Annalina Van Hercke: Representing the USA
Story was written by athletic communications assistant Alyssa Jodarki
When sports that use sticks and a net are brought up, most people's minds jump to lacrosse, field hockey, or hockey. However, there is a different sport, which is relatively new to the United States, that uses this same equipment. This sport is called floorball, and, along with 18 other US women, one of our students from Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW) represents the United States in national tournaments.
Annalina Van Hercke, a current player on the women's hockey team, has been playing on the USA International Team for four years. She explained, "Floorball is a popular sport in most European countries, but is just growing here in the United States. It is important that we begin to learn about it."
Van Hercke was able to get into floorball through ice hockey during her freshman year of high school. The floorball coach at her school contacted her ice hockey coach and the rest was history. She added, "The team needed a goalie, so I tried it out and I fell in love with it."
Floorball, as she described, "Is a fun, fairly inexpensive sport with the only necessary requirements being sneakers and a stick to play. I'm a goalie, which requires a little more gear, but I also have no stick."
The four-time participant at the world championships laid out the game, which is mostly similar to ice hockey without the ice: "The game is played with five players and a goalie to a team on the court. There are three periods in a game, each lasting about 20 minutes. While floorball is usually played on a special floor, it can also be played on a gym floor with knee-length boards around the court."
Van Hercke has traveled to Switzerland, Canada, and Slovakia to play in the world championships, starting on the U-19 (under 19 years of age) team and then progressing onto the women's team. Each year, the teams play earlier on to qualify for the championships. She is currently in Switzerland playing for the USA Women's Team in the 2019 World Floorball Championships. The tournament started on December 7 and will end on the 15th. So far, team USA has played two games against Australia and Singapore and is scheduled to play again against Thailand on December 12. The entire event is live-streamed on YouTube under "IFF Floorball- Channel 1."
The well-rounded individual has had to be incredibly disciplined to participate in floorball while still participating in CUW Hockey, working for CUW Athletic Communications, and pursuing a degree in Marketing. She expressed, "You have to be disciplined because time management is a necessity. For example, this semester I finished all of my classes and took my finals two weeks early in order to travel and play in Switzerland."
While a lot of time management is required, there are many benefits that come with playing floorball, and Van Hercke's favorite part is "the team that comes with the game."
She continued, "I have made all of my best friends through playing sports. It allows you to connect with people on different levels."
With floorball, the passionate athlete has had the opportunity not only to travel and make friends on her team but also to make friends from all over the world. She discussed, "The team I am on has players from all over the United States and the tournaments allow me to meet players from all across the world. I have made some very good friends through floorball."
Van Hercke not only has made friends and enjoyed being on a team but also has learned about life along with it. She concluded, "I would say the biggest things I've learned from floorball and hockey is how to work well with others, practice patience, respect others, and keep working towards my goals. Being in these sports has strengthened my character a great deal."
To learn more about floorball and the world champion tournament, visit https://neuchatel2019.ch/ or http://www.usafloorball.org/.
