Elgin teen selected to represent Great Britain's floorball team
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A LOCAL teenager from Elgin has been selected to represent Great Britain's floorball team.
Dylan Grant (18) was selected after coming through a gruelling trial period which saw him travel to London every six to eight weeks while also juggling his playing time in Scotland.
"It's a massive achievement and I'm really proud of myself," Dylan said.
"I tried out for the squad a couple of years ago but I was maybe just a little bit too young then.
"But they came back at the start of this year and asked if I would like to try again. I said yes obviously so I've been trialing with them for a few months.
"I was successful this time so I'm looking forward to playing for the team."
Floorball is best described as a combination of ice hockey and field hockey. It pits two teams of six against each other in a fast paced match played over three 20 minute periods.
Dylan initially picked up ice hockey at Moray Leisure Centre when he was just 12 years old but he quickly took up floorball as well.
"I just found that they are very similar sports," Dylan said.
"I like how fast they both are and I still play ice hockey as well.
"Ice hockey is the fastest team sport in the world and in many ways floorball is like that as well.
"But while ice hockey can be fairly strength based, floorball is a lot more about speed, skill and your agility."
Dylan has a busy year ahead following his selection for the team.
He is due to fly out to the Czech Republic later this month to compete in the Prague Games - the biggest floorball event of its kind in Europe.
Great Britain have been handed a tough draw in the competition with established floorball teams from Sweden and the Czech Republic joining them in the group stage.
Following that, Dylan will travel with the team in September for World Championship qualifiers.
Despite the hectic schedule, Dylan is relishing the challenge.
"It's going to be a really busy year," Dylan said.
"I'm really looking forward to it though because we have a great team.
"It will be fun, going away, playing games and just getting the general experience of being able to travel the world playing the sport I love.
"We'll be up against some pretty good teams but I'm sure we'll put up a good fight against them."
