Former women’s floorball team manager Ben Ow takes over as association chief

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Floorball Association (SFA) has a new president for the first time since 2016 in Ben Ow, a former team manager and assistant coach of the national women’s team.

The 34-year-old, who took over from Kenneth Ho, wasted no time in spelling out the objective of his four-year term: To secure Singapore floorball’s place at the top of South-east Asia.

Since attaining his coaching certification in 2008, the former club player has trained teams from primary school to tertiary level.

He was also the women’s national team manager from 2019 to 2021, following which he became their assistant coach till April.

Speaking to The Straits Times on Thursday, a day after he was chosen as the new president at SFA’s annual general meeting at Raffles Town Club, Ow said: “One major reason for taking up this role was that I felt there was a huge potential for the sport to grow much bigger here.

“I want Singapore to consistently be at the forefront of floorball in South-east Asia.

“I have been a part of the local floorball scene for some time and I thought it was time to contribute in this role.”

Ow, who is the general manager of Impetuus, a sports events and equipment company, added: “The goal we have is that we want to win the gold medals in both the men’s and women’s competitions at the 2029 SEA Games here.

“By then, we must show that we are clearly the best.”  

The Singapore women’s team have

won three titles on the trot at the SEA Games

while the men

last won the gold in 2015 on home soil.

The men’s and women’s teams are 16th and 13th respectively in the International Floorball Federation’s world rankings.

To become the sport’s undisputed kings of the region, Ow will focus on grassroots development to groom more young players, specifically in the 12-16 age group, and allow budding talents to gain overseas exposure.

He is also aiming to organise more tournaments to make Singapore a floorball hub.

The 2023 calendar is an example of what Ow wants to follow, with Singapore hosting the Women’s World Floorball Championship at OCBC Arena and Indoor Stadium from Dec 2 to 10.

The men’s Asia Oceania Floorball Confederation (AOFC) Cup will be at Our Tampines Hub from Oct 9 to 14.

He added: “In Europe, momentum for floorball has reached a plateau. In Asia, countries like China and India have seen the number of floorball players grow significantly. This is a good time for us to spearhead our efforts here.”

Meanwhile, Ho, 37, said he decided it was time to step aside as he was pleased to be leaving the local sport in a “much better place than it was in 2016”.

He had become interim president that year before serving three two-year terms from 2017.

Ho, who will still be contributing to floorball in his role as AOFC secretary-general, added: “We are in a good place. My team and I have been transparent to the community, especially in terms of SFA’s finances.

“My wish is that the sport continues to grow and that it will garner a full house of support from Singaporeans, especially at the year-end world championship.”

The SFA’s constitution, which was revised at an extraordinary general meeting in June, has seen a key change which has extended the term of office-bearers from two years to four.

Another change will see nine elected board members, down from the previous 12.

While previous elections at the SFA saw candidates contest for specific roles within the board, the new constitution stipulates that the president, vice-president, secretary-general, assistant secretary-general, treasurer and assistant treasurer will be decided among the members who are voted in.

There is now also a need for an athlete’s commission chairman and three to five appointed members on the board.

New SFA board

President: Ben Ow
Vice President: Arif Azfar
Honorary Secretary General: Nur Juliana Abdullah
Asst Hon-Secretary General: Tony Mok
Honorary Treasurer: Lynn Wong
Asst Hon-Treasurer: Kuppusamy Ramanujam Vignesh
Board Members: Lin Binbin, Mohd Arizal Ahmad and Glendon Phua