Buller keeps Bremer Center leagues thriving

by Sara Mettlen

Each year, hundreds of kids and kids at heart hit the courts in the Bremer Center in volleyball, basketball, wallyball and racquetball leagues. It’s a chance for them to learn skills, hone the skills they’ve already developed and just have a good time.

For more than 20 years, the woman behind all those leagues has been Bremer Center director Diane Buller. In her 21st year with the center, she says the years haven’t really changed things all too much.

“We’ve added a few leagues and tried a few things that didn’t work,” Buller said.

The leagues that have been consistent are the kids’ volleyball and basketball leagues, women’s  and coed volleyball leagues, men’s basketball and men’s and women’s wallyball.

Racquetball, a personal favorite of Buller’s, is a sport that seems to be waning in popularity.

“I’ve tried running racquetball,” she said. “We used to have 62 people and now I struggle to get four or five here on the same night.”

In recent years though, all the leagues have declined in numbers.

“The leagues have slowed down a little,” she noted. “The cost went up slightly so people think more about it and people are just too busy anymore.”

The numbers are still significant, with upwards of 60-70 in the men’s basketball league and anywhere from 40-60 kids in volleyball and basketball. Attendance and fluctuates from year to year.

“The leagues vary,” she said, “Some years the kids just aren’t interested in sports.”

According to Buller, her work with the sports side of her director position is fairly simple. She says she just gathers the kids, finds coaches and referees, divides up the teams and sets the schedule.

That’s all the prep part of it, but she also keeps the scorebook and scoreboard, cleans the floors, keeps the equipment in working order, calls to remind teams and works with them to reschedule games if need be, recruits players in all the leagues and reports scores to the newspaper.

She keeps the gym so packed with practices, leagues and other activities in the winter  that she admits it’s pretty hard to get a time slot.

“In the winter it’s tough to get into the gym,” she said.

The one that hasn’t changed in 21 years is Buller’s passion for working with children.

“It’s been fun to work with the kids and see how they progress and how far they go with their sports,” she said.

Buller said she’s seen some quality little athletes play in the youth leagues over the years.

“A few times I thought we’d have state champions,” Buller said. “I’ve had some good little ball handlers come through.”

The youth leagues were something Buller added to the Bremer schedule in the 80s, in time for her daughter Karla, now a senior at Heartland, to play in her fair share of games.

“She played in all the youth volleyball and basketball leagues,” Buller said. “After she got too old she coached. She tells me her teams were always the champions.”

Her husband Paul also gets in on the action. She says he used to play racquetball with her but now just helps with maintenance work around the center. Paul took over the maintenance position from Buller’s father.

Being around the leagues wasn’t always enough for Buller, as she says she used to play in volleyball and racquetball leagues herself.

“I used to play volleyball and racquetball but my knees don’t let me do that anymore,” she said. “I miss it. It was easier to promote when I was playing.”

Racquetball in particular was a sport Buller said she loved to play, so it hits her a little harder now that the league struggles to get off the ground.

“I’m sad to see racquetball go so low in numbers,” she said. “You almost have to play wallyball to utilize the courts.”

Some leagues continue to thrive though, one of which is men’s basketball.

“Our men’s league is known for being very competitive. We’ve got some former college players in it.”

The men’s league, she said, also tends to draw people from the furthest distance. There have been men’s players from Kearney, Stromsburg and Lincoln.

Buller too travels for the job, as she lives outside of Henderson on the family’s farm. She comes to work around 5 on Monday through Thursday and says she typically gets out of town by 10, but sometimes it gets to be much later than that.

“Some night people will be here until 12 or 12:30.”

She also works on Saturday and Sundays since those are the most opportune days for people to participate in leagues.

The success of the leagues, she says, is dependent upon the flexibility of the Bremer Center Board.

“I’m lucky because the board lets me do pretty much whatever I want with the leagues,” she said.

It’s the generosity of the Wortman Trust, she added, that has really made her job possible.

“Without the goodwill of Ken Wortman and the Wortman Trust we would have shut down years ago,” Buller said. “The income definitely does not meet expenses.”

That, combined with Buller’s passion for sports, means its game on in Aurora.