I love that Craig Shaw got me going on this topic (see our earlier exchanges), and he also inspired the post I ultimately did on "Exploring the Benefits of Floorball".
With that, here's ...
-- Dennis Chighisola
More on Floorball & Hockey
As every long-time member knows, I'm always looking for ways to help my players. However, there's more to that short statement than one might believe.
For sure, I'm always looking for ways to help my players take their games to new levels. (Of course, that was a given.)
At the same time, I'm forever searching for ways to help my players become truly unique. And, that one just might need a bit more explaining...
What I'm getting at is that I'd like my guys to ultimately be able to do things that no one else can do. Hey, I'm guessing Bobby Orr developed a lot of his never-before-seen moves out on the river in Parry Sound, Ontario. I sure would like to know when the likes of a Boom Boom Geffrion got the idea to blast the first known slapshots. And, I'd love to know who the player was -- or what the circumstances were -- that initiated things like the stickhandling move called the toe-over pull.
Ya, my hope is that by virtue of my players training differently -- or doing some things that are quite beyond what others might do, they could just bring to the game an equivalent of the toe-pull, spinarama, or slapshot.
Oh, I'm not aiming to create the next Orr or Geffrion. But, I think it is possible to encourage players to be unique in some ways.
Anyway, those who venture to my blog, Coach Chic's Hockey Diary, might know that I'm really into a couple of social media sites, Twitter and Facebook. Well, don't you know that I was wondering around Facebook earlier today and laughed out loud when I came across a group devoted solely to Floorball (<= check it out)!
I doubt the owners of that page would mind if I copied and pasted some of the introduction from there. So, here goes...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Floorball, a type of floor hockey, is an indoor team sport which was developed in the 1970s. It is a fast paced sport, with limited physical contact allowed. Floorball is most popular in areas where the sport has developed the longest, such as the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. The game is played indoors on a gym floor, making it a year-round sport at the amateur and professional levels. There are professional leagues, such as Finland's Salibandyliiga and Sweden's Svenska Superligan.
While there are 49 members of the International Floorball Federation (IFF), the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland have finished in most of the coveted 1st, 2nd and 3rd places at the Floorball World Championships.
In addition to those four countries, floorball is gaining popularity in countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore and the United States.
Yes, evidently, that sport is gaining popularity in Craig's country (Canada) and mine (the United States). A quick search on Google showed the following US based programs...
- Austin Floorball Club - Austin, Texas.
- Caltech Floorball Club - Located in California.
- EBC Floor Hockey - Located in Michigan.
- Innebandy Chicago - Floorball league located in Illinois.
- MIT Floorball Club - in Massachusetts.
- NYC Floorball - New York City.
- Triangle Floorball Club - Raleigh, North Carolina.
- The Valhalla Warriors - In Mountain View, California.
Now, having seen that (and the video I showed you in the previous post), does it remind you of the college goal that had the hockey world abuzz several years ago -- I mean the one where the player held the puck on his blade just before slinging it over the unsuspecting goaltender's shoulder? And, that's what I was getting at up above, when I said I'd like my players to be creative like that, and possibly even come-up with a new and surprising move like that one.
Finally (if there ever can be a finally on this type of topic), I'm going to suggest a few things -- to Craig and all my other CoachChic.com friends...
- If I had a very young player at home, I might be inclined to seek a league for him or her, or maybe even start one.
- If you have an older youth player (or if you're an adult player), I'd probably gather a number of those videos available over on YouTube.com, and see if the creative juices start flowing from watching those.
- If you work with a number of different age groups, as I do, I'd probably suggest the second approach. Ya, that's what I think I'm going to do -- I'll collect a few of those stickhandling videos and post them to each team's site, and then prod my players to copy some of those moves.
