Floorball still provides a big hit

By Stuart Teather
WHAT do ice hockey players do when there is no ice?
They play floorball.
It may not be a widely known sport in Australia, but 19-year-old Ashleigh Bourke does not let that stop her.
Bourke, who plays domestic competition at Keysborough, the home of Melbourne floorball, was recently selected to play in her second Floorball World Championship, to be held in Sweden at the end of the year.
Floorball is essentially indoor hockey — players hit a plastic dimpled ball with sticks similar to, but smaller than, ice hockey sticks, into a goal.
While she does not play ice hockey — or even field hockey, for that matter — Bourke is certainly a rising star on the floorball circuit.
She picked up the sport at age 15 when she noticed a game going on while playing basketball at Pakenham, and never looked back.
First she played a domestic competition, where she caught the attention of the Victorian state side, and she was invited to train with the team.
Then, at the Australian Open, she caught the eye of the national team’s head coach, who invited her to train with the best in the country.
She now plays at Keysborough in both women’s and men’s teams.
While classified as a non-contact sport, Bourke said floorball games still get quite physical.
“It’s pretty similar rules to (ice hockey) but not as rough,” she said.
“It was a bit scary at first (playing against men), and it’s still a bit scary at times coming up against the big ones, but it’s all right.”
Bourke is no stranger to playing for her country, as she pulled on the national jersey at the last World Championship, held in Denmark in 2007.
“At the end of that I got ranked third for the points I scored over there, and that was in Denmark, it was a good experience,” she said.
“Last time we made the semi-finals and we lost by a goal to make it to the finals, so we did pretty well.”
The 2009 tournament will be in floorball’s heartland in Sweden, a country that has a professional league that receives regular television coverage.
Luckily, Australia will play in the B division at the World Championships, rather than face off with the powerhouses of the sport.
“In Sweden, Switzerland and Finland it’s like AFL pretty much… when we go over there they just kill us, because we’re new at the sport.”