This past week I was fortunate to represent Canada with the National Floorball Team vs the USA in the World Championship Qualifying matches in Los Angeles. What a great experience. The biggest challenge was certainly competing against a roster of dual passport American players, 17 of whom were European born and raised, all playing an elite level of floorball in Switzerland, Sweden, and Finland. I’ll save the 2nd biggest challenge for a minute. The 3rd obstacle for me, and some of our team, was translating theory and tactics of hockey into the unique structure and intricacies of this amazing and somewhat obscure sport of floorball. Our head coach, David Jansson of Pixbo, Sweden, had a knowledge of the game that few coaches have, in any sport. Have you ever heard that the best hockey players see the ice as though they are looking down on it from the press box? It’s the vantage point high in the rafters where you can see all 12 players on the ice, and everything looks so easy. In my beer league games I can see the ice that way, but in my days as a player in the Swiss Elite League or the British Super League, the pace of play often made me feel like I was trying to play the game while looking through the wall eye of a hotel room, rather than the rafters of the London Arena. Coach Jansson has the knack of seeing the floorball court like the scouts in the rafters, and has solutions, counter attacks, and strategy to compete against and expose even the fastest of attacks from the speedy Euro Americans. I learned a ton, and have taken with me new fresh ideas that I’ll translate to the ice. Throughout the week, players chuckled as I encouraged them to shoot the ‘puck,’ or get their feet facing ‘up ice!’ Coaching instincts and hockey speak runs deep I guess. Fortunately we were able to use this mix of sport theory to help uncover similarities and differences between the sports of hockey and floorball, and trust me, there are many of both. Between Coach David’s Swenglish and my flockey, we learned from each other, and grew as coaches. Check out game 1 vs the USA from Caltech, California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena.
Ok now for my 2nd most significant challenge of the week… explaining to curious bystanders, customs officials, border patrol, taxi drivers, hotel managers, and baristas that we were in LA to play FLOORBALL, not dodgeball, hockey, or ball hockey. It was hilarious! I must admit that I eventually started telling people that floorball is a game where two teams stand across a line from one another and throw rubber balls at each other. In reality, I myself was amazed at the speed of the sport played on this international stage, the intensity of the 1 on 1 battles, the stick skills of the natural floorball players, and the excitement of the competition. If you don’t have a clue what I am referring to, get online, Youtube search’Floorball skills’ or ‘floorball world championships.’ With more players playing floorball in Sweden than ice hockey (120’000 compared to 100’000), very few barriers to entry, cross over skills that will accelerate a hockey player’s development, and a niche opportunity for those looking for their next challenge, I can see a future in Canada where floorball makes sense. Get a stick and get at it! Are you in Vancouver, then you need to contact Greg Beaudin.
