It’s a Squishees’ floorem

Six Pakenham floorball players - James Parnall, Brad King, Gavin Staindl, Jeremy Monckton, Paul Hogg and Raymond Staindl (in no particular order) have been selected to play for the Australian national team at the upcoming World Championships. 130909 Picture: SUPPLIED

FROM Pakenham to Gothenburg, Sweden – a group of local floorball players will take on the world as part of the Australian men’s national team.
Six players from the Pakenham Squishees, which runs out of Cardinia Life in Pakenham Vic on a Wednesday and Thursday nights, will don the green and gold and represent Australia at the championships early next month.
James Parnall, Brad King, Gavin Staindl, Jeremy Monckton, Paul Hogg and Raymond Staindl have been selected for the 20-man squad ahead of the championships.
The Squishee Six have been playing the sport for many years – which at first glance resembles floor hockey or ball hockey but is played with specialised light-weight fibre glass or carbon fibre sticks and rules that promote safety and skill.
They believe it is a great honour to represent their country while playing the sport they love. Floorball is an innovative new sport that is quickly spreading across the world. It originated in Sweden in the 1970s as an alternative to hockey. Floorball is now played in 31 countries and is officially one of the world’s fastest growing sports.
The Australian team will attend a training camp in Eerikkila, Finland from 25 November and play two practice matches to prepare for the championships. Australia is currently ranked 17th in the world heading into the 10th IFF World Floorball Championships to be held in Gothenburg Sweden from 5 to 14 December. Australia is scheduled to play three preliminary round matches – against Russia, Canada and Denmark – in order to qualify for the finals.
For more information on floorball, visit the Australian Floorball website www.floorball.org.au