Rec League on The Bozeman Daily Bee

Co-ed ultimate frisbee begins at former pasture on North 19th

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:02:24 +0000

The discs flew straight over the new condo building on North 19th where alfalfa grew two summers ago. Eight teams took the painted lines at 6 p.m. sharp. The league runs Mondays through October.

“The stack held on the first pull,” said league commissioner Dale Hargrove, 42, who sells septic systems in Belgrade and plays handler for the Midvalley Merchants. “When the line holds, the offense flows. Same as football. Same as life.”

Thursday night broomball league begins at Gallatin Ice

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:01:46 +0000

The Thursday night broomball league dropped its first puck at Gallatin Ice last week. Twelve teams took the rink in sneakers and hockey helmets, chasing a blue ball the size of a grapefruit. The ice was fresh. The brooms were new. The penalty box smelled like wax and old equipment.

Midvalley Merchants faced off against the Bridger Bowl Lifties in the opener. The Merchants led 3-1 after two periods on the strength of two goals from Dave Haskins, who works at the hardware store on Main Street and treats the broom like a push broom. The Lifties rallied in the third when their goalie, a ski patroller named Marta, left the crease and scored on a breakaway.

Thursday night spikeball league begins at Bogert Park

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:02:12 +0000

The nets went up Tuesday beside the new pickleball courts where tennis courts used to be. By Wednesday afternoon three sets had already been stolen and replaced with duct-taped frames from a garage in Belgrade.

League commissioner Marv Hensley, 42, runs a gutter company and plays middle blocker for the Midvalley Merchants. He showed up at 6 a.m. with a measuring tape and a level. The grass was still damp from the sprinklers that run at 3 a.m. because the city waters on odd-numbered days and the league plays on even ones.

Adult rec soccer league kicks off at former sheep pasture

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:18:06 +0000

The Midvalley Strikers took the field Monday evening at the new Four Corners complex, where fescue and clover grew knee-high this time last year. The league expanded to eight teams after a waitlist formed in July. Most players parked beside the portable toilets and walked past the framed rendering of the mixed-use development slated for phase two.

Goalkeeper Dave Hensley, 34, taped his wrists beside a Subaru Outback with a ski rack and a ranch brand decal on the rear window. He works remote for a Bozeman software company and ranches weekends in Gallatin Gateway. His cleats were still dusty from Sunday’s brand inspection.

Sunday soccer league kicks off at former ranch

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 01:41:37 +0000

The Midvalley Sunday Soccer League began its fall season yesterday on a patch of grass that held cattle until June. The field sits behind the new storage unit complex on Gooch Hill Road, where the fence line still smells of manure and diesel.

Organizer Dale Haskins, 52, marked the boundaries with orange cones and a roll of twine he bought at Murdoch’s. “The goal posts are PVC pipe from the Habitat ReStore,” he said. “Same ones we used in 2019. They held up fine until the wind took the crossbar last November.”

Thursday night cornhole league begins at Hyalite Brewing

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:12:33 +0000

The bags hit the boards with a sound somewhere between a thud and a whisper. Fifty-two teams. Twenty-six courts painted on the parking lot asphalt behind Hyalite Brewing. The league runs eight weeks, double elimination, $40 a team plus a two-drink minimum that nobody enforces but everyone respects.

Commissioner Dale Hargrove arrived at 5:30 p.m. with a measuring tape, a level, and a clipboard that has seen seventeen seasons. He checks the distance between boards every week. Twenty-seven feet. Regulation. The boards themselves are a mix of hand-painted plywood, composite sets from Scheels, and one pair that a guy named Turk welded from quarter-inch plate steel because he said the wind takes the light ones.

Thursday night co-ed volleyball league opens at Sacajawea Middle School

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 20:30:50 +0000

The nets went up at 6 p.m. sharp in the Sacajawea Middle School gym. By 6:15, the smell of floor wax and knee pads had replaced the usual scent of adolescent locker room.

Thirty-two teams registered for the fall session, up from twenty-eight last year. League coordinator Marv Hensley said the waitlist hit double digits before he closed it. “People just want to hit something after work,” he said. “Doesn’t matter what.”

Co-ed kickball season opens at former fairgrounds diamond

Sun, 09 Aug 2026 19:01:25 +0000

The Midvalley Misfits took the field Tuesday evening at the old fairgrounds diamond, where the infield dirt still remembers horse shows and 4-H auctions. Thirty-two players stretched along the first-base line, tapping cleats against ground that was alfalfa three summers ago.

League commissioner Marnie Doughty, 406-555-0192, handed out neon-yellow shirts and reminded everyone that the mercy rule triggers at fifteen runs. “We had a team score twenty-two last year before the third inning,” she said. “Nobody’s here for that.”

Ranchers and realtors square off in annual flag football game at fairgrounds

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 22:17:56 +0000

The fifteenth annual Ranchers vs. Realtors charity flag football game kicked off Saturday at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds under a sky that couldn’t decide between sun and hail. The ranchers arrived in diesel duallies with stock racks. The realtors arrived in leased SUVs with magnetic signs on the doors. Both sides parked in the same dirt lot.

The ranchers team, sponsored by Broken Arrow Livestock and the Co-op, wore Carhartts cut at the sleeves. The realtors team, sponsored by Peak Property Group and a mortgage lender from Billings, wore moisture-wicking polos with collars that stayed popped. The referees were two MSU kinesiology majors who volunteered for extra credit.

Thursday night flag football league opens at Four Corners complex

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 19:01:28 +0000

The Thursday Night Lights Flag Football League kicked off its fall season Wednesday at the Four Corners Sports Complex, where three regulation fields now sit on land that produced alfalfa hay as recently as June.

League commissioner Dale Haskins, 52, walked the sidelines in a headlamp because the permanent lighting hasn’t been installed yet. He said the complex represents progress.

“Five years ago this was open space,” Haskins said. “Now it’s open space with painted lines and a porta-potty contract. That’s Bozeman.”