Action from the 1st Annual BCFF Floorball Tournament in May. Board Members Greg Beaudin and Blair Zimmerman compete for the ball as Adrian Zimmerman and David Senn look on.

Photo courtesy of North Shore News

ISPO Floorball Village  -A new sport takes over

A new sport? Not really. Floorball has been organized for the last 25 years in the “International Floorball Federation“ IFF, headquartered in Sweden. The founding members from 1981 were Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland. Today there are 39 national associations all over the world, 300,000 licensed Floorball players, and close to 1.8 million amateur players in more than 20 countries.

Of course, these numbers do not turn Floorball into a global mass sport, yet other statistics are quite impressive: in Sweden, Floorball, known also as Unihockey (Germany, Austria), Innebandy (Sweden) or Salibandy (Finland), is the second most popular sport after football. In Finland it is number three after football and ice hockey.

Just as popular is this team sport in Switzerland, China, Thailand, Australia, Canada, Serbia,
Croatia, Portugal, and Turkey.

At our regular Monday Night Floorball I am pleased to report that we were joined by Eero Piilokivi, the President of Floorball Quebec. Eero. who also plays for Sahlaajat FB, has a floorball league running in Montreal (MFL) which he is hoping to expand this year and has a been a television ’superstar’ explaining floorball on Global TV. You can see the interviews here on the Floorball Quebec website.

Quebec recently hosted the Canadian National Championships and in November will host the Montreal Open. Stay tuned for more on this years tournament but you can read about the 2006 event here.

Eero is also involved with the Canadian Unihockey and Floorball Federation which is attempting to build a National structure for the game for the future. We had good discussions with Eero before and after playing at the Roundhouse and we look forward to working with our provincial floorball cousins in Quebec as well as the National body to ensure floorball in Canada has a great future.

WANT TO TAKE YOUR STICHKHANDLING SKILLS TO ANOTHER LEVEL?

• Fast floorball hockey focusses on stickhandling, hand-eye coordination, passing and positioning!
• Teaches the famous "toe drag" or "pull in"
• Excellent cardiovascular exercise
• Easy to play almost anywhere
• Played by NHL stars like Naslund, Gaborik, the Hossa bro’s, Sundin, the Sedins, and more…
• Interested in the Team Canada Floorball program? email the BCFF for more info..

To book a Floorball game and demonstration, contact us today!

Make sure to search out Floorball on Google, YouTube, and Facebook

Floorball a Huge Success with 100 Ontario Hockey Teams

Floorball at World’s Largest Minor Hockey Event

This past weekend in Richmond Hill, the Ontario Minor Hockey Association
hosted their Annual General Meeting. The Ontario Floorball/Unihockey
Federation secured a joint presence at the meeting to help introduce
the sport of floorball and the services of the OFUF to the Ontario
minor hockey community.

The OMHA Annual General Meeting is the largest gathering of minor
hockey administrators in the world with 1,000 people attending on
average. In addition to administrators, the 100 OMHA Championship teams
(approximately 3,500 players, coaches, trainers, friends and family)
are invited to the Parade of Champions to be presented their
championship banners.

Floorball was very well received by OMHA administrators and by the
players. They were impressed that the skills one can learn playing
floorball easily translate to ice hockey and that by playing the sport
they could improve their stick-handling, passing, shooting, heads up
play and conditioning. The zorro demonstrations put on by the OFUF
proved to be a huge hit with the players as was the fact that floorball
could aid them in learning the “toe drag” or “pull in” shot.

Overall, the weekend was a great success for the OFUF and we look
forward to continuing to work closely with the Ontario minor hockey
community in the future.

This article is featured on the International Floorball Federation website

Hockey Specific Training principals Ryan and Shea Esselmont to add Floorball to their Summer Hockey School programs.
"We totally get this sport… I was fortunate to be exposed to elite level Floorball while playing for Team Canada this Spring and I can see why so many European NHL players like the Sedins, The Hossas and Marion Gaborik play all Summer long to train for their next Hockey season.  It is great for overall fitness, building better hockey hands and it’s simple to step into." says Shea Esselmont

"We look forward to teaching Floorball and our students absolutely love to play.  They had a taste this season as part of their dryland training, and the feedback was over the top positive.  Look for some mad stickhandling skills to come out of this cross-training technique" Ryan Esselmont

We are pleased to announce that this Saturday (16th June) at the Roundhouse from 1pm - 3pm the BCFF will be hosting a floorball session for players aged 6-12.

If there is enough interest it will run until 4pm and the even is free!

Friends and family welcome, let’s make this a regular session, volunteers welcome!

Dusan Benicky, renowned hockey trainer to more than 50 NHL players, brings Floorball to his Hockey Performance Centre (HPC) youth team. Benicky has worked with Marcus Nasland, Trevor Linden, Pat Quinn and many others has this to say about Floorball.

"I like it, Floorball is a great sport, the kids love it and we will encourage them to play so that they can improve their stickhandling skills and co-ordination" Dusan Benicky- Founder Hockey Performance Center

BCFF President Greg Beaudin reports:

"At a school gym in North Vancouver, 20 youth hockey players from the HPC 97’s team took to the floor to try Floorball for the very first time.  The response was overwhelmingly positive. The shrieks and shrills were proof of their love for the game. Parents watched cautiously at the high tempo game that is played with no protective equipment being worn by the players.

Sticks were kept in total control, and the safety elements of the sport were easily highlighted. Parents are always concerned about costs of joining or playing a new sport and they are pleasantly surprised to learn that all the is needed is a stick to play and that for less than $50, they are in the game.

It was impressive to to see the kids’ skills from hockey transfer on the floor. We witnessed some great passing plays and creativity with the ball.  Stay tuned for more details as we develop a summer Floorball program on the North Shore.
"

Interest since the May tournament has been very high and more reports will follow. Floorball Sticks are available to purchase from Modern Hockey, one of the BCFF sponsors.

If you are a Floorball Fan and on Facebook you can combine the two and join the BC Floorball Federation Group! Feel free to use the discussion boards and the other features of Facebook and become a part of the BC Floorball Facebook community! Enjoy!