And so, it begins. (U19 WFC post #2)

One surreal adventure in Göteborg is at an end and another surreal adventure in Helsingborg begins.

Every day at camp has been busy with practices, team building, recording and analyzing videos of both the team and of the goalies, planning and more practice. Apart from taking a few pictures for Instagram, there hasn’t been much time for writing, which is something I want to have time for. It has been a fantastic journey so far and to see the guys pour their heart and soul in to every practice, to watch them grow as individuals, as floorball players and as a group is such a privilege. 

Analyzing videos from pratice.

Jeremy doing "The reverse scorpion"

Team captains and the coaching staff after a practice in Wallenstamhallen.

 

Analyzing videos from the last practice.

On the way to a practice match against Katrinelundsgymnasiet.

Training camp is now over and we have arrived in Helsingborg and done our first practice in Idrottens Hus where we will be playing our games for the tournament, and I had one of the most inspirational experiences I have ever had, shortly after checking in at the hotel; a pre-tournament flag signing ceremony with the team. We were presented with the Canadian flag and each and every person on the team got to sign the flag with their names and/or the names of the people they were playing the world championships for. One after one they got up in front of the rest of the team and gave a backstory to their relationship to the person whose name they put down, which was the centrepiece of a very emotional and beautiful ceremony.

  

The flag before the signing. Picture of signed flag will be uploaded later.

We finished our first day in Helsingborg by watcher Spider Man, sleeping and.......

... a snack!

Before our first practice here in Helsingborg, I met up with my contact on the Latvian team whom I had arranged a meeting with through Blindsave Headquarters over in Latvia. I landed a sponsorship deal with Blindsave a while back and Andis Blinds had arranged it so that their U19 team would bring my gear with them to Helsingborg. I am now set up with a wide range of Blindsave products and I will be posting detailed reviews on their gear, probably after the tournament.
Stay tuned for that! After having tried the gear only once, I would strongly recommend it to anyone.

 

The guys, empowered by the ceremony did really well at the practice that followed the ceremony and the person in the centre of my attention; our goalie Jeremy Peters, is improving with every practice. The Canadian team has been reinforced with another swede in David Jansson who joined us as soon as he was back in Sweden from coaching his team in the EFT, Team Switzerland. 

Jeremy and I have been working on movements as well as reflexes, positioning and box/net control, we have been working according to our plan and we have made stuff up along the way. The coaching staff is doing a good job with the guys and tomorrow at 18.15, we got Denmark in our first game.

Watch our game live here! 

https://www.youtube.com/user/IFFLive