Building a community of care with TGIFloorball

21 JUL 2023

In 2019, after we launched the Communities of Care (COC) Grant initiative, a passionate floorball coach, Sonia Teo, contacted us with an idea for a community sports programme engaging children and youth. After several meetings and draft consultations on her grant proposal, we settled on a programme model and curriculum aligned with our grant criteria and social outcomes.

As we worked on the administrative matters for the grant in early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced us into a corner, and we had to put it all on hold. While we waited for clarity from the relevant authorities to resume work on the programme, Sonia did not give up on her idea. She was determined to engage her community of participants living in Ang Mo Kio through sport.

Our collective patience and resolve paid off sometime in March 2021, when the first session of TGIFloorball, in partnership with SportCares, started on a warm evening with about 15-20 participants at Kebun Baru Community Centre. This time around, there was no turning back.

Sonia, together with her team of assistant coaches and facilitators, over the years, has grown the programme to two locations, Kebun Baru and Cheng San, with at least 25 participants in attendance for each session. And she is also now on her second COC grant cycle.

We visited her last Wednesday evening at one of the programme sessions. The Kebun Baru CC hall was filled with smiles, even though the participants were going through some intense fitness drills.

Speaking to us on the sidelines of the session was Sien Rey, a 13-year-old student from Ang Mo Kio Secondary School, who joined the programme a year ago after his brother’s friend told him about it. Plus, it was the first time he played floorball. He shared, “I found that the game was a little difficult and rough at first, but I carried on with it because it was interesting.”

And when asked to share one lesson he’s picked up during his time in the programme, he said without missing a beat, “Resilience. Training with my coach and teammates taught me to be resilient and not give up easily.”

Another participant, 7-year-old Nagulan, who was very shy when we spoke to him, showed a different side when going about the drills his coach set out for him. No reservations, not one bit shy on the field of play. The floorball stick and he were one as he navigated the cones on the court and calmly set up his shot at the end. He showed the same grit and coolness when going up against his teammates during the training match later in the evening.

His mother, Madam Sathiya, aware of Nagulan’s reserved nature, chimed in on his behalf and mentioned, “He’s become very attentive at home and in school after attending this programme with Coach Sonia. He also loves to play sports very much and does different types of sports in school. And whenever he makes any mistakes or misbehaves at home, I will tell Coach what he did at the next session, and he immediately knows he should not be doing it again.”

Sonia and her team have built a community of care here in Kebun Baru CC, with the support of her participants, their families, friends, and SportCares. Just like we envisioned back in 2019 when we first spoke to Sonia.

If you are keen to do something similar in your community, head over to our COC Grant page for more details. We are eager to speak to you about your idea and build a community of care together.