Kenya’s sporting landscape transforms with the arrival of Floorball

• It has between three to five players
• It has a goalkeeper on each team
• It is played for three sessions, twenty minutes each

Until recently, Floorball remained a little-known sport in Kenya. But thanks to Kenya Floorball Federation chairman Paul Maina, the world is slowly but surely adjusting to the beauty of this game.

While it wasn’t easy getting to this point, Maina who lives plies his trade between Kenya and the US is glad that he gave the sport his all.  His tenacity introduced a sport that Kenyans are now enthusiastic about. Floorball is exciting and quick-paced allowing players to demonstrate their agility and strategic skill.

Maina is happy that he is part of such a great sport that’s making inroads in Kenya, infrastructural challenges associated with it notwithstanding.

What is Floorball?

Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. Men and women play indoors with 96-115.5 cm [37.8-45.5 in] long sticks and a 70-72mm-diameter [2.76-2.83 in] plastic ball with holes.

A Floorball in Kenya match at the Nyayo stadium in the past. This game is becoming more famous now in the country. Photo/Floorball Federation of Kenya

The game was invented in Sweden in the late 1960s. The basic rules were established in 1979 when the first floorball club in the world, Sala IBK, from Sala, was founded in Sweden, and official rules for matches were first put down in 1981.

Matches are played in three twenty -minutes periods. Floorball was included in the world games for the first time in Wroclaw, Poland.

When Was Floorball Founded?

The now-upcoming game was started at the dusty pitches of Ofafa Jericho, by Swiss Coaches were invited to Kenya by the Glory Outreach Assembly Programme.

The Glory Outreach Assembly programme is an initiative that is tailored to changing the social and spiritual landscape of people through compassion, church growth, pace building and leadership development. The initiative mostly targets those in marginalized areas and also in the less fortunate areas like the slums.

The programme has a successful sports history through their sports evangelism initiative and they have a well-established football team as well as basketball in Nairobi. Floorball originated from Sweden and is now spreading to other parts of the world becoming a local sport.

It is internationally coordinated by the international floorball federation[IFF] with 58 members and two professional leagues Finland’s Salibandyliiga and Sweden’s Svenska Superligan.

The Heads of Floorball in Kenya

Kenya is a registered member of the international floorball federation. The sport in Kenya is organized by the Kenya Floorball Federation [KFF].

Maina Steers the ship and under him, there is the head coach – Kevin Maina Muriithi. The two have played a major role in training more than 200 coaches from universities, colleges, technical institutions, secondary schools and also primary schools.

The 2017 Kenyan men’s Floorball national team in action at Lugogo Stadium. Photo/Floorball Federation Kenya

Floorball Equipments

1. Floorball Stick

A floorball stick is the most important thing for a player and there are two categories. One for beginners and the other for professionals.

The best choice for beginners is a floorball stick with straight shafts and without technology. For the professionals, the blade is a bit curved to the right or left for accurate shooting, dribbling and passing the ball.

It’s a requirement for every professional player to have a lightweight, accurate and strong floorball stick.

2. Floorball Ball

Floorball balls are very light and made of a plastic material with 26 holes.

3. Goalie Gear

The International Floorball Federation [IFF] organizes various events like the Annual Championships Cup, Euro Floorball Cup, African Floorball Cup, the Biennial World Floorball, World qualifiers and the world championships.

In addition, they have a calendar of events for every match as follows:

• The men’s World Floorball Championships take place every December every even year
• The women’s World Floorball Championship takes place every December in every odd year
• The men’s under-19 World Floorball Championships take place every May in every odd year
• The women’s under-19 World Floorball Championships take place every May every even year

Floorball has since grown in Kenya with the help of Swiss coaches who in partnership with KFF conduct yearly floorball camps in Kenya. KFF envisions that by the year 2025, Floorball will be played in all educational institutions in Kenya. The federation also organizes yearly floorball leagues, tournaments, floorball clinics and floorball training camps.