“A team was looking for a keeper so I put my hand up to give it a shot”

Shannon Barnes is one of Team Australia’s three goalkeepers for the upcoming WFC.

We spoke with her about her floorball career, being a goalie and the national team.

How and when did you start playing floorball?

I started playing Floorball in 2012 after a friend had been asking for (approximately 7) years for me to come and try. Eventually, I did, had a lot of fun and stuck to it.

Have you been a goalie since the start?

I started as a stick player originally. I transitioned into goals in 2016 when at a tournament a team was looking for a keeper so I put my hand up to give it a shot. Haven’t left since.

When did you join the national team?

I joined the National Team in 2017 as both a field player and goalkeeper. From there I have had the opportunity to represent Australia at the Asia Qualifiers earlier this year (in Thailand) and now for my second World Champs.

Other than our national tournament each year I have attended the Singapore Open twice and Wellington Open (New Zealand) three times.

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Have you always played in Australia or do you have experience abroad?

I have always played for a team within Australia other than attending the Singapore and Wellington Opens listed above

How is your personal and team preparation for the WFC?

Personally have been training hard and working towards my goals for the tournament, both physically and mentally. I feel like I am progressing and looking forward to put it all out on the court.

As a team, I believe we have a really strong dynamic which was evident at the Asia Qualifiers. Although we are widely spread across the country, and some internationally, we stay in contact to support each other as much as possible with their trainings and individual goals leading into the tournament. It’s one big family.

Your opponents in the group stage are USA, Thailand, and Singapore. What are your goals in this group?

The goal for the group stages is to obviously finish top 2. We have played Singapore and Thailand on a number of occasions but not the USA, so excited to see how we play against them.

All three will be a hard-fought battle so we need to go out and play at our best regardless.

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Daniël Nicolai Member since May 17, 2016

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COFOUNDER - Passionate about (playing and watching) floorball. Working on social media and match reports. Always looking for new ideas, improvements and creative ways to spread floorball. You'll read about it!