Floorball the new frontier for medals

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MIRI: Hornbill won the first ever floorball competition ‘5-on-5 Mixed Floorball Challenge’ organised by i-Systems College at SM Pei Min Stadium on Saturday, in a ‘live demonstration’ of the SEA Games sport as a new frontier for medals and legion of fans.

Members of the team comprised of students from i-Systems College Miri and players from the Sarawak Floorball fraternity.

Sarawakian FC finished second, followed by Borneo Floorball Club in the six-team field where most of the players were students of i-Systems College Miri.

And Miri is the hotbed as the floorball sport was introduced to Sarawak by the principal of i-Systems College Miri, Farrell Choo.

Floorball is now played in six learning institutions such as i-Systems Miri, Teachers Institute of Miri campus, SMK St Columba Miri, SMK Baru Miri, SM Pei Min Miri and SMK Chung Hua Miri.

To-date, there are some 300 students playing floorball through the development initiative introduced by Choo.

According to Choo in Miri, the Taman Tunku Floorball Club was recently registered with the Malaysia Sport Council (MNS) of Miri.

The club, he added, was formed to promote and develop the sport of floorball in Miri and Sarawak. Choo, who is also the club president, is currently seeking out sponsors and benefactors to develop the sport throughout Sarawak.

In potential, floorball was played in the recently-concluded 2015 Sea Games in Singapore, where Malaysia won the men’s bronze medal .

Most recently, the International Floorball Federation (IFF) executive committee decided to formally apply for inclusion of Floorball in the Additional Events for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
He said the club’s first activity is to organize the Floorball ‘3-on-3 Faceoff’ this August where there will be men’s and women’s open categories.

The club also holds regular practice sessions on Saturdays.

Those interested in floorball are invited to join in. More information can be obtained from www.facebook.com/sarawakfloorball.
He also recommended that companies and corporations take up the sport. The game, he explained, is very flexible and can be played in a small group.
Any organization or schools wishing to take up the sport can contact him at 017-8018707.
It is a very safe sport with a low rate of injuries compared to many other dominant sports — a major reason why it is a very successful sport in schools as most parents would approve of their sons or daughters taking it up as it greatly emphasizes on safety.

Its safety is due to floorball being a non-contact sport which forbids any destructive play or contact like body-checking, stick-checking or the like. Players are not even allowed to hover the stick in between the legs of another player as the game will be stopped.

Only the ball itself is supposed to be struck with light sticks mainly made of plastic and composite material.

A floor ball is light and weighs around 23gms with a diameter of 72 mm. It has 26 holes in it, with each 10mm in diameter.

Floorball can be played in a regular gymnasium, sports centre or even on a basketball court.

The game is fun and suitable for players of all ages as it’s non-contact, making it a perfect sport for players who dislike excessive physical contact which can result in injury, providing a safer and friendlier playing atmosphere. (How’s the scoring in the game? Google… )