Team profile:
It all started in the early 90's when one person with his
electric wheelchair went to an international camp to meet
people in the Netherlands. He saw electric wheelchair hockey
and as they call it, E-hockey, being played. He thought
that this is one of the best ideas in ages for people with
muscular dystrophy.
Then in the Capitol of Finland, Helsinki, a group of teenagers
and young
adults started to practise together. First without a clue
of the rules, then evolving to a national championships
series. In 1995 a group of the pioneers travelled to Germany,
translated the rules in Finnish. In 1998 we
took part in the World Championships in the Netherlands,
thus the medal
was so close.
After the first trip abroad a bigger and bigger group of
active people have gathered up electric wheelchair users
from all around the country; we have six teams in our national
series and two teams practising on a regular basis. People
with other than muscular dystrophy have begun to play spt-salibandy,
as we call it in Finland. Salibandy, in English Floorball,
and its national federation has adopted us well even though
most of the others 30,000 players run with their feet.
