Floorball

What is MK Floorball...?
Floorball as a game comes from northern Europe. It is similar to Bandy, a kind of sport considered the predecessor of ice hockey. It is sometimes likened to ice hockey without the ice skates, but there are considerable differences in the rules.

The game is played on an indoor rink by two teams. Each team consists of five outfield players and one goalkeeper, although generally these players are from a larger squad and may be substituted at any time during a game. The outfield players use a lightweight stick with a curved plastic blade. The shaft is shorter than an ice hockey stick (at around 99cm in length) and round, which makes it very manoeuvrable. The goalie wears special equipment incorporating long, padded trousers and shirt and a helmet. There is no puck or heavy ball; instead a lightweight, plastic ball is used. The ball is extremely fast and can be easily lifted, bounced and deflected.

The rules of the game require fair play, do not allow for any high sticking, stick contact or body contact, so the game tends to be less physical and more skill oriented and fast paced. The mixture of endurance, power and precision make Floorball a popular game for people of all ages and abilities.

Floorball is a fun, quick, and active sport. It provides a great workout in a fun environment!

How GB Floorball Started:

A sport similar to Floorball has been played within Great Britain for well over a decade, and was always known and is still familiarized with the Swedish based equipment manufacturer 'Unihoc' who introduced lightweight plastic hockey based sticks through a supply chain to schools, youth groups and sports centres.

Over time this market has continued to grow strongly throughout Great Britain, to such a level that most schools, colleges and sports centres either have in the past or still own a set of basic sticks that are frequently used to varying degrees.

A former British youth club organization promoted fun sporting activities up and down Great Britain to enable children of various age ranges to meet and have fun. This was backed by an organisation that was set up known as the Unihoc Association (which no longer exists). But once reaching eighteen years of age the sport was not encouraged to continue into adulthood.

Now the sport is gaining popularity throughout Great Britain, where there are developing southern senior and junior leagues with gathering interest and excitement from both players and spectators including the attraction of many foreign club and national team players to come to Great Britain and play.

In May 2000 Great Britain participated in the World Floorball Championships for Men for the very first time and clearly demonstrated a future threat to some of the more established countries by achieving a world ranking of 13th.

Nationally, Floorball within Great Britain is set to expand further during 2006-2007 and will gather larger audiences than ever before as the number of teams and spectators are increasing. We understand the true potential of Floorball and continue to work towards making it a future success.

Where to play:
MK Phantoms
Venue: Oakgrove School - Milton Keynes
Days: Thursday
Times: 18:30 to 19:30

Northampton Sharks
Venue: Willison Centre - Roade School
Days: Tuesday and Thursday evenings (starting July 4th 2006)
Times: 19:00 to 20:00

Training is £4-5 to cover the cost of the hall but if you bring a copy of this page your first session is free.

Contact Details
For more information on Floorball and getting started contact: Scott Blackwell, Tel: 07802 306406, Email:
scott@floorball.co.uk

Links:
Ultimate Floorball - www.ultimatefloorball.com
World Governing Body, International Floorball Federation - www.floorball.org
Great Britain Floorball Federation - www.gbff.org.uk


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