Kabaziba Daphine was elected to the IFF Athletes’ Commission in 2021. Kabaziba is a defender in the National Team from Uganda and currently representing the Makere University Floorball Team. In this interview, Kabaziba talks about floorball in her country and how she got involved into floorball.
How did you get involved in Floorball?
— I got involved when one of the floorball pioneers in Uganda spoke to us at church about floorball. They were targeting young people. I showed interest, tried it out and loved it till today. At the beginning I only played as a leisure but then I really got into it.
How did the game develop since 2015?
— The development has been gradually increasing over the years. The peak was reached in 2018 when floorball was introduced into schools. Furthermore, the international engagements with Kenya, both at club level (Tsunami Floorball Club, Kenya) and at national level with the National Team from Kenya. Many schools and institutions of higher education as well as several communities are now involved in floorball. Moreover, there has been a couple of floorball outreaches outside the central part of Uganda which also has seen floorball expanding in our country. We had several club competition before covid-19 and I was allowed to train with boys which helped my game and self-confidence a lot.
What are the biggest challenges Uganda Floorball is facing?
— There are several challenges to overcome. We don’t have enough playing equipment like sticks, balls and goals. The material which we have is mainly for adults and we almost completely lack equipment for our young players. However, we are very happy and thankful to receive shipments with equipment from friends abroad. Furthermore, Uganda has not enough proper arena to play floorball; but there are some good news, we have acquired some land where we plan to put up our floorball arena. Last but not least we don’t have appropriate training (material) yet for our referees. We hope that IFF will be able to further support us in this area.
What is your dream in floorball?
— To see that floorball is introduced in most schools and it’s included on our Physical Education curriculum in my country.
What are you goals and expectations with your role in IFF Atheltes’ Commission?
— First of all I want to represent views, opinions and experience from fellow players acrss Africa. Furthermore, I want to encourage more and more people to play floorball all over the world. I also believe that we go through different floorball experiences here in Africa and I am really keen to share these experiences and stories with players from all kind of countries. I can’t wait to see the Uganda flag at Floorball World Championships one day.
