Tobias Gustafsson has represented Sweden in three Men’s World Floorball Championships, awarded the world’s best floorball player in 2021 and The World Games Athlete of December 2021. Sweden are the reigning champions of The World Games after their victory in Wroclaw in 2017, and will be looking to retain their title this July.
Tobias Gustafsson is one of the players in the Swedish team who has played in The World Games in 2017. Then Sweden took home the gold medals and they are defending their first place in Birmingham this July. Sweden are also the World Champions after they beat Finland in the Men’s World Floorball Championships final in Helsinki last December. Gustafsson plays in Storvreta IBK in the Swedish Super League. Gustafsson started playing floorball when he was eight or nine years old when parent in his hometown introduced the sport to the kids. And the rest is history.
— What made me fall in love with the floorball was first of all the speed of the game and also the technical part and that’s something that I’m still in love with and and that’s what’s kept me playing all these years.
Gustafsson is one of the brightest stars in Swedish floorball. In addition to WFC gold in 2021, Gustafsson was awarded the world’s best floorball player and The World Games Athlete of December 2021.
— An obstacle in my floorball life has been how to handle my nerves, when I was younger I got really nervous when there was a lot of audience and stuff like that and important games but after a few years with bad nerves I got in contact with a mental coach and he helped me control myself in these situations and I think that’s one of the biggest reasons why I got this far in my career.
Sweden were victorious at The World Games five years ago and they have big aims for the upcoming edition as well. They are playing in Group A together with Switzerland, Latvia and Thailand. Switzerland were their opponent in the final in 2017.
— Floorball at The World Games in the US will be something to remember because first of all it’s the first time for the big
nations to come and play in the US and it’s a big title as well for the national team to fight for so I would reckon that it will be quite intense games and that’s, it’s something you don’t want to miss out on and for us in Sweden, we are reigning champions in The World Games so and we don’t want to have anything else than a gold medal these times as well so I know that we in Sweden are really pumped up for this tournament and I reckon that the other nations is that as well.
Finally, Gustafsson gives some advice for kids who want to play floorball in highest level and also in the future editions of TWG.
— My advice to all the young kids out there who wants to play in The World Games in the future is to play as many sports as you can for as long as you can and remember to have fun as well while you’re doing it, this makes everything much more easier and I think that’s the recipe of a long career and hopefully a successful one as well.
Watch the full interview:
Road to The World Games is a series of interviews with floorball stars who are getting ready for the 2022 edition of TWG. The interviews are created by Adam Troy.
