News: USA Floorball and North American Floorball League are collaborating with Spintso 2024-10-02
Photo: Adam Troy (adammtroy @ Instagram)
News: USA Floorball and North American Floorball League collaborate with Spintso
Spintso is starting an exciting collaboration with USA Floorball and the North American Floorball League to support the growth of floorball in the USA and provide assistance to referees. By delivering communication equipment in the form of Refcom II, we ensure that the referees on the field have the best possible tools to officiate matches professionally and efficiently. This partnership marks an important milestone for both the sport and Spintso, as we proudly contribute to the development of floorball in the USA, but especially to the support and advancement of referees.
We took the opportunity to ask Carl Karlsson, USA Floorball President, a few questions about floorball in the USA:
– Hello Carl, can you tell us more about the United States Floorball Association (USFBA) and the North American Floorball League (NAFL)?
– USFBA is the American floorball federation that has fostered and developed youth, players, coaches, and the sport in the USA since 1997. NAFL is the American elite league, now in its third year, which takes place during July each year. USA Floorball supports and works with NAFL, especially in terms of referees.
– Why hasn't the USA had such a league before, and why is floorball growing so much in the USA now?
– The American floorball federation has primarily focused on youth development and the American national teams' participation in the World Championships. Unfortunately, elite initiatives don’t bring much benefit to the volunteer-run clubs or youth development. That said, there hasn’t been sufficient resource allocation to focus on an elite league like NAFL. It’s only now, with its management by a private company, that NAFL is gaining interest. We are especially seeing floorball grow in American ice-hockey cities, where people recognize the benefits of floorball as a complement to ice-hockey training.
Photo: Adam Troy (adammtroy @ Instagram)
On the left is Vince Faso, USA Floorball Director of Referees, and on the right is Thomas Andersson, floorball referee from Sweden
– What is your outlook on the future of floorball in the USA?
– The USA is traditionally a large country with incredible opportunities. Once floorball becomes more permanent and officially part of university sports, interest will explode. There are no limits to how big the sport can become in the USA and globally. In my view, a lot depends on universities and the college sports association NCAA.
– But... how great is it that your referees can now use Refcom II from Spintso?
– Refcom II will be an incredibly valuable tool for our referees, elevating their performance and continuing the development of our referee base in the USA. To reach the highest level, it’s essential that we have the best tools available, and Spintso is giving us this opportunity.
– Thank you, Carl, and best of luck with everything related to floorball in the USA.
On the right in the picture is Carl Karlsson, USA Floorball President, presenting an award during the National Awards