Floorball for all! - floorball4all.info

In the last two years, we were involved in two coach training weeks. In 2008, the western part was more involved whereas this summer, we moved more to the east of this vast country. Unfortunately, due to the large distance (about 1000 km train ride) and the costs, only two participants of the first course in this year's training at the Black Sea could attend the training. The training is continuing in Rivne and new training programs have been started at other areas now. Dima and his co-trainers have made great progress and we hope that floorball continues to spread in Ukraine. This year's course also saw coaches from Latvia, Russia and even a Latvian who lives in China.

This year, for the first time, we conducted two coach training courses in Ukraine. The first was near the Crimea and the second in a western part of the country. Both the times, we met with over 20 motivated trainers who wanted to learn how to pass on the floorball enthusiasm. We even had a participant from Uzbekistan. We were able to give to some floorball material. Floorball is now played at some 20 locations in the second largest country in Europe. Plans are also underway for a championship in the regions and a national final round will be carried out with the best teams. We were a very motivated team that worked really well together. For us Swiss, these two weeks were very precious.

In Melitopol, in the east of the second largest country of Europe, we have carried out a coach training course last summer and received very encouraging results. In Melitopol itself, there are regular trainings for children of various age groups. We started with training programs at various schools in Kiev. There are also regular floorball training programs in Rivne, Lviv and in many other places now. This coaching course was also attended by prospective coaches from Russia and Latvia besides the Ukrainians. A Latvian has been active for some time in China. This summer we are planning one or two more coach trainings in Ukraine.

It was not easy to prepare for the coach training programme that was to be conducted in Melitopol near the Black Sea. We had very little and sometimes contradictory information about the infrastructure that would be available, the programme itself, and the expectations. We got there to discover that not much had been organized. However, the local people made themselves available in large numbers. This allowed us to chalk out a good schedule for the programme. The coaches that we trained gave a good feedback about what they had learned and this has encouraged us to conduct one or maybe two programmes next year as well.

We have been involved in Ukraine since the last two years and were able to hold two weeks of coach training programme during this time. In 2008, the focus was in the western Ukraine, whereas this year we were working in the eastern side of this vast country. The large distance (about 1000 km train ride) and related cost meant that only two participants from the last years programme could be involved in this year's training at the Black Sea. Training continues in Rivne and similar sessions are being started in new locations as well. Dima and his co-coaches have made great progress and we hope that floorball continues to spread throughout Ukraine. During this years training programme we had with us head coaches from Latvia and Russia; and even a Latvian who currently resides in China.

A 15 member team traveled to Ukraine in July. Primary purpose of this visit was to organize a coach training week in the city of Rivne. Some of us worked in orphanages and other pitched in with a practical hand to achieve this. We hoped to work with coaches from all of Ukraine. This could unfortunately not work out and we could work mainly with youngsters from Rivne and some interested participants from Kiev. Many participants were quite motivated and were regular with their training, some wanted to kick on and others wanted to learn new skills. Project participants came from Winterthur and the surrounding area, while most of the Floorball players were connected to HC Rychenberg. This was a pleasant and encouraging experience. Direct onsite translations helped overcome the language barrier in this project. Unfortunately, all our preparations were not ideal. But we will certainly do a lot better next time, now that we are familiar with the situation. The interaction with the Floorball team from Kiev was quite pleasant. Towards the end of the project we were taken for a city by the players from the Floorball club. We also played a game against the team from Kiev to round it off.