Last night, I went to watch a friend play Floorball pickup. Jeff is Canadian and a hockey player all around, so it's no surprise that he picked up playing floorball since he's been here in SoCal. I've heard him talk about it many times, and finally had a chance to go watch it. The game is similar to hockey - 5 players out and 1 goalie. He and his friends play it in a gym at Caltech, but in a formal game, it's played in a "rink" surrounded by short boards so there is no out of bounds. A lightweight stick is used with a plastic ventilated blade to carry around and shoot a wiffle-type ball. The idea, as in hockey, is to score more goals than your opponent. There is no stick checking and no body checking - only shoulder to shoulder contact. Goalies play on their knees in front of a smaller net and don't use a stick. The sport is big in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland, but is spreading to other parts of the world. It was really fun to watch, and it makes me wish I had Mondays off regularly so I could learn to play as well. Here's a photo I took last night and one from a professional game.

To give you an idea, here's a video of some professional play: