Photo: Adam Troy
The 2023 USA Floorball youth nationals was held in Orlando Florida in conjunction with the NAFL championship Orlando weekend. This was done by design to allow the players participating to watch stars from Europe compete in the United States. It also gave them the opportunity to enroll in the Peaches Vikings camp with appearances from Linus Malmstrom, Kevin Haglund, Albin Hedstal and Niklas Ramirez from the SSL.
Youth nationals consisting of three different age groups which was a huge milestone for youth floorball in the US. With teams flying from all over the US to compete for the title. The location of the tournament allowed the players and their families to explore greater Orlando. Within less than a 30-minute drive they could find amusement parks such as Disney World and Universal Studios. AdventHealth Fieldhouse located in Winter Haven, which hosted both Youth Nationals and the NAFL, included amenities such as a gym and a swimming pool for the players to take advantage of. The facility was able to house three full size IFF courts so that there could be three games being played simultaneously.
The tournament itself was a great success. Teams from Chicago, Utah, Colorado, Nashville and Florida fought evenly matched games in all age groups. Many games ended the 15x2 regular time in a tie leading to hard fought overtime goals and shootouts where players had the chance to show off their hardest shot or mind boggling zoros.
As a coach I was inspired by how determined my players were to win in face of adversity. For many players on the teams, I coached and for other teams as well this was their first Floorball tournament. Some had never even played an organized game with referees and a stop clock. I enjoyed teaching them what I had learned in my first floorball tournaments to help them develop as players. I watched as some kids who had only recently picked up a stick coming in with ice hockey experience or sometimes no experience at all, but just a passion for the sport begin to understand positioning and tactics even without my help.
As the tournament went on into the final day, I had two teams that wanted their names on the cup and were going to fight till the last second to make that happen. Unfortunately, in the end my U14 team lost in quarterfinals and my U16 team achieved second place to Colorado. Colorado has worked hard over a few years to build their team and the win was well deserved.
“It meant the world to these kids after all the hard work they put in to training. We had disappointing finishes the past two years and winning this year was amazing. “ says Colorado Coach Scott Lange.
Photo: Adam Troy
However, no one walked away empty handed. Other than the silver and bronze medals they earned each player had developed to another level. I made sure my teams knew that I was proud of them and that they had all done their best with the skills they had. I hope to coach them again next year.
