Cardinals Enjoy Try-Day Opportunity

The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA), with the financial support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Ontario Government, is again providing funding for 260 high school across the province to initiate a new sport or physical activity program into their school and St. Charles College is one of these lucky schools.

These “Try Day” programs are intended to introduce young people in high school to non-traditional sports or physical activities that may attract students who previously have not participated. This is the second year of a 3-year grant program in which the Ontario Trillium foundation has provided up to $800 per school to assist schools with promoting these goals.

These funds will assist St. Charles College to introduce “Floorball” to the Grade 9 to Grade 12 Physical Education Classes.

Floorball is a non-contact team sport where the aim is to direct the ball into the opposing team’s goal using a composite-fibre stick fitted with a plastic blade. Floorball is most popular in Sweden, Finland, and other European nations, but is actively played around the world in over 50 countries, including Australia, Japan, Canada, and the United States.

On October 1st, 2008 students of St. Charles College had and awesome opportunity to try the Floorball sports at their school. Not too many students were familiar with the sport but since it is a combination of the 2 most popular sport in Canada (hockey and Soccer) many students showed some skills.

People are in agreement that Floorball is an excellent alternative to Floor Hockey. The big difference between the two is that the rules of floorball do not allow for any high sticking, stick contact or body contact, so the game tends to be less physical than Floor Hockey and more skill oriented and fast paced.
It is a safer game! Floorball is played using a stick with a curved and concave plastic blade. The shaft is shorter than a traditional hockey stick and round, which makes it very maneuverable. This design allows for a shot that is more of a whipping or flicking type of motion as opposed to a slap shot. The stick is not permitted to be above the waist (knee for youth) on the back or fore stroke when taking a shot. There is no puck or heavy ball, instead a lightweight, plastic ball similar to a whiffle ball is used. The ball is extremely fast and can be easily lifted, bounced and deflected.

The rules of the game require fair play and promote heightened participation among all students.

The purpose of this TryDay was to give the chance to the St. Charles College students to try a new sports and see if that can be integrated into their phys.ed program as well as during lunch time intramural. This was a great success and students we very active during their gym time and help promoting a healthier live style.