First ever Floorball Development Seminar took place in Douala in Cameroon from the 23rd to 25th of September 2016. There were participants from several African countries, IFF member associations and also countries, which are still creating the national associations.

Participants cane from Benin, Republic of Central Africa, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Cameroon, Nigeria and Rwanda. Altogether some 50 participants divided to two different blocks, coaching and refereeing. The coaching block concentrated on practical training, stick and ball handling, the role of an individual player and some basic tactical issues.

The referee block education was mainly concentrating on the rules of the game, basic movements and positioning, game management and the role of the referee. The coaching block was educated by IFF educator Mr. Juerg Kihm from Switzerland and the referee block educator was Mr. Ronny Brännbacka from Finland. The IFF office was represented by Mr. Veli Halonen.

The local organizer responsible persons were the President of the Cameron Floorball Association Mrs. Yvette Manong Mouga and the Secretary General of the Cameroon Floorball Association Mr. Charly Priso.

– This first ever African seminar was a success from many aspects. We had so many participating countries in the seminar and the enthusiasm among the participants was on a very high level. I think that the seminar was a real step forward with Floorball in Africa, says Mr. Veli Halonen, the IFF operations coordinator.
– We also had the chance to meet with many African representatives and plan the future actions regarding Floorball in Africa, he continued.

The African nations also launched their own EOTO related program called “Floorball for Africa”. The purpose of the project is to support those African nations, which don’t yet have an official organization in their own countries and would eventually be able to apply for the membership in the IFF and to start their international journey.

More information: halonen(at)floorball.org