It's been a busy summer since the Men's U19 team returned from Frederickshavn, Denmark.  After a summer of reflection (and NAFL floorball!) I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on their performance, the lessons learned, and the future of the Men's U19 program and our next steps.

First and foremost, our young men played together for the past four years, thanks to COVID.  They grew into a solid band of brothers, and they played hard together and for each other.  I'm inordinately proud of the youth development initiatives all over the country, and my thanks to Daniel Williamsson for his efforts as Director of Youth Development for USA Floorball.  Between Daniel's efforts, and those efforts at clubs like Chicago, Utah, Colorado, and North Texas, the player pool grew dramatically within the borders of the country.

This was manifested in our largest-ever domestic contingent within the club - FOURTEEN of the twenty players that dressed for the World Floorball Championships were domestically sourced.  Joining them were six American citizens from Europe who brought with them toughness, skill, speed, and experience.  It was a great blend of players, and we all had high hopes heading into our training camp in Gothenburg, Sweden, the week before the tournament. 

In Gothenburg, we had the opportunity to train at SSL club Pixbo Wallenstam's home rink.  There we continued to work on skills, plays, and broke down film.  We played the West Sweden all-star team for 17 year olds, and while we lost, we gained valuable experience.  We also spent more time as a team, including a trip to Klubbhuset downtown and also to USA Floorball sponsor Unihoc's headquarters a short distance away.

Monday afternoon we took the ferry over to Denmark, and checked into our hostel.  The next day we were able to train with Australia, and enjoyed a fun and spirited practice.  Our bonds across the Pacific are strong!  In Halifax in 2019, we were able to train against the New Zealand team and had just as much fun, and competitiveness.  We would love an opportunity to have more friendlies and joint training with the boys from AOFC.

Wednesday night we opened in the main arena against the home team, Denmark.  Denmark was not only the host, but recently relegated from the top 8.  While we played hard, and did our best to withstand the attacks, Denmark prevailed 14-1 on our first night.  On Thursday night we faced Estonia, and fell to them 12-1. 

Friday morning there was a new determination amongst the players and coaches.  Morning was spent on film, analyzing what went wrong in our first two games.  That night we started strong, jumping out to a 2-0 lead on Austria in our last pool match.  At 3-3 late in the second, we had a bad five minutes and the bounces suddenly weren't going our way, as we gave up 6 goals in the final five minutes of the second period.  The team came out hard in the third, tallying 3 goals and pulling to within 3 for the final 9 minutes, but we couldn't get over the hump, losing 6-9.

That set up our final remaining placement game against Singapore for 15th place.  Only 12 hours after finishing the game against Austria, we fell to Singapore and finished 16th at the 2023 World Floorball Championships.  Through a series of four tough games, we gained a lot of experience and learned a lot about what we had to do to get ready for the 2025 WFC, which will be held in Switzerland in late April.

One of our biggest takeaways was that we were not physically conditioned enough.  The other teams were simply faster than most of our guys.  They also had spent a lot of time training together, not simply playing games.  In discussing the preparation with other federations, we found that the top nations got together 5 or 6 times per year to practice and train.  We need to have better overall ball and stick handling abilities, and work hard on cutting and running to the open spot. 

We are committed to getting better!  While we had fun and were proud to represent YOU, we were disappointed in our finish.  We felt like we should have been able to win at least one game.  I am committed to improving the program, and to that end I want to hear from ANYONE who wants to work with us, on or off the pitch. 

To that end, I am opening all positions up for applications and reviewing the entire organization.  All positions are considered "open".  Existing staff members who wish to return should call or email to let me know that they are still interested. 

I am looking for volunteers who have a passion for growing youth floorball and preparing our young men for international competition.  I'm open to discussing any role at this point - no one on our staff is irreplaceable if we can be better.  Our positions include:

Front Office:

Assistant GM
Fundraising & Sponsorships
Media Relations (Social, PR, News)
Travel Coordinator

Coaching Staff:

Head Coach
Assistant Coach
Strength & Conditioning Coach
Goalie Coach
Equipment Manager
Physiotherapist

I encourage anyone who is interested in any of these positions to email me directly at brian.radichel@usfba.org.  We are doing whatever it takes to make our program better.  I will take emails until September 1, and will announce our next two year cycle's staff after US Nationals.  I'm very proud of the U19 players and alumni who played in the NAFL.  For the returning players, the continued high-level experience was invaluable. 

For players, the next cycle starts NOW.  To participate in the 2025 U19 WFC, you must be at least 15 years old by (approximately) April 24, 2025, and you must be born in 2006 or later.  We are fielding a development team at the US National Championships in Dallas, Texas, on Labor Day weekend.  We would like to have two!  We will send invitations to everyone who has expressed an interest.  To ensure that you are considered, please email me.

I'm excited to take this program to the next level!  My ultimate goal is to help guide our Men's U19 squad to the top ten in the world by 2031.  That's four more cycles.  Each year, we want to win at least one more game at a minimum.  In doing so, we want to grow our players and get them ready for the Men's team, where my counterpart Stefan Hedlund is the General Manager.  I know that Stefan will appreciate all our work in preparing young Americans for the highest level of international floorball!

My thanks goes out to everyone who helped in this past cycle:  on the front office staff, Melissa VanPatten (Asst. GM), David Folic (Fundraising), Heather Gray (Fundraising & PR), Adam Troy (Media & PR).  On the coaching staff, Joel Olofsson (Head Coach), Daniel Williamsson (Asst. Coach), Nick VanPatten (Asst. Coach), Trent Kling (Goalie Coach), Juha Rouvinen (Equipment Manager), and Chris Rasmussen (Physiotherapist).  My thanks also goes to USA Floorball and especially Calle Karlsson (President) and David Nilsson (Treasurer) for all their help and guidance. 

The road for 2025 starts today!  Let's go USA!

Brian