Broomball By Jonathan The-Daring McMahon

Broomball sticks are the most mysterious complex structures of the entire broomball ecosystem. They shall be mysterious no more!

If one stands back, all broomball sticks seek to offer players several attributes: custom weight, optimized surface area, varying strike zone curvature, and of course, epic colors. Most stick lengths are tightly controlled, and so they are generally fairly uniform.

Image courtesy: MilletBroomball

 

 Broomball players know the value of investing in a decent broomball stick.

Curvature: The curvature of a broomball stick’s strike zone can make an enormous difference in easing the handling of a ball.  Curving a “blade” results in the production of a cradle like mechanism. This subtle cradles system gently pushes the ball directly forward instead of side to side. The cradle, though not steeply obvious, is parabolic. The lower part of a broomball stick’s strike zone is very much similar to a satellite dish (a well known 3D parabolic structure).

Image courtesy: GroundControl

 

The tip of the protruding arm is known as a focus, the point where all particles colliding anywhere with the parabola are directed. Satelite receivers exploit this to redirect a large random group of signals to a single point. This is the secret to the physics of control from strike zone curvature.

Image courtesy: Norwalk City

In the above image, we’ve shrunk the broomball to the size of a point particle (the arbitrary trajectory of the ball is show by the colored lines) and we’ve also increased the curvature of the strike zone. Changing the curvature doesn’t affect the physics of this whole operation, it only moves the focus point further in or out of the parabola. Note that the lines will always intersect with the focus, regardless of where they make contact with the parabola. We have created an extreme representation of the strike zone-ball system, but the underlying physics stays the same. Regardless of where the ball collides with the stick, it will be redirected to the focus point. In reality, because the parabola on a broomball stick isn’t curved very noticeably, the focus point is further out--- but it still exists! A steeper curve means a more dominantly imposing cradle. Realistically, when a broomball player runs down rink with a ball they are moving at the same speed as the ball, so even as the ball moves in a straight line towards the focus point the entire motion is in the same frame, therefore appears canceled out,  so the ball remains easily handleable and stays on the strike zone.