176 Teams Compete in Singapore’s Largest 3-on-3 Floorball Tournament
50 sports leaders championed the event under U Sports Capability Development Programme
Singapore, 19 March 2016 – Over 800 participants dribbled, passed and scored their way to the top in the largest 3-on-3 floorball tournament held at D’Marquee, Downtown East. Held for the seventh consecutive year, this year’s tournament saw the highest number of teams participating to date as registration closed with a total of 176 teams, an overall increase of 40 percent from last year.
Organised by the U Sports Liitto Floorball Team FC, the well-received two-day tournament is one of their key events to develop and groom more leaders in the Labour Movement sporting community.
Leadership Development and Giving Back Through Sports
50 girls from the U Sports Liitto Floorball Team FC worked diligently behind the scenes to make this huge 3-on-3 floorball tournament possible. As nEbO and union members, these girls have undergone U Sports’ capability development programme and were given the chance to champion the entire event. By placing an emphasis on the importance of sports community leaders, this 3-on-3 floorball tournament is a key representative of U Sports’ programmes and initiatives that provide a platform for members to organise and learn new skills.
“Beyond just engaging members through sports, U Sports has also been training some of its elite teams through its capability development strategy so that these members can in turn volunteer and lead sports offerings as a way to give back to the community. This tournament is a good example of how our members can gain exposure and opportunities to develop their leadership and management skills,” Mr Yeo Khee Leng, Chief Executive Officer, NTUC Club.
Out of the 50 girls in U Sports Liitto Floorball Team FC, 10 of them are also in the Women’s Floorball National Team, with prominent players such as Ms Felicia Lim and Ms Natalia Wee. Both sportswomen represented Singapore when they defeated Thailand 2-1 in the final preliminary match to top their group in the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
“U Sports has given us tremendous support and a platform for us to develop our capabilities in coaching and leadership so that we are equipped with the skills and values to step up and contribute back to our teams and the U Sports community. We truly appreciate U Sports’ effort in driving a stronger and more vibrant sporting community,” Ms Felicia Lim, Player in Singapore Women’s Floorball National Team and President of U Sports Liitto Floorball Team.
Besides planning this 3-on-3 floorball tournament, the U Sports Liitto Floorball Team coaches players with intellectual disabilities from the Special Olympics Singapore, and also initiated a Gift-A-Stick campaign, encouraging the donation of unwanted and/or old floorball sticks to be refurbished and given to underprivileged children. The Gift-A-Stick initiative will be held this weekend during the tournament.
3-on-3 Floorball Faceoff 2016
With the objective to garner more interest and participation of youths and union members in floorball, this annual event has 10 categories of different age groups. There are 73 teams in total for the Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Mixed Open and Mixed Novice, with the remaining 103 teams for the under-15 (U15), under-18 (U18) and under-21 (U21) categories for both boys and girls. The six categories that were specially catered to youths saw an increase of 25 percent in the number of teams coming forward to take part in the tournament this year, with the youngest participant being 10 years old. And for the first time in the history of U Sports 3-on-3 Floorball Faceoff, Special Olympics Singapore sent two teams to represent them in the Mixed Novice category. The Finals for each category was held on the same day with a prize presentation to the top four teams of each category