University of Toronto alumni Juha and Johanna Mikkola (nee Kytola) have just returned to Toronto from their wedding and honeymoon when they join me for an early morning coffee. “Mr. And Mrs. Floorball” tell me a bit about the sport, and how they first brought one of Europe’s most popular games to Canada, where it has since spread like wildfire inspiring a number of regular leagues in North America, the Canada Cup Floorball Championship, and even recognition as an official Summer Olympic event.
Floorball is a fast-paced and exciting type of indoor hockey that is wildly popular in Europe and is played by millions of people in more than 50 countries around the world.
Growing up in Finland, where the game is played by just about everyone, Juha and Johanna developed an early love for it, and for each other.
“Juha and I met through mutual friends when we were in high school in Helsinki. I remember being sixteen years old and going to watch Juha play in these intense floorball matches,” recalls Johanna.
Juha and Johanna attended two of only a handful of Finland’s international schools. They found themselves part of a very small population of students that didn’t already have floorball integrated into their school program.
Juha credits his father for his first formal foray into the sport.
“My dad suggested that I try to put together a proper floorball club in school, especially so we could get gym space.” he jokes, “Dad’s first good idea.”
Little did he know that he’d be doing a similar kind of promotion upon moving to Toronto not long afterwards.
Juha had already enjoyed a year at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles when he decided to follow Johanna to school in Toronto. Because of the obvious crossovers with hockey, the couple was expecting some sort of local floorball following and were surprised at what they didn’t find.
“We were shocked that no one really played floorball here, especially given how huge hockey is. There wasn’t even one floorball club in the whole province of Ontario.”
Knowing that he wasn’t about to leave the sport behind, it came down to a decision between getting into a new game – ice hockey – or teaching people to play the game he was already so familiar with. The choice wasn’t too difficult.
“I hate learning new things.”
It didn’t take long for them to discover that despite hockey’s popular following, many people downtown didn’t actually play the sport.
“Let’s say you’ve just moved here and you’re 20 years old and you’ve never played hockey. With everyone else having years of experience on you, there’s no way to get into it.
“With floorball, you really could just grab a stick and head to a gym to play. The potential was there,” explains Juha.
They first introduced floorball to a few friends at a softball game. Juha happened to have a few sticks in his bag, and they just passed the ball around the field.
Their friends took to it quickly.
“The softball team start was really funny,” Johanna recalls, “But the only gym time we could get at the Athletic Centre was Saturday around 9:00 am. It was really early, but turned out to be fun. Especially when people were still hung over from Friday nights.”
The friends took what gym time was available to them, and did whatever they could to get games going.
“We all chipped in to pay for gym space. And just to demonstrate the lack of funds at the time, we used to take the plastic bibs from McDonald’s and wear them in place of real pinnies to mark off the teams,” explains Johanna, “We still laugh about those days.”
They presented the game to the student council who recognized it and they received recognition from the university soon after.
The student council helped with funding for some basic equipment, and during club days Juha and Johanna would set up a booth and play floorball videos that they put together to encourage more people to take part.
“What I was really very active in – and people still joke about this – was e-mailing everyone,” laughs Juha, “I wouldn’t leave them alone until they got back to me saying either that they were interested or they weren’t. I still have those lists. A lot of those people still play today.”
It was at the University of Toronto where Juha and Johanna set down roots for the game in Canada, but by the time they had both completed their studies – his in Commerce, hers in Economics and Political Science – they found it increasingly difficult to keep floorball going on campus.
To branch out from the University level, the pair then organized and co-chaired the Canada Cup Floorball Championship.
“That called for participation from different areas. People got to hear about it and there was a bit of media buzz. We had some local supporters and sponsors, and really got the word out. The game is fun, and accessible, and really translates to hockey skills, so those three elements continue to draw in a wide demographic of people who, happily, keep coming back,” Johanna says of the tournament’s debut.
The annual event which was born in 2004 with six participating teams recently had its seventh anniversary. The tournament has since expanded to an impressive 57 teams and 800 players from around the globe.
In addition to establishing a regular floorball league and the Canada Cup, another product of the couple’s passion for the sport is the floorball equipment import and sales company they started together, FloorballPro Inc.
Juha is quick to give credit to his wife.
“As floorball gets bigger, especially with the Canada Cup where we deal with so many people and volunteers, coordination and a really good team is so important. Jo is amazing at dealing with people.”
Johanna is just as quick to return the praise.
“I might be inspiring to our team, but the inspiration for the sport and how far it’s come is definitely Juha. I think success has really come from his genuine, unselfish passion to grow the sport that we both love.”
Having recently received official recognition by Olympic committee as a summer Olympic sport – the goal is to have floorball teams playing in 2020 – the Canadian floorball movement is on the rise and is only gaining momentum.
The Mikkola’s see the next stage of development as working towards establishing a structure allowing for a league in every city in Ontario.
Aside from continuing to promote floorball to the youth as an excellent off-ice, dryland skills training for hockey, in recent years, Juha and Johanna have been putting a special effort into getting kids involved in the sport by introducing it to the school system.
A safer, more economical, yet equally fun alternative to indoor hockey, the majority of the 300 schools that Juha has held workshops in have since integrated it into their school system.
Far from resting on their laurels, the early success that the couple has had in growing floorball in Canada has only motivated them to work harder to get the game introduced to as wide an audience as possible.
Through all their progress, however, they haven’t forgotten their alma mater.
“We would love to see floorball back at U of T again. We always say we have a soft spot for where we started it all. If there is an interest, we’d be more than happy to do anything we could to help keep it going, even just as a club,” says Juha.
