Many may not know about the sport of floorball, but one Fresno State student is traveling across the world to play in the World Championship.

Fresno State student Steve Wilburn has been waking up at 5:30 every morning for the past two years to work out and train hard for an upcoming international competition.

In fact, he’s already halfway across the globe with the rest of the Men’s U.S. National Floorball Team.
Floorball is a team sport similar to hockey or lacrosse that began in Europe.

While word of the game has been spreading in the U.S. for the past few years, the game is more popular in other countries.

That’s why this year, the Floorball World Championship is being held in the Czech Republic.

When Wilburn practices here in town, he plays pickup games at the Clovis Recreation Center. Wilburn says the game requires technique and finesse more than speed or strength.

Wilburn said that while playing with local guys is a lot of fun, he is determined to earn a spot on the Men’s U.S. National Floorball Team.

“The U.S. Floorball Association wanted more U.S. participants on the team, so I’ve been working on this for more than two years,” Wilburn said.

Since seeing the World Championships in Sweden two years ago, Wilburn has been to Geneva, Switzerland and Toronto, tuning up his skills for a world-class competition.

“Seeing the game internationally with more than 15,000 people in the arena is a whole lot different than playing a pick up game at home,” Wilburn said.

Wilburn has been trying to generate more U.S. interest in the sport, but the president of the U.S. Floorball Association said Wilburn doesn’t give himself enough credit.

“Steve is very modest about his own skill,” USFbA President Jan-Erik Paris said. “He’s one of the best. Steve earned this spot completely on his own merit.”

Paris, a kinesiology lecturer at Fresno State, also traveled to the Czech Republic. He agrees with Wilburn that floorball is a sport anyone can play.

“It’s not about brute strength. We offer a training camp that is open to the American public, and interest has been growing over the last six years,” Paris said.

“There are about 23 teams spread across the U.S. and California has nine teams,” Paris said. “Fresno is at the center of the growth of floorball in the U.S.”

Wilburn and the rest of the U.S. team will compete against Japan, Poland, Hungary and the Netherlands.

There are 20 teams in the tournament and there are two main groups: an A-division and a B-division. The men’s U.S. team is in the B-division.

“The best teams are Sweden and Finland,” Wilburn said. “We won’t play against them, unless we do well in group play.”

While the rest of the Fresno State community will be preparing for final exams, Wilburn will be preparing for the world-class competition in Prague.

“I’ll be missing the last two weeks of the semester before finals in order to compete,” Wilburn said. “It may be my last time to be able to do this, and I want to win.”