Clean Sports is one of the core values of the IFF. During its major events, Anti-Doping campaigns as well as education for the teams is organised.

Czech WU19 players doing the WADA Quiz in connection to the Athlete Outreach that was held during U19 WFC 2018 in Switzerland

The International Floorball Federation (IFF) organises Anti-Doping education sessions also known as Athlete Outreach for the teams during its major events such as the WFC Final Rounds:
– The first time we organised Anti-Doping education was already in 2010 during the Men’s WFC in Helsinki, Finland. Athlete Outreach became mandatory for the teams in 2014. At first the education was held only in the Adults’ WFC, but based on the feedback from the Anti-Doping survey that was collected during the Athlete Outreach programme and the IFF Athletes’ Commission as well as WADA, we decided to run the Athlete Outreach programme also during the U19 WFCs, says Minna Nurminen the Information and Anti-Doping Coordinator of the IFF.

The first mandatory Athlete Outreach was held in 2014 during WFC 2014 in Sweden.

The first U19 Athlete Outreach was held in 2017 during the Men’s U19 WFC in Växjö, Sweden and since then Anti-Doping education has also been mandatory for all teams participating in the Final Rounds of U19 WFCs:
– We give the teams a few options to choose from. They can either participate in an English education session that is held by us during the tournament or they can have the education independently prior to the tournament. The independent education happens via their own National Anti-Doping Organisation or if their Member Association has a person who is educated enough to hold the session. This kind of session is really helpful if the players don’t understand English that well. During the IFF session, we have someone as a translator if needed. The teams can also do the web-based education such as WADA’s Alpha. Of course, the teams need to send us proof that they have gone through the education if they choose the independent/web-based education, explains Nurminen.

Throwing Say No! To Doping balls during the Women´s WFC 2017 in Slovakia.

According to the WADA Code, Anti-Doping Education is a mandatory part of all International Federation’s activities. But this is only one of the reasons the IFF organisers Anti-Doping education:
– We believe that educating our athletes in regards of Anti-Doping is really important. We want them to be safe. Floorball is also a rather clean sport at the moment and we want to keep it that way. Because of this we also run WADA’s Say No! To Doping (SNTD) campaign during the major events which includes for example SNTD captain arm-bands and referee wristbands as well as a SNTD-Day during which the players throw green SNTD balls to the audience prior matches. Clean Sport is one of our main values, says IFF Secretary General John Liljelund.

One part of the IFF’s Athlete Outreach is WADA’s Play True Quiz. Check out the video below. You can also try the quiz yourself and put your Anti-Doping knowledge to the test here: quiz.wada-ama.org