It took a large number of volunteers for Estevan to be able to host the Canadian Broomball Federation (CBF) national juvenile tournament.
The tournament attracted some of Canada’s top young broomball players to Estevan from March 28 to 31. Games were played throughout each day at Affinity Place and the Civic Auditorium.
Shelley Schroeder, who co-chaired the tournament with Denise Saxon, said they likely had 100 volunteers. Denille Schroeder, Raelene Fieber, Gail Chilman, Kristina Chamney and Elisha Fessler were also on the committee, and they had volunteers from the community.
Not only did volunteers help out during the games, but they assisted with the planning, the setup and the take down for the competition.
“I would say 30 of the volunteers were from the other 15 teams (in town for nationals),” said Schroeder. “They were parents who helped out wherever they were needed, with scorekeeping, timekeeping and admissions.”
It would be nearly impossible to tabulate the number of volunteer hours that went into the tournament, she said.
The tournament would have normally run from a Wednesday to a Saturday, but officials and players had to be at a seniors and mixed tournament in Quebec that started right after juvenile nationals, so the tournament in Estevan ran from Tuesday to Friday.
The local committee began working to bring broomball nationals to Estevan in the fall of 2015. Schroeder and Saxon were at the Saskatchewan Broomball Association (SBA) annual general meeting in Saskatoon. SBA president Don Black asked if anyone was interested in hosting nationals, since it was the west’s turn to host.
Estevan offered to host and submitted a bid. The SBA and the CBF gave it the green light, and the tournament was awarded to Estevan.
“It was a year-and-a-half in the making before we actually brought it to fruition,” said Schroeder.
The tournament was also an opportunity to promote the sport in Estevan. Local schools students attended the games, and Schroeder said the kids were excited to watch the games.
Currently Estevan only has a juvenile men’s team and a senior women’s squad. They would like to see midget boys and girls teams resurrected, and a juvenile women’s team.
“Broomball is one of the few sports where the registration is so minimal,” said Schroeder. “You don’t get to play a lot of games before Christmas, but after Christmas, you could be gone to a tournament every weekend if you want.”
Estevan has a number of qualified coaches who are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for teams to start up again.
Ten of the 16 teams at nationals were from Eastern Canada, where broomball is a popular sport. Schroeder said it is easy to see why the eastern teams are so good.
“When you go out east, they’ve got a multitude of teams,” said Schroeder. “Each league probably has 10 teams that they can play against, so they’re constantly playing and getting better and better. It was nice to hear the comments in the stands about the quality of play that was being showcased on both ice surfaces.”
She noted the teams left raving about the beauty of Affinity Place, the hospitality of the people of Estevan and the work of the organizing committee.
