Members of the IFF Athletes’ Commission have been contributing Blog posts on what they are up to. Josefina Eiremo is the longest-serving member of the ATC. She retired as a player from international and top-level Floorball in 2017, but in 2018 she returned to the Swedish women’s national team as Team Manager, a position she still holds.
It’s been almost seven years since I retired from elite floorball, time flies! A decision that had grown and I dreamed of ending my career with a Swedish championship gold and I’m happy that it turned out that way. After I hung up my stick for good, I had much more time on my hands. A new experience.
I got some job offers, for example coaching assignments and expert commentator proposals. I worked one year as an floorball instructor at a secondary school – that was an awesome job but it was just for one year. Then back to teaching at elementary school which has been my job for 15 years now. I think the opportunity for new assignments is probably there for many players after their playing career.
From having played sports and played in different teams from when I was a child to the age of 32, to stop playing was an adjustment. I tried several sports as a child and I played both football and floorball until I was 24 years old. After that, it was all about floorball. Partly, it was an adjustment to sit in the stands and watch matches instead of playing myself. Also going from routines and training basically every day to having days off and time to relax – and from seeing the team almost every day to not seeing them that often. I got into life outside of floorball quite quickly. I took up golfing and working out/trying out new forms of exercise.
One year later after I quit playing I got the job as the Team Manager in the Swedish women’s national team. What an honour! It is a different setup than in a club team. You see each other for training camps/matches/tournaments from four to seven occasions per year.
I have been a team manager for six years now and what an amazing journey it has been! Very educational and very fun. Sharing experiences and learning from other leaders with great competence in their field. Travelling around Europe, getting to see many new (and old) places, gems that I most likely wouldn’t have travelled to otherwise has been a bonus. I have had so much fun and have learned a lot! To stand behind the bench and not playing was so strange in the beginning. But quite nice to sit and drink a cup of coffee during the warm up 😉
Before the pandemic I played together with other players who finished at the elite level in a series called the Sunday League. I played with many of them in IKSU back in the days. No practices, just one match every Sunday. 2×20 minutes and all matches were played in the city. Too bad the series didn’t continue after the pandemic, it was a really fun concept! We were also in Prague for the Prague Masters and took part in one tournament in Sweden. I hope it will continue in the future!
Three years ago we bought a house and this summer, the exterior of the plot will be continued. See if the lawn has turned green and painting the garage. I have also become a mother, so a new chapter begins :) At the moment I’m on maternity leave and we’ll see if there will be any continuation of floorball in the future. Most likely somehow.
Take care! / Josefina
