Faculty School Students

Faculty-dominated floor hockey team continue education on the floor

By Mary Frances Czarsty, senior writer
Posted on December 6, 2007

The Nooners’ strategy is very simple. They practice.

Twice a week every week, the intramural floor hockey team, largely made up of faculty and staff, meets in the Multi-Activity Gymnasium in UREC for what Wayne Steel calls “just a bunch of people having fun.”

“If the other teams practiced as much as we did, they could beat us,” Steel, an ISAT professor, said. “But they don’t. So we win.”

Their strategy seems to be working. The Nooners earned their eighth intramural championship title Sunday night in Godwin gym against the fraternity Alpha Tau Omega.

The little red ball bounced erratically on the wooden floor for three 10-minute periods, culminating in a 4-1 victory for the Nooners in the most competitive level of intramurals at JMU.

Team captain and ISAT professor Bob Koolvord, who refers to himself as the “ringleader” rather than captain, said the team was founded 12 years ago by athletic coaches who wanted to stay in shape. They picked hockey because it was a sport that none of them had played before.

“Basically, they wanted something that no one was good at,” Kolvoord said.

The Nooners finished this season undefeated, winning seven games with a total of 44 goals and allowing only 8 goals to be scored by their opponents.

John Noftsinger, ISAT professor, said that when the Nooners show up to play an intramural opponent they’ve never played before, students are surprised to see faculty filing through the door.

“They’re smiling, thinking it’s going to be an easy win because we’re old,” he said. “And then they notice we have our own sticks. And then they see us start to warm up, and they start to realize we’re pretty good.”

Noftsinger said that their strength lies in their ability to play as, well, a team.

“They have better, sleeker individual players than we do, but we play together,” Noftsinger said. “We know our places and how to cover each other.”

The players’ reasons for joining are as varied as their areas of expertise.

“I kept watching my boss (Kolvoord) walk up and down the hallway with a hockey stick,” Steel said. “I figured I’d give it a shot, and I never quit.”

Dan Amon, one of two students on the team, said he was doing physics research with a Nooner when he was invited to play.

“I walked in and there was this big bucket of sticks,” Amon said. “I grabbed one and figured I’d see how it goes.”

Steel said he looks forward to playing because it’s exercise that doesn’t feel tedious.

“Running on a treadmill is one of the more boring things in life,” Steel said. “I’ll keep playing as long as my body holds up.”

Goalie Ciro Papi is in his third season with the Nooners. He plays in a faded orange jersey that he says is from his roller hockey days — in middle school.

“Don’t laugh because it still fits,” he said, chuckling.

He got started when he saw the Nooners practicing in UREC. He asked if he could play, too, and he was soon outfitted as goalkeeper.

“I love the feeling of being the last person to shut someone down,” Ciro said.

Ken Newbold, ISAT professor, said that playing with people he works with means he knows them on a lot of levels. He and Noftsinger recently authored a book in addition to playing together as centers.

“Being able to play on the same line as John means we can set each other up,” Newbold said. “I know what he’s thinking.”

Of course, it’s not always easy beating students.

“The problem is, every year we get a year older. They stay the same age,” Kolvoord said.

And then there’s the issue of night games.

“With the late games, its often past our bedtimes,” Kolvoord said, laughing.

But, Noftsinger said, this team was more focused than they had been in past years and improved by developing different lines with players that complement each other.

“It’s nice to step out of my administrative role and be part of a different sort of team,” he said.