By RUSSELL BENNETT
AFTER winning the Australian Floorball Open in June, the Pakenham Floorball Club just continues to go from strength to strength.
The Australian under-19 men’s team was recently announced, with five Pakenham players gaining selection to play against New Zealand in a World Championship qualifier series in Sydney in October. Those players are 15-year-old Brayden Carr, 18-year-old Dakoda Shaw, and 16-year-olds Tom Delaney, Dylan Farquhar and Ryan Alexandrakis. All players are new to the team except Ryan, who participated in last year’s World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.
Three weeks after the team was chosen, the Australian men’s senior team was announced. Six players from Pakenham were selected and they will don the Aussie green and gold at the World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden in December this year. Those players included Gavin Staindl, Paul Hogg, Brad King, Ray Staindl, Jeremy Monckton and James Parnall – all seasoned players with a host of international caps among them. James Parnall is the only newcomer of the group to the Australian team.
All six Pakenham players will step on to the floor together as part of one line – a real luxury for the national side to have at its disposal.
Three players were selected from Pakenham to represent Australia in 2010, that number doubling this year.
Floorball is a kind of cross between indoor hockey and ice hockey and is typically played on oversized basketball courts with half-metre high side boards surrounding the playing surface. It is played with a lightweight ball and sticks, with five players plus a goalkeeper on the floor per team at all times.
While it’s technically a non-contact sport, it is extremely physical and action-packed.
Floorball is a massive sport in Europe, particularly the Scandinavian countries, while still being a relatively obscure sport in Australia.
The Pakenham Floorball Club is the largest and most successful floorball club in Australia. Players take part in weekly organised competition at Cardinia life, which caters to juniors, senior men and women, and over-40s.
Anyone who wants to take in the fast-paced action of floorball should venture down to Cardinia Life on Wednesday and Thursday night.
