First-known Floorball equipment acquired by the Ateneo De Manila HS in early 2000s
- First-known Floorball equipment acquired by the Ateneo De Manila HS in early 2000s
First introduction of floorball in the Philippines can be traced back in early 2000s when a set of floorball equipment was given to the Ateneo de Manila High School in Quezon city. However, a more organized floorball introduction in the country took place through a Scandinavian missionary Fredrik Bergren, who taught floorball to urban poor children in Metro Manila. Bergren also introduced the sport to the Homeschool group Kreative Kids and advised its coaches Ryan Elizaga and Totie Andes to contact the International Floorball Federation (IFF) for more assistance. Elizaga and Andes, who were also part of a Christian sport organization Athletes In Action, contacted the IFF and received some start-up materials from international federation.
Initial floorball practices were held in Greenhills Christian Fellowship (GCF) gym in Pasig city since 2009. After receiving more sticks, balls and goal keeper equipment from the IFF, AIA introduced the sport to different schools and universities including the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman and University of Makati (UMak). The Christian sports group offered free floorball training workshops to coaches and students while sharing the Gospel in the process. AIA initiated the propagation of floorball in the country with the desire to bring with it the gospel of Jesus Christ to change the lives of the players, eventually help improve the Philippine sport culture. Two years later, the AIA leaders and coaches formed Floorball Philippines (FP) on April 4, 2011. The following month on May 8, 2011, the Philippines through FP was officially recognized by the IFF as its 53rd member country.
Floorball continued to grow as an organized sport in the Philippines through regular floorball competitions which resulted to more teams participating from different schools and universities. These school teams eventually formed their own respective floorball clubs which led to the formation of the Philippine Floorball Association (PFA). The four founding clubs of PFA are: UP Floorball Club, UMak Floorball, UA&P Dragons, and the De La Salle Zobel. The PFA was officialy registered on April 10, 2015 at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a non-profit sport organization.
The PFA has managed to steadily push the growth of floorball in the country by establishing the Philippine Floorball League (PFL) since 2012. The PFL is the seasonal league competition of floorball clubs in the country. In December 2014, the Philippines has sent out its national team for its first international competition during the 1st Southeast Asian Floorball Championships held in Singapore. In less than six months, the men’s national floorball team participated in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games also in Singapore in June 2015. This was also the first time that floorball was included in a multi-sport event.
Finally with its aim to develop the sport on a national scale, the PFA has started a regular floorball program in Cebu through the University of San Carlos and Cebu International School in early 2015. Although the aim of the association is to make floorball one of the fastest growing and a well-organized sport in the country, the PFA still looks back at its roots of existence which is to use the platform of floorball to cause significant change in the lives of its members and participants, reflecting that change in society.
