WFC 2009 – POST TOURNAMENT WRAP UP

Hi again everyone and thanks for all of your messages and calls of support since Friday night, the girls have really appreciated it. We’ve heard that the boys on the WFC2010 training camp were even up at 4am to watch the game… thanks boys.

On Friday night, 22 Australian girls achieved the highest success in Australian Floorball to date, by lifting the World Floorball Championship Cup and proudly received gold medals for winning the B Division final. The result speaks for itself, but it is a whole lot more than just finishing on top. Australia has also won the 8th automatic qualifying spot for the WFC2011 in Switzerland and is the only non-European nation to do so.
What can also be considered quite remarkable about this achievement is that there were only 3 European based players in the 22, and one of those does not have a European parent. Of course, a few more have spent a season in Europe, but they have all gained their experience predominantly in the still developing Australian competitions.

As the result is still sinking in to minds of all players and supporters of Australian floorball, I would like to ask you to consider some points I have noted from this campaign.

There are some key words I have found and have identified a moment, or moments, to fittingly describe them.

COURAGE:

For me, this is the work of the coaches, Jurg Kihm, Oli Bachofen and Grant Mead, who realised that simply continuing to train the squad as they had done so in the past was not going to be enough to match the other nations, who have been able to play more together in more international matches since WFC2007. They sought assistance in all aspects of training, including conditiona as well as psychological aspects, from other sports and consulted specialists. This for me shows courage to improve their own game and this has clearly been reflected in the results this week. Well done and huge congratulations for this effort.

DISCIPLINE:

Australia played 6 matches in the tournament this week and recorded less than 10 minutes in penalty minutes. This is not even 1 penalty per match. This shows tremendous discipline in doing the right thing, playing tough but within the rules and also a coolheadedness that was evident throughout the WFCs and the senior players (those who have played since 2007 and earlier) were the ultimate example in this regard. Fantastic effort here and the pressure of the 8 tournament days was certainly not a factor for the playing group.

This was evident in the statistics too, as Australia completed the tournament with no goals recorded against them in the 4 on 5 situations. This also leads me into the next item very nicely…

COMMITMENT:

There were 22 Australian girls fully committed to the cause in both the training camp in Finland and the WFCs in Sweden. In every match, and off the court as well, the girls fought together, worked together and supported each other unconditionally. But for mine, what summed this up for me was in the match against Italy. This result would have no impact on the standings in Group C, but the whole team worked so hard to play their game, remain focussed and stick to their game plan, that it was simply a delight to watch.

This match provided a moment for which I felt exactly demonstrated the level of commitment from the players. Ash Bourke was playing forward when the Italian goalkeeper took the ball. Australia were dominating possession and looked under little pressure from the Italians. It was Ash though, that took the chance to pressure the goalkeeper and stood her ground just a few metres away from the throw. It paid off and the goalkeeper was put off and ended up throwing the ball straight to Ash who made no mistake in converting it into a goal.

TURNING POINT – Group Matches:

Match reports often try to identify just where a match may have been decided, prior to the final whistle. Personally, I picked a moment that I believe demonstrated all of the above qualities and also helped to achieve the semi final berth. Playing against Slovakia, Stacey Wallace threw herself across the goal behind the Aussie goalkeeper to knock the ball away from what would have otherwise been a goal to Slovakia. We know this game ended with Australia just 1 goal to the good, but had the game been tied, it may have meant the semi-final berth would have not been ours.

TURNING POINT – Finals:

Again, I believe that some moments can be seen as the point of no return, where the result is safe, before the game is over. Playing against Germany, it was Stacey Wallace again who, with the score at 2-1 with just under 2 minutes to go, put in an all important extra effort to lunge and take the ball from the dangerous German captain and shut down a forward move that was looking promising.

There were plenty of these types of examples throughout all the games, but I have to single these out, because for me, they simply demonstrate the level of determination that all the girls had in reaching the final and their ultimate triumph.

SPECIAL MENTIONS and INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS:

I’ve mentioned already the senior players and their commitment, but one has been with the team from the very beginning and has played in every World Floorball Championship since 1999. Sarah Mitchell, who now lives, plays and coaches in Finland, has seen it all and after 5 previous tournaments without a medal, now has something of which to be extremely proud, a WFC gold medal. Starting out relatively late in a new sport, she has worked hard to continue to play in the national team for 10 years. In addition, she has also helped to organise training camps and has also worn the captain’s armband on many occassions. Thanks Sarah and congratulations to you.

Mel Cathie has also put her heart into floorball for many years, and this year, she received recognition for her WFC2009 efforts and was included in the B Division Allstars line. Well done Mel, a nice addition to the gold medal.

From the more senior players to the rookies: Joanne Allan, who played under a bit of off court pressure in the match against Italy, scored her first international goal. But that’s not all… it was also her first start in the opening line and the goal was scored in 18 seconds from the start of the match… AND it was the first of 3 goals for the game!

Jayne Aitken, in the Italian match and in her only appearance for the tournament, played extremely well and recorded Australia’s first shut out since 2001. Jayne was listed on the match record in all 6 matches, so she can proudly claim 6 caps and 0 goals against, an effort to be very proud of.

Jemima Kanerva, the youngest in the Australian team, achieved a hattrick in the match against Slovakia, scoring 3 very important goals in the match and ensuring the full points went to the Aussies. Andrea Staubli can claim accolades for her efforts in the Slovakian match too, providing the ball to Jemppa for all 3 goals. Well done lefties.

CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOUs:

I would like to offer my personal thank you to everyone who helped Australia during their preparations and during the WFCs for their fantastic support and help. The list is very long and I cannot write them all here for fear of leaving someone out. However, I will list the 4 other people who rounded out the list of officials for Team Australia for WFC2009.

The first two are also included in the 22 players that I have referred to above. Peta Campbell and Suz Tulkiewicz were players listed in the original squad but were not fortunate to make the final 20. I have already mentioned commitment, but to make the journey to Finland for the training camp and to Sweden for the WFCs was a huge huge effort that was greatly admired and appreciated by all. Thank you both for all the work you have done, on the bench supporting the players and off the court in the same regard. I cannot stress how important this has been.

Elin Skoog and Lisa Eskils, two of our Swedish friends who have played floorball in Australia, offered their skills to the team and helped the players with their recovery and were always available for massage and physio assistance and advice. It’s down to their support and help that the Aussies got through the WFCs with no injuries.

Again, I cannot list the countless people who have also helped us along the way, but you all know who you are and we will not forget you.

Thank you all, very very much, it has truly been a pleasure and of course the result is so sweet, but had it been any other way, my comments above would still remain 100% intact.

Thank you on behalf of Floorball Australia.

Kevan Lyons - Team Manager