference with offside's though. We have little rubber ends on our sticks, so it's kind of like ringette, instead of a puck we have a ball that's about the size of a grapefruit.”

But instead of skates, the players wear shoes with special rubber soles, much like the ones used in curling.

“It's still hard to run,” Rinn continued. “You still fall all the time, but that's what makes it fun.”

Broomball wasn't Rinn's first choice when it came to sports, she'd been playing co-ed hockey since childhood, and only picked up broomball a few years ago when they asked that she change to an all-girls team. The idea didn't sound appealing to Rinn, who then moved to broomball at the urging of a cousin, before eventually settling onto an all-girls broomball team.

And from there her broomball career has grown in leaps and bounds, leading to two national titles and hopefully a shot at the international women's team.

“Last year we went to Saskatchewan and won gold for juvenile nationals,” Rinn said. “This year we went back as defending champions and won again in Windsor.

“The worlds are a different story because they're more for fun than anything else, a lot of countries are represented but it really is just for fun. It's much more competitive at the junior national level I think than there.”

But the fact that so many nations are taking part in the competitions can attest to the growing popularity of the sport, and nowhere is that more obvious than in Canada itself.

“Where I come from I think there are more broomball players than there are hockey players,” Rinn continued. “And it's just getting bigger every year, especially with the younger guys. It's different and challenging, and it's really pretty competitive.”

And though she loves the sport, it tends to eat a relatively large chunk of Rinn's time.

“It's pretty hectic for a while,” Rinn explained. “I probably play about four days of broomball a week, maybe five. And I have to drive an hour to get to practice, an hour to get to most of my games and there's a tournament almost every weekend.”


And though broomball isn't the only sport Rinn has played, outside of hockey she also played badminton, tennis, soccer, volleyball and basketball in high school, but it is definitely one she doesn't intend on giving up anytime soon, especially considering her recent national success.

“Winning the nationals two years in a row is pretty amazing,” Rinn laughed. “And I'm going to keep doing this as long as I can.”