RICHMOND, Va. β When the Women's World Floorball Championships take place this December in the Czech Republic, a Henrico County native will be among those representing Team USA.
The tournament will be Suzanne Lindquist's third time representing the Red, White, and Blue, but she said her journey to the sport started on the ice when she picked up ice hockey in Henrico.
"Our neighbors happened to play ice hockey. They introduced my brother and I to it, and we just got hooked," Lindquist said.
She eventually started playing field hockey at Henrico High School and continued to play in college.
She was also inducted into Henrico High School's Hall of Fame in 2024.
Her transition to floorball came during her master's studies in Europe when she asked some professors to teach her the sport.
"They taught me to play," said Lindquist. "Within the first 10 minutes, I was just in love with the sport."
Since then, Lindquist has played in multiple countries and currently plays on a professional team in Paris.
Her Team USA squad is ranked 14th in the world and is looking to improve upon that in the world championships.
However, the team is self-funded and is trying to raise $50,000 to cover costs for the players and staff.
"We have students, we have teachers that are on our teams, we have moms that are on our teams that have to think about child care. So, it's a number of other variables that we're trying to just make sure that we can cover for our team," said Lindquist. "We have volunteer staff, volunteer coaches. So, we also try to cover their costs, because they're really doing this out of the goodness of their hearts and their passion for the game."
And that is where the Richmond Floorball Club is stepping up and holding a fundraiser Monday at 7 p.m. at the Barton Memorial Rink in Hanover County.
There people can come try the sport while supporting Team USA.
"It's a cool opportunity to be able to kind of put something on for the national team, especially given that Suzi is a graduate hall of famer," said club president Nick Baldaino. "The fact that Suzi is doing this internationally, it's a great opportunity for us to kind of showcase the sport and what the Richmond community can do."
Baldaino said the sport has been growing in popularity in the region and state. He said that according to the U.S. Floorball Association, Virginia saw its membership triple this past summer and women make up 31% -- more than double the national share.
Both Baldaino and Lindquist say it's a fun sport to play that has a low barrier to entry.
"Just come out, spend an hour with us, shoot the ball around, play a little bit, and kind of make the judgment for yourself," said Baldaino. "It's really easy just to try. You don't have to make so much of an investment in time or money or effort to really come out and give a shot."
"Everyone is so gracious when you try it out for the first time, because it's such an amazing sport," added Baldaino. "So, because of that easy access and because of just how much fun it is, I think that's one of the main reasons that it's growing."
Baldaino said he hopes Monday's fundraiser is the first of several to help the women's team get to the Czech Republic and Lindquist hopes she can come back to the area for a game or two when it is done to say thanks.
"With this event that they're putting on Monday night, really supporting the US Women's National Team. That community support is so valuable to us. It's so generous of them. And I'm just so grateful that we have that connection," said Lindquist.
If you cannot make it to Monday's fundraiser, you can donate to the team on their GoFundMe page.
Lindquist added they are also looking for corporate sponsors for the team.
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