13 Things You May Not Know About Pilipinas Floorball

What do we know about Floorball? What do we know about Philippine Floorball? And how important is the development of floorball in the Philippines?

Let's try to answer them one by one.

How important is the development of floorball in our country?

Floorball is an addition to the number of sports the people can choose to play as part of their fitness, leisure and socialization. It gives the youth an opportunity to be involved in a sport where they'll run, compete with other players.

Floorball anyone? gives you an idea of what the game is all about and I promise you, I'll share more about the game in the following days to come.

And what has been happening to floorball in the Philippines? Got any idea?

So why floorball? Floorball is a team game played with six players, including one goalkeeper. It is very much like the game of hockey minus the ice floor. A stick is used to shoot a plastic, hollow ball by players to score (in a goal).

Like what I said in my previous post, Floorball Anyone?, floorball is easy to play: a stick, a ball and a mate will get you going.

Let's get know floorball, I mean Pilipinas Floorball, with these little known facts we've found online. So what are the13 things you may not know about Pilipinas Floorball?

1.   The very first introduction (according to the official written history of the Philippine Floorball Association) of floorball in the Philippines can be traced back in early 2000s when a set of floorball equipment was given to the Ateneo de Manila High School in Quezon city.

* I wouldn't discount the fact that floorball sticks,balls and other equipment may have been sent to a relative in the Philippines by a Filipino residing in one of the "floorball countries". The recipient may have been playing them or putting them on display or something like that. Who knows right? 

2. Frederick Bergren, a Scandinavian missionary, is considered as the one responsible for introducing and teaching floorball in Metro Manila among the urban poor children. 

3. Kreative Kids, a homeschool group, was one of Bergren's group to teach with coaches Ryan Elizaga and Toti Andes helping out. They were also responsible for communicating with the International Floorball Federation for requesting for equipment and start-up materials. 

4. Sometime in 2009, floorball games were played regularly at the Greenhills Christian Fellowship. Athletes in Action, an evangelical group, introduced the sport to University of the Philippines-Diliman and University of Makati.   

5. Floorball Philippines, the national organization, was formed in April 2011 and on May 8 of the same year, was officially recognized by IFF as the 53rd member country. 

6. Floorball Philippines was changed to Philippine Floorball Association (PFA) and was as officially registered on April 10, 2015 at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a non-profit sport organization.

7. The Philippine Floorball League (PFL), the seasonal league competition of floorball clubs in the country, was launched in 2012. Floorball's growth is on a steady rise, thanks to the scholastic bases established around the country.

8.  The four founding clubs of PFA are: UP Floorball Club, University of Makati Floorball, University of Asia & the Pacific-Dragons, and the De La Salle Zobel.


9. The Philippines sent out its national teams(Men's and Women's), for the first time, in December 2014, in the 1st Southeast Asian Floorball Championships held in Singapore.

10. Floorball was included for the very first time in the Southeast Asian Games 2015 and the Philippines was represented in the men's tournament of four countries. 

11. Philippine Floorball Association is working on the inclusion of floorball in the Palarong Pambansa. It may come to reality sooner that you think.

12. There are twelve (12) regular PFA Member clubs and six (6) provisional members ranging from corporate, scholastic and community-based clubs.

13. Philippine Floorball Blog is here to spread the news.