Kaitaia local is keen for floorball league in north

SWISS TIMING: Daniel Fasnacht with his prized Weggis Floorball Club shirt signed by his old teammates.

Anyone for floorball?

That's the call from a Kaitaia businessmen who's keen to see the sport grow in the Far North. If anyone is qualified to promote the game, likened to an informal but still intensely competitive version of indoor hockey, it's Daniel Fasnacht.

The new owner of the Beachcomber Restaurant juggles work and family duties with his role as manager of the New Zealand men's team which flies out for Thailand tomorrow to play in the Asia Oceania region qualifiers for the World Floorball Championships in Pattaya, Thailand from February 2-6. There, the New Zealand team will face Australia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Fasnacht said the plan was to have New Zealand make the top three and qualify for the 2016 world championships in Latvia in December.

"The 18-player strong squad stands a good chance to become the first New Zealand team to qualify for the world championships," he said, adding this will be the second time that New Zealand has sought to qualify for the worlds, following on from a previous qualifying event in Wellington in 2014.

He noted the New Zealand team was mostly a young one with the majority of players aged between 16 and 19, including a number of up-and-comers from the national under-19 team. This was testament to the strong development of floorball in this country over the past few years, although he noted the squad also had a 50-year-old in its ranks.

"He's pretty fit," Fasnacht said.

The Swiss-born Fasnacht arrived in the Far North two and a half years ago where he was reunited with his parents who have lived at Cable Bay for the past 16 years. During his time in Switzerland, Fasnacht completed his business management studies in Switzerland and began playing - and developing a considerable passion for - the sport of floorball with the Weggis club from his hometown of Lucerne.

On arriving in New Zealand, he quickly found that floorball enjoyed a strong following in Wellington and began commuting between the Far North and the capital once a month. After about "three to four trainings", he found himself appointed manager of the national men's team.

Fasnacht said the next step was to get a floorball league up and running in Kaitaia. He plans to visit local schools to see if they were keen to include the game on their sporting programmes, and the proposed Te Hiku Sports Hub represented an ideal facility to promote the game here. In the interim, he was considering getting a businesshouse competition underway, possibly this winter.

" It's a game that's experiencing exponential growth across the globe and here in New Zealand and it's not expensive to play. All you need are shoes and a stick."

- Floorball is a type of indoor hockey played as a five-a-side with a lightweight stick and a light plastic ball. Originating in Switzerland, the game's advocates note more than two million people worldwide play floorball, making one of the fastest growing team sports worldwide. Having gained recognition from the International Olympic Committee in 2008, the sport has enjoyed continuous growth in New Zealand and is being played by more and more young players, which is building the base of talent coming through to the national sides.

Floorball New Zealand promotes and runs social and competitive leagues involving school teams as well as adult social and competitive leagues.

Wellington is regarded as the national epicentre of the game with more than 900 players taking part in regular league games throughout the year as well as hosting an annual invitational tournament which attracts international teams. A competitive floorball league also operates in Auckland and there are floorball teams in Christchurch, Dunedin, Palmerston North and Upper Hutt. YouTube videos of European games played in front of packed arenas suggest floorball is serious business. Fasnacht said the game is fast-paced and physical, with players constantly pushing the allowed shoulder-to-shoulder contact ruling.