The Finnish Floorball Federation is currently implementing the “Enabling Multiculturalism in Floorball” project, which aims to increase the participation of people from overseas backgrounds in floorball club activities and to strengthen equality and integration through sport.
Among other things, the project will create a model for multicultural participation, train selected pilot clubs in multicultural interaction, and produce a beginner’s guide to floorball in several different languages. The project’s partner clubs are AC HaKi, Hatsina, Hawks, Merikoski SBT, OFBC, and SB Vantaa.
Nicolas Jokinen began as the project coordinator at the start of last November. Jokinen is a community educator by training, and in addition to his role as project coordinator, he works as an educator at Helsingin Icehearts ry. Jokinen has a diverse background in social and youth work, as well as experience working with children and families of overseas origin and in floorball coaching.
– I hope that as many children as possible will discover the sport and feel just as welcome in club activities as I did when I joined Forssan Suupparit in 2001. Our company’s old slogan, “A game for all of us”, comes to life in this project, and it is absolutely essential that we remember it in our daily work within the sport community, Jokinen emphasises.
– Floorball has been a sport very dear to me since I was a child. It has taught me healthy lifestyle habits, kept me from going down the wrong path, and given me lifelong friends. Floorball is a game for all of us, and I don’t know of a better way to prevent social exclusion than through physical activity and team sports, says Jokinen, who was adopted from Colombia to Finland at the age of one.
The project is led by Mervi Kilpikoski, Development Director at the Finnish Floorball Federation. She sees its significance as part of the federation’s work on equality.
– We want floorball to be a sport that’s truly for everyone. Through this project, we’re building concrete ways to reach new players, lower the barrier to entry, and strengthen clubs’ ability to embrace diversity, Kilpikoski explains.
The project in a nutshell:
Goal: To promote the participation of people from overseas backgrounds in floorball club activities and to support integration through physical activity.
Key measures, objectives, and impact:
- Develop and pilot a multicultural family floorball concept in 5–10 clubs across Finland
- Train pilot clubs to implement multicultural club activities and engage participants from different cultural backgrounds
- Prepare and translate a beginner’s guide to floorball into at least five different languages
- Attract at least 50 new players from diverse cultural backgrounds to the sport
- Strengthen clubs’ capacity to engage with a diverse population and develop more inclusive