Karen Farnes is the GoGirls! Ambassador from team Norway. Karen is the captain of the national team and an experienced forward. The upcoming WFC in Neuchâtel will already be her sixth Women’s WFC.
I am Karen Farnes, born and raised in Norway. I am the current team captain of the Norwegian national team. After eight years in the Swedish top league, I will represent Piranha Chur in the Swiss top league next season. In addition to being a passionate floorball player, I work as a software developer.
How did you start playing floorball and how long have you played?
I initially played football, but the winter when I was 13 years old my football team was asked if we would also like to play floorball in a newly started league in my hometown Trondheim. For a long time I combined both sports, but I gradually focused more and more on floorball.
How did you join the national team?
Some players in my youth team (including myself) got noticed by the U19 coaches while playing a national tournament. I worked hard and eventually got the chance to play in the U19 World Championships. I was on the radar to take the step up to play for the Women’s national team after that. But it was not until after I graduated high school and moved to Oslo to play for a top team in Norway, that I got the chance to take the next step. And since then they have not been able to get rid of me!
How do you prepare for the WFC 2019?
Personally a big part of the time up until the WFC will be spent finding my place in my new team and country. Since the WFC will also be in Switzerland, I hope that moving there will be a good preparation itself. In addition to all that I will as always strive to put a lot of hard work into my physical training and improve details in my game.
With the national team we will have a combination of training weekends and tournaments in both Poland and Denmark. We have a lot of new young players in our squad and it feels like a fresh start. We will be working hard to find good dynamics on the field and getting the right team mentality.
Who is your favourite floorball player?
As a young player I wanted to be a combination of Elizabeth Landsgård and Lisbeth Hildremyr (Nee Pettersen). Elizabeth was representing the perfect captain, in addition to having a real presence on the field and in the defence. While Lisbeth had an amazing physique and an athletic and simple style of play. In addition, I think they both taught me that it is important to combine being serious, but at the same time always laugh and have a lot of fun.
I don’t have a favourite player that is currently playing. There is a lot of players doing amazing things on the field, both the technically brilliant and the invisible hard workers.
Random fact
Before a game some years ago I was so tired and decided to drink a cup of coffee and said that I would always do this if I scored a goal. I ended up doing an assist, but found it good enough to keep the routine going. Some years later I can now call myself a real coffeeholic, it being a game day or not :)
GoGirls! Floorball is the IFF project aimed at helping to increase and promote the participation of girls and women in floorball throughout the world. Read more from here.