Petteri Nykky is known as the head coach that led Finland to their first Men´s WFC gold in 2008. He repeated the trick in 2010 and after that he has been seen as the coach of Switzerland and also Australia. Now he has united with team Finland once again and the next step is The World Games.
Nykky with Finland in Euro Floorball Tour in Turku. Photo: Salibandyliiga Flickr / Anssi Koskinen
Petteri Nykky
Age: 52
Country of birth: Finland
Team: FIN M
What does The World Games mean to you?
It’s a huge tournament, it’s in between WFC and the Olympics. It’s for those events or the disciplines that doesn’t get to yet play in the Olympics. So, it’s a little bit different formation than the normal world championships but it’s a huge opportunity for us.
How does it feel to be one of the first floorball teams in the tournament?
Sounds great. It’s going to be the top four plus two other teams. Floorball was there as an invitational sport in 1997 and now we are there for the first time as an official sport, so it feels good to be a part of that.
What do you think The World Games can do to floorball?
Hard to say. I hope that we get more recognition as a sport, as a great sport, and that way we continue our quest to be, at some point, in the Olympics.
Now that you only have 14 players and the playing time is 3×15 how will it change the game?
It’ll change it a little bit. You have to look into actually only 12 field players and 2 goalies so it’s a very small team but then again there are some teams that have been playing with only two lines for a long time. You have to take it into consideration how to choose the team, if the players can play more than one spot. The match is 15 minutes shorter than usually so it helps a little bit. So I don’t know, we have to wait and see what happens.
Finland are the reigning world champions. Does it put more pressure on you?
I think that we take pressure on everyday life. Learn to do thinks little bit better than yesterday and that way won’t take any pressure on it. But if somebody does, it’s fine, if they have their performance at the level they are going to, but I won’t take any pressure of it.
The World Games will be played in Wroclaw, Poland 20th-30th of July. The Floorball competition will be held over 4 days, from 27th – 30th July, and will involve 6 men´s teams divided into two groups of 3. Group A consists of Finland, Czech Republic and Poland and Group B consists of Sweden, Switzerland and USA.
More information about The World Games can be found here: www.floorball.org/pages/EN/The-World-Games-2017
