Miami Student

Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Community

Dayton and Cincinnati alumni organize broomball clubs that allow Miami University alumni to continue playing after graduation.

Miami University's Intramural Broomball program has been around since the former Goggin Ice Arena was built in 1976, and now alumni that have moved into surrounding areas can take the tradition with them.

In the last year, 2003 graduate Jeff Downs launched the Dayton Broomball Association (DBA) and is ready to expand the league this upcoming summer. He is looking to tap into a base of Miami alumni that have been instilled with the tradition of broomball while at school in Oxford, but who may have moved to the Dayton area after graduation.

"I loved playing broomball at Miami and I wanted to keep doing it," Downs said.

The DBA is expanding in size this summer from two to eight teams. Downs said he is working on signing up students from Wright State University and the University of Dayton, as well as Miami students past and present who are looking for some recreational fun over the summer.

Downs said games will be held Monday evenings at the South Metro Sports Arena in Centerville, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. The summer league is tentatively scheduled to start in late May and run until early August, according to Downs.

"The great thing about broomball is anyone who wants to play just needs to bring themselves," Downs said.

The DBA's Cincinnati counterpart, the Cincinnati Broomball Association (CBA), has been gaining steam since its creation in 1993.

Miami graduate Brian Kaeppner has been president of the CBA for six months and has been assisting Downs with the development of the Dayton program.

"My job is to promote the game of broomball," Kaeppner said. "We don't view (the DBA) as competition, but a great development for the overall sport."

Downs and Kaeppner agreed that the marketing for broomball has been focused on individuals in their 20s and 30s who are looking to have some recreational fun. Kaeppner said most of the people in the CBA are young professionals.

Miami's own club broomball team traveled to Cincinnati this year to participate in the association's competitive league, according to Miami senior and club president Dan Shugarts. The 3-year-old team won the national broomball championship on the collegiate level for USA Broomball in March.

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