Floorball for all! - floorball4all.info

Djibouti, situated in the Horn of Africa was the first country that we looked at in Africa. It was a real challenge; even before we could start with the three week schedule, we had to overcome various obstacles. Foreign country with a completely different culture, difficulties in communication, a hot climate, and the entire social environment were the major difficulties which we had to face at the outset. A training programme was carried out in the Afar slums over the first week. We moved to Tadjourah, which lies on the other side of the Gulf for the second week. There, we trained coaches and several junior teams as well. The third week was reserved for the second National Floorball Tournament. This event brought together the best teams in the country after they qualified through regional competitions. We as the Swiss team fitted in nicely into the proceedings and could contribute by providing an important impetus for the long term development of the game in the area.

We could organise two coach training programmes in Djibouti during the spring of 2009. These coaches have put in valuable work in Afar slum in Djibouti City and in the satellite town PK12. Dubabee and Gilane have conducted several programmes for children and adolescents. They have shown great loyalty and commitment towards the programme despite facing a lot of opposition and difficulties.

Souleman, Bourhan and Hassan have been conducting training sessions for different teams on large and small fields in Tadjourah, a small town near the Red Sea.  A regular session has been planned for Obock, a poor town in the west of Djibouti, from the fall of 2009. We had visited the place during the 2009 spring training session with Souleman and are looking to make a local youth hailing from Obock responsible for the programme.

We are working towards establishing another training facility in another part of the town to be maintained by trained coaches. We are also looking to organise regional as well as national tournaments to build a structure that will contribute for long term growth and sustainability of floorball here. The Swiss national coordinator has been the major force behind these proceedings as he has been coordinating with local coaches and has been responsible for accompanying and training these enthusiastic young people. 

We cancelled this project because there were too few participants for our three-week coach training camp in Djibouti. A woman registered later, who wanted to convince her brother about this project. We enquired with some people again and the coach training course in Djibouti found footing again. For the first time, we will train large field coaches (in Tadjourah) alongside small field coaches in Djibouti. We will also be there for the second big national tournament. We expect the Vice President of the International Floorball Federation (IFF), Renato Orlando to be in Djibouti at the time. We hope for a continuing fruitful association with the IFF. We have also received an invitation from the neighboring Somalia to start with a Floorball project there. Talks are underway currently.  Probably a part of our delegation will travel to Somalia or some people responsible for the Somalia project will come for the coach training to Djibouti.

Jöne came back from a five-month project in Djibouti recently. In one of the slum quarters of Djibouti, he began with the training. At present there are ten teams which train once a week; there is also night training, now that our people have installed lights there. In Tadjoura, the second largest city of the country, the training is continuing with 10 teams with a local coach. They could fix a Floorball board in a sports field and train four teams in the open field. The first national Floorball tournament was conducted in mid-March. The best teams from Tadjoura and Djibouti took part in it. Two Somalian teams also participated, which is rather sensational since the Afar and Somali people do not have any contact with each other. The Minister for Sports and Youth attended the event and gave the winning team the cup that he had donated. A report on the tournament and this sport in Djibouti was shown in four evening news programs on the television.

New training sessions in Djibouti are planned. In this country, where unemployment rate lies at a minimum of 70% and the herbal stimulant Khat is chewed by practically every man perpetually every hour daily, the young people tell us how happy they would be to have a meaningful and stimulating activity with which they can fill their time.

We are working more so that Floorball spreads further in Djibouti and can be played with enthusiasm.

The project leader and his family shifted to the capital (Djibouti-City) because of professional reasons. The library management and Floorball initiative was handed over to the locals. Martin visits Tadjourah twice a month and helps the young trainers in their work. This makes things even busier for them. Two tournaments could be held in the last school year. New teams along with young adolescents were developed.

Regular training took place even after the departure of coaches. The sandy ground in front of the library could be cemented during the summer break. This made the game much quicker and more comfortable.

The new library for primary school in the white city Tadjourah at the Red Sea started its operations. The students came with their teachers to familiarise themselves with books. We quickly came to realise that they needed at lot of exercise besides reading and learning. This is the reason we started the Floorball training with half a class of older primary students on the big ground of sand in front of the library. These activities were keenly observed by the senior children. They asked if they could also be allowed to try this new sport played with sticks.