Easy way to share floorball with kids (and their parents).

For those of us who love the great sport of floorball, we probably already do a great job telling our family and friends about floorball. But how can we extend that reach? It's really simple as I have found out lately. My son (6 years old) has been asking more and more to play floorball so I decided to step it up, get out of the driveway, grab my home made nets (PVC and netting), a handful of small sticks and head to a popular playground in our neighborhood. Almost instantly kids started collecting around us playing floorball. Both my son and I would gently ask the curious kids if they wanted to try (while looking to the parents for approval). They were interested and a short time later they were hooked.

Here are some tips:

1. You don't have to bring IFF approved goals. Any type of goal will work. Home made PVC  nets with netting (full or small size), milk crates or even cheap small soccer nets (small mesh) would work - http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=3418321

2. Bring a few small sticks and a few balls. If you don't have toddler or youth sticks, you could simply cut down older broken sticks and re-wrap with tennis grip. Flex and stick hook (straighter the better) are not important at such a young age. Safety is important though, so check to make sure the stick will stay together and doesn't have any sharp parts.

3. The best prop you can bring is a toddler who already has some experience. Bigger kids would probably intimidate young kids. A lone adult might not be so welcoming to parents.

4. When you arrive, set up the two nets and throw the extra sticks and balls to the side so they are visible. Bright color sticks and balls will draw their attention. You will know they are interested when they start to investigate the sticks/balls. If your toddler is social, encourage him/her to invite the curious kids to play.

5. If the kids are interested, make sure to get some confirmation from the parent/guardian that they approve.

6. SAFETY CHECK AND PERSONAL SPACE. Invite the parent/guardian over for a little safety check and explain how each child should take turns with just one ball in play at first so that you can evaluate their control of the stick and remind everyone to stand 5 steps away from each other at first. You don't want 5 kids with 5 sticks and 5 balls running wild at first. Keep directions simple, rather than say "Keep the stick below your knees" which might be a hard concept to understand, tell them to "Keep the blade of the stick on the ground at all times" while demonstrating. Ask the parent/guardian which hand their child is. If they are not sure, ask the child to pick up the ball and throw it to you. This might help you figure out which side to start them on. Then ask the parent/guardian if you can hold the child's hand to show the them how to hold the stick or if you can show the parent how to do it for them. Remember, different parents/guardians/kids all have different levels of personal space especially when it comes to strangers, so make sure you respect that and look for clues that you might be making someone uncomfortable.

7. Start with easy "wins". Have each child stand 4 feet from the goal and shoot the ball into the net. The goal here is to give them something to be excited about. Once they have mastered that, try having two kids pass to each other and shoot. An adult can play goalie and let balls enter the goal while making it look like you tried hard to stop it. Another easy task is having the adult play "keep away" from the kids. I would only recommend this if the kids demonstrate good stick control (from a safety perspective).

8. Free play and promotion. Let the kids play with any adult interaction and take that opportunity to talk to the parents/guardians. Let them know how they can find out more about floorball. Give them a flyer, ask them them to write down usafloorball.org, have them take a picture with their child in front of the net with a stick and ball with a usafloorball.org domain name visible on the stick or goal.

You are now an ambassador for this great sport and planting the seeds for the future growth of the sport.