With the Referee Courses being a few days away, let's introduce some of the top international referees who will be coming down to referee at SG Floorball Open.
First of the many referees in our newsletter series, is Daniel Kölborn. This Swedish referee has a long background in Floorball, especially as a coach. The most recent he and his partner-pair, Madelene Westerberg, refereed was during Sweden’s Svenska Superligan Women Play-Offs in April 2019.
Kölborn has been refereeing for seven seasons. He has coached referees and refereed in several big tournament countries such as Prague. Kölborn started his first five seasons refereeing with Björn Larsson, who will be in Singapore Floorball Open as a coach for the Hammarby Womens team.
Currently holding the position of Head of Referees in Stockholm Floorball Association, Kölborn started playing Floorball in Tyresö IBK. He became Stockholm Champion for juniors and played with the legendary Niklas Ramirez. Kölborn continued playing all the way up to the Mens Team. Despite stopping Floorball at the age of 20 due to injuries, he has been coaching since he was 15 years old with a youth team in the club. Having enjoyed the experience, he carried on coaching for 17 seasons. This consisted of coaching the best junior teams in Sweden to coaching Tyreso Trollbäckens Womens team, where he met Westerberg, who was captain then. That year, they won Allsvenskan and the Qualified SSL.
Being a coach for many years, Kölborn gains good understanding for the game. Now as a referee, he can read the game better, know where the ball will be played and so on. Additionally, he is able to comprehend others, with their know-hows and thinking, especially with bothered coaches and players. Fortunately, his reputation and background has helped in his interaction with them as the trust has been established.
To add on, Kölborn has been to Russia to train the Russian referees. He also refereed in the Saint Petersburg Open for four days, similar to the upcoming SG Floorball Open III.
Head down to the SG Floorball Open Tournament (20th-23rd June) and Invitational (28th-30th June) to watch him referee the games.
Be on the lookout for our next newsletter to know more about Kölborn’s referee-pair, Madelene Westerberg!