Floorball: Tiffany Ong achieves dream of playing overseas after joining Sweden's Storvreta
Playing overseas has long been a dream for national floorballer Tiffany Ong, even when she represented Singapore in other sports like field hockey and ice hockey.
So when Swedish floorball club Storvreta Innebandyklubb (IBK) expressed interest in signing her for a stint close to seven months after she trained with them in September, the 25-year-old did not have to think twice about accepting their offer.
It was a chance that she had been waiting years for after two opportunities to play overseas had fallen through while she was a national hockey player.
She had been approached to play semi-professionally for a club in Malaysia about six years ago, but the move did not materialise because of her schooling commitments at Republic Polytechnic.
About two years later, she was invited to join an Australian team, but she fractured her thumb just before she was supposed to go over.
On playing for Storvreta IBK, she said: "I knew from before when I played other sports that I wanted to excel, I wanted to go overseas to play because it's a higher level.
"When this opportunity came, I had to take it and I asked myself, 'If I don't take it, can I still do this five years down the road?'
"I can still work, start a family a few years later, but I may not be able to do this any more so it was clear to me that I wanted to do this now."
Ong will be taking a break from working in her family's dry mixed manufacturing business for this stint.
While she was keen to play for Storvreta IBK in the Allsvenskan, Sweden's second-division league, she had to speak to her family members before accepting the offer after receiving mixed reactions from them.
Having just gotten married in February, Ong had to discuss the move with her husband, who wanted to support her sporting ambitions but was torn over the prospect of being apart while she plays floorball in Sweden from October to April 2023.
Her mum was supportive, but it took some convincing for her father, who was initially against the idea of Ong going overseas to pursue a sporting career.
The Swedish club's interest in Ong had also come as a surprise to the defender, whose trip to the Scandinavian country in September came at the last minute.
It was originally for coaches from local set-up Youth Floorball Academy as part of its partnership with Storvreta IBK but, a few days before they flew, the Swedish club's women's team coach asked if Ong could join them too.
Ong plays for local club Black Wondersticks, which is managed by YFA.
"I was just in disbelief maybe because it wasn't even supposed to be a trial so I was shocked," said Ong, who has also been playing ice hockey since picking it up in 2018.
"I just thought it would be great to train with them and me twisting my back (during a training session) didn't make it any better so after all these things, it made it even more a surprise."
Training with the team was also eye-opening for Ong as she got to experience a different culture and playing level.
She noted how the game was a lot more physical in Sweden and was also encouraged by how players were given room to develop their own playing styles.
Ong hopes that she can use these experiences to develop as a player and bring these lessons back to Singapore as one of the few Singaporean floorballers who have ventured overseas. Former national floorballer Jill Quek was the first Singaporean to play overseas when she joined Swedish outfit Orebro in 2000.
Ong said: "I want to get better as a floorball player, but I also want to see what they work on, how they improve, how they run the club and bring it back to Singapore.
"I will retire after a few years so I want to learn some things and bring them back to Singapore, a lot of things they're doing here would benefit the players back at home so if I can impart all these good traits, it would be great."
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