The view into the future

If there is one thing I am always stressing when leading a trainer course in floorball, it is the fact that I do not want any up and coming coaches to overestimate coaches working in the sport today, and what they have already come up with. I want people to come up with chaotic and radical thoughts, that with some fine tuning could be brilliant.

In this part of the Tacticfox- Column I will give the floorball future a helping hand.

What will happen?

More dynamic teams
I think that long term, possession will be more important than it is right now. And therefor we will also see teams treating their high and low defensive systems as almost equally important things.

More possession based penalty killing
Right now in the world class level of floorball, we are in a situation where the referees whistle half a goal, as soon as they are whistling a penalty. The improvement of team’s powerplays if of course making the situations for the referees even tougher than it already is, since their decisions will be even more in focus. A powerplay that plays two minutes effective time with the ball nowadays, is just extremely hard to stop. I am pretty certain, that we will see penalty kill-systems that approach the game differently in the future, more based on actually playing with the ball themselves.

New names for the positions of the players
I threw the question out there about new names for the player positions in floorball. My favourites being newly founded names like ”Doffensivplayer” as well as borrowed positions from other sports like ”Point Guard” and ”Quarterback”. I will replace the ugly word ”defender”, but I have not made my final decisions yet.


What will not happen?

1-3-1 system.
The New Jersey Devils used a 1-3-1 setup in NHL in ice hockey back in the mid 90's. It was so revolutionary that it knocked fans out of their seats… and into their beds, sleeping. I do not see it as a big risk, that this system will force people fall asleep in floorball. Mainly because there is no blue line in floorball, stopping people from entering the opponent’s zone before the ball. But - as always - I would love to be convicted. I do not think I will be, though. Then again, defensive systems named by numbers are of course tricky, and with some good imagination I guess you could argue that an M-system is also a version of a 1-3-1…


What will have to happen?

Us stealing from handball
I think - and hope - that we will steal some things from handball. Despite myself being a guy who like to stick my nose out and talk to referees and basically anything that moves, I am a loyal guy, and would never risk getting penalized for complaining. Handball has cemented a way to increase the flow of the game, where the ball after a whistle is placed on the floor, and the action immediately keeps on flowing. A player not putting the ball down, will be penalized and putting his team in a bad situation. A player arguing with the referee will put his team in a numerous disadvantage, that is quickly exploited in a handball counter attack. I would love to see this in floorball too.

Threat with the ball
To really get the fans even more into the game of floorball, I hope that the future top players in floorball will always be threats to the opponents, as soon as they have possession of the ball. I want every one watching floorball games having the feeling of ”oh, he might score” at all times. If we can apply that to our sport, floorball to me would be the ultimate sport also from an entertainment approach.

Thank you all for the feedback I have recieved on hc.yekcohinussiws@nossnaj.divad. I have read every single word. See you in a sports centre near you!

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_{David Jansson}

The Author:
David Jansson (1980) has been the Coach of the Swiss National team since June 2015. Already as a 17-year old, he debuted in the SSL (Swedish highest division) and between years 1995-2005 he had played for 3 different clubs  - Jönköpings, Älvstranden and Pixbo. His coaching career includes two years as head coach of the swiss club Floorball Köniz (2009-2011) as well as four years by Pixbo Wallenstam. He had also worked as the sports teacher at the floorball gymnasium in Gothenburg. He lives in Kloten.