Before coming to Washburn, sophomore Luke Broeckelman grew up in Mankato, Kansas, where he found a love for sports. At a small high school near the Nebraska border, Broeckelman, nursing major, lived with his parents and his four brothers. To Broeckelman, his brothers pushed him to work as hard as possible on and off the court.

“I think my brothers were definitely the ones who pushed me to try to be the best person I can be. Whether that was on the field or off the field, them and my parents really drove me to be best,” Broeckelman said. 

When he came to Washburn, he only knew as much as his brothers and a couple other people on campus, so when he first met his roommates, his first reaction was different.

“My roommates were a bunch a goofballs. It was nice to meet them because we all became best friends. We all did the same intramurals since we were on the same team. Playing intramurals was fun because we all took it seriously, but it was never too seriously,” Broeckelman said. 

From there, Broeckelman developed a love of competing in intramurals with his roommates that has carried into this year. Even though they do not all still live with each other, they all make time in the week to compete with each other.

“Our name for our teams is usually Certified 210 to signify that we were roommates. It has been nice to be able to get away from school work or studying and go and just mess around on the field or the court with my buddies. They have really made the year better even though we do not spend that much time with each other,” Broeckelman said.

While he has enjoyed playing intramurals, it is more than competing to Broeckelman. The thing that he enjoys the most about rec sports is the fact that it lets the whole Washburn community come together to have fun.

“I like the fact that we can all participate in sports here at Washburn. We all have the chance to enjoy the sports that we loved growing up in high school or play a new sport that we have always wanted to try, but maybe our school did not have it,” Broeckelman said.

From the days of living with his Lincoln Hall roommates, no one has enjoyed playing with Broeckelman more than sophomore Paul Enneking. Enneking was not actually a roommate of Broeckelman, but he hung out with Broeckelman and his roommates enough to be considered one.

“Luke has been fun to compete with. Most of the time I go to the rec and I am there with people that I do not know the greatest, so whenever Luke is there, it’s a nice change of pace. Luke always knows how to have fun but at the same time to always find a way to beat me. I like to think that I am the better athlete out of the two of us, but he finds ways to beat me,” Enneking said.  

For now, Broeckelman may not have as much time next year to participate in intramurals with his former roommates due to clinicals. While he may not have as much time, he will certainly be able to call on his roommates to meet at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center to have fun and show them who’s the best out of the six roommates.