Broomball 2013

{GOC Senior Class of 2013}

Broomball.

The annual Winter Quarter GOC event that strikes both fear and excitement in the hearts of all who plan on attending.

Seeing as how we are seniors this year and broomball is a class-versus-class competition... well, you know how that goes.

Things that made me smile yesterday.

+ Making Muddy Buddies/Puppy Chow for broomball with Mickeyla before GOC. Adventures. She's the bestest.

+ Doing childcare with Steph during GOC. Magic cheerios, waltzing, and sleepy baby. Apparently, Taylor Swift works for all ages-- humming her songs helped put and keep baby asleep. There's nothing like hugging your own personal heater and laughing with the bestie about humming WANEGBT to the small sleeping child in your arms.

 

+ The dash back to the apartments with my favorite people after GOC ended. No better way to get your blood flowing than running around and weaving through the massive hoards of people coming out of the Macklemore concert. 

+ The number of layers I wore and the amount of thought that went into preparing for the cold. A tip for girls planning on going to an ice rink for an event? Wear tights under your jeans and they actually keep you pretty warm.

+ Finally having enough hair to make pigtails.

+ Catching a ride with my roomie. It took the thought out of whose car I would ride in and also saved me the ridiculous walk from the apartments to Hedrick Turnaround. Yay, Mabel!

+ Using eyeliner as facepaint. And having Mickeyla work her artsy magic.

+ USC vs seniors as the first game of the night. And we won.

+ The girls in my class. We know how to cheer and play hard. I love them.

+ The guys in my class. There may have been a lot of falling last night, but they kept going and played wonderfully. Valiant.

+ Senior class guys vs girls game played while we waited for the next set of competitors to arrive. Possibly the most fun match played all night since (1) it didn't really matter too much who won or lost, and (2) these are the people we've spent almost four years with and know best. We can be crazy and it's fine. It really was competition at its best.

+ Inside jokes. "They're fine-- I mean, I'm fine!"

+ Carfuls of freshies on the way there and on the way back. D'aww.

+ Knowing that all the cars around you are full of fellow GOCers on the ride back to UCLA. Because it's three in the morning and who else is going to be out and about at that time?

+ The slightly tight feeling of your muscles the next morning telling you that, yes, you did in fact exercise last night.

---

Things that made me wince.

+ The number of decently major injuries over the course of the night. This seemed to be a particularly bad year for falls that necessitated emergency room visits. Freshman & sophomore years, there was one ER visit each time; junior year, no major injuries, though a LOT of giant bruises the next day. This year? *shakes head* Wow. Dangerous.

+ The number of games we played by the end of the night. Combine tiredness with really slippery ice and you probably have the cause of 40% of the big ER-related falls after 1:30am.

+ The fact that a bunch of the seniors decided that you only live once and, therefore, camping out for tickets to the UCLA basketball game after coming back from broomball was a good idea. Y'all are crazy.

---

This may have been my last year broomballing with GOC and, although the jarring impact of bodies on the ice isn't something I'll miss, there've been a lot of great memories. Thankful that I've gotten the chance to go each year and spend time with my classmates and friends. It's been a good run, dears, and I wish you all the best of luck {and safety} as you continue on the tradition of GOC winter broomballing!