WHEN most people hear the term floorball, they tend to ask what it is.
For Australian Women’s Floorball goalkeeper Leith Woods, it’s a question she is used to answering.
“Floorball is like ice hockey, but without skates, on hard surfaced court and with a plastic ball with holes,” Woods said.
Being an Olympic-sanctioned sport, Floorball is well represented around the world, particularly in Europe, however it is still a relatively new sport in Australia.
Playing for Australia in her fifth World Floorball Championships this December in Tampere, Finland, the Northam Senior High School physical education teacher has been a driving force behind the development of Floorball in Northam.
Although Floorball has been played in Northam for several years now, two years ago when Leith personally purchased a Floorball rink to partner the one purchased for the new Northam Recreation Centre, the strength and calibre of competition dramatically improved.
This year has been highly successful for Northam Floorball.
Eight Northam players participated in the Australian Floorball Open, of which the girls were in the winning open women’s division team and our junior boys came second in the junior division.
The Recreation Centre hosted the Northam Floorball Open for the third consecutive year and 12 Northam players have transitioned to playing in Perth for the SDK Floorball Club in the Floorball WA Summer Series.
Two A division games have been played right here in Northam.
Being a highly inclusive sport, Floorball has also provided pathways for non playing participation in Northam as well.
Not only have some of the Northam players, such as 18-year-old Lewis Bignell, taken on the daunting task of refereeing full rules games in Perth, but one player and fellow teacher from Northam Senior High School, Jasmine Davies, has also been selected to travel with the Australian Women’s team as the physical performance analyst at this year’s World Championships.
“It’s such an amazing honour and privilege to represent Aus tralia, especially in a capacity that supports the development and improvement of individual players and the team as a whole,” she said.
As the physical performance analyst, Davies will be using a variety of techniques to capture video and photographic evidence of the players, preparing it for digital analysis, providing feedback to players as well as being a part of the medical support team.
The girls left for Finland on November 22 for the pre-tournament training camp, with the tournament beginning on December 4.
You can follow the team throughout their journey on Facebook by liking their page- Australian Women’s Floorball Team, follow them on Twitter or Instagram and watch all the games live on YouTube on IFF Channel 1 and 2.
For more information on social Floorball in Northam, call the Northam Recreation Centre on 9622 5153
