SEA Games gold on their minds as S'pore Floorball Association appoints Pasi Rosti as men's coach
SINGAPORE – Underlining their ambition to bring back the SEA Games gold, the Singapore Floorball Association (SFA) has appointed Finnish coach Pasi Rosti to take charge of the men's team.
While the men emerged champions when floorball made its Games debut on home soil in 2015, they had to settle for a silver and a bronze in 2019 and 2023 respectively, the only other times when the sport was included in the biennial meet.
The 45-year-old Rosti, who has experience coaching teams in Finland and Germany, said he is honoured and excited to help take Singapore floorball to the next level.
The team had just won the Asia Oceania Floorball Confederation (AOFC) Cup earlier in June, but Rosti wants to raise the bar even higher as he seeks to restore the Republic to the top of the podium at the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand.
To do that, the team need to be even better because the level of opponents will be higher, he added.
'The bigger thing is that the demand is going to change, because right now they are good floorball players, but they need to be elite players,' said Rosti. 'So that's something that we try to build, and that means that the expectation level is going to be a lot higher than what it's been so far.'
Even though his appointment, which was announced on June 16, comes less than six months to the biennial Games, he remains unfazed having already spent time in the SFA coaching set-up since 2024.
He was the women's team assistant coach in March, during their victorious AOFC qualifying campaign in Singapore for the Dec 6-14 world championships in the Czech Republic.
He would also be familiar with some of the young players in the men's team as he was with the youth side that went to the boys' Under-19 world championships in Switzerland in April.
He said that competition, in which the Singapore boys finished 14th out of 16, was also a good experience, 'because they are the next generation that's going to be involved in the senior level in the near future'.
The change in personnel comes after former coach Sonia Chia guided world No. 17 Singapore to the AOFC Cup with a last-gasp 8-7 win over 13th-ranked Thailand in the final in China earlier in June.
SFA president Ben Ow said: 'The key focus point of this season is the SEA Games and Sonia has definitely done well, and in fact, bringing back the (SEA Games) title is something that she's definitely capable of.
'But to enhance the plan, we were sure that certain skill sets need to be brought in, therefore we decided to bring in Pasi.
'Sonia will still be part of the set-up, we're just finding where she can help to groom the next batch of talent.'
Singapore men's floorball training session at Our Tampines Hub on June 27.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
Men's captain Thaddeus Tan said that the change came as a surprise to the team, as it was Chia who announced it in the dressing room after their AOFC triumph.
The 26-year-old said: 'The room fell silent and we didn't really know how to respond because, at least to me personally, it seemed quite unexpected.
'I honestly don't really know what to make of the timing of the switch, but I'm pretty sure the association has their own plans and what Pasi brings is that he has European floorball experience.
'He's able to help us develop and hopefully take us one step ahead in preparation for the upcoming SEA Games.'
On the timing of the change, Ow added: 'After every campaign, there will be an evaluation. And Sonia had been taking the team for the AOFC for some time, so I think that was the only plausible time to bring in before the selection (trials) for the SEA Games.
'Definitely, I think the players will be a bit shocked. But there is no best timing.'
Melvyn Teoh is a sports journalist at The Straits Times.
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