IFF GoGirls! Ambassador Hannah Quaife (AUS) – 28.11.2017

Hannah Quaife’s first WFC with team Australia was in 2015 and now the 20-year-old forward is looking forward to Bratislava. Hannah started playing six years ago and currently plays for an Aussie team called Roosters FC. Outside of floorball, she studies Nutrition in the University of Western Australia and works at Specsavers as an Optical Assistant.

How does Men’s Floorball and Women’s floorball differ in your country?
Floorball is still developing in Australia in terms of both Men’s and Women’s Floorball. Currently there are more men playing in Australia, however in the last few years there has been an increase in the number of women from all age groups playing. This has not only boosted the status of floorball it has also improved the quality of floorball being played. In my state, Western Australia, we have 4 tiers of competition, Div 1 and 2 in Men’s, Div 1 in Women’s and Mixed. For women such as myself who either already play at an international level or aspire to, they have the opportunity to play against the Men in the mixed competition. Western Australia used to allow Australian Women’s Team players to play in the Div 1 Men’s competition, however it was decided to create the now thriving Women’s competition in order to promote and develop the women’s game and style of play.

How do you practice floorball?
3 trainings a week- 2 with my club and 1 with the other Australian representatives from Western Australia, both men and women. I then play 2 games on the weekend- 1 Women’s game and 1 Mixed game.

How did you become a national team player?
After watching my older sister, Charlotte Quaife, play for Australia in 2011 at the WFC in Switzerland, I was inspired to take up floorball. I hadn’t really seen floorball before that and thought it looked like fun, that I would be able to pick up easily coming from a field hockey background and had the seemingly crazy thought that I could possibly play with my sister at some stage. Once I started playing floorball, after about 2 years I dropped hockey as floorball was becoming my passion. I started to take floorball more seriously, training and focussing on my technique more and in 2015 I put in a nomination for the National team and was fortunate enough to be selected. Moreover, Charlotte was selected too so that little pipedream that started my floorball journey became a reality.

What has been the most peculiar situation that has happened to you during a floorball match?
I was playing in the Mixed competition in Western Australia, it was a semi-final and they pulled their keeper. I got a break away with the ball. Running towards the open goal I knew it was a goal that our team needed and it was a critical time. Not only did I miss the open goal with no one defending me, it hit the post and the ball bounced back to me. However, redemption was not in the plan. I took another swing at the ball, missed and the ball bounced back to the other team.

How will you prepare for the WFC?
On top of the trainings I do, I do Gym and Pool sessions as well as practicing my stick skills in my room at home.
Being so far away from everyone in the team, physical training as a team was difficult and most of my training was completed with only the WA girls. However, as a team we had an online fitness program that we all had to check into and follow in the months leading up to the tournament. This was monitored by the coaching staff and our team physio so we were all kept accountable and knew we were on the right track. In the 2 weeks leading up to the tournament we have been in training camp at Eerikkillä in Finland. Here were practice and refine our playing systems, play matches against local Finnish teams as well as engaging in team bonding activities. It’s a little unorthodox compared to some of the European teams but it’s a reality that we make the best of in Australia.