Let me begin by thanking a really active member of CoachChic.com, Craig Shaw, for reminding me about this truly fascinating sport. And, yes -- to two things:
1) I've actually known about this game for a number of years;
2) "floorball" truly is a "sport" (as you're about to see)!
Exploring the Benefits of Floorball
To be honest, the term "floorball" didn't really strike a chord with me -- until I looked it up. (Actually, I think most of the print and narration was in every language BUT English when I long ago ran across that game.)
Of course, I'm sure Craig would believe anything about this old coach by now -- like, the further something is from tradition, the more likely I've explored it. :)
That said, you just have to take a look at the following video to realize that floorball is NOT your typical street hockey game played in a gym. As a matter of fact, the following is from the World Floorball Championships (yes, "WORLD Championships"). But, take a look before I go on further...
Aha, I hope you found that game as interesting as I did when I first stumbled upon it (probably 6- or 7-years ago).
By the way... It appears to me that floorball playing nations are as passionate (or maybe as nuts) about their sport as many soccer-serious countries are about their game. And, if you don't believe me, I think you'll get a kick out of all the trash talking going on in the Comments area for that video over at YouTube.com.
Back to my initially discovering the game, though... You should know that it wasn't the sport itself that caught my fancy... Naw, the skills exhibited by some of the floorball players was what really got me thinking. So, take a look at just one example of what I mean...
Now, most long-time friends know that my grandson, Anthony Chic, is somewhat the magician with a puck (or ball). But, the day I discovered a batch of videos like the above one, I asked him if he could do those tricks. "No way! That's impossible!" was his reply.
Really, I was only teasing Tony C. From what I can gather, the floorball stick is lighter than our ice hockey sticks, it's obviously shorter, I know that the blade has holes in it -- probably to allow air to flow through, and I sense that the ball is considerably lighter than what a North American kid would typically fiddle with.
Finally, Craig asked if I thought floorball skills would help an ice hockey player. Ha! I would say, "Absolutely!" (Hey, Craig, why do you think I long ago burned a whole bunch of videos like those above to CD, and added them to my New England Hockey Institute library?)
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Well, what do you think, folks? Please leave a Comment below and let me know!
