(Above) Megan Addington (at right) defends the United States against Estonia at the Women’s World Floorball Championship in Singapore on December 7. Photo by Ashok Kumar. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

By Steven Dahlman

20-Dec-23 – She got the news at breakfast the morning of the match. Megan Addington, co-owner of Tortoise Supper Club in River North, would be the starting goalkeeper at the Women’s World Floorball Championship.

“It took me a minute to remember that I was just going to enjoy this and have a lot of fun with it,” she said after the December 7 match.

The 51-year-old competed with and against athletes less than half her age and, though they did not win, the United States finished ahead of France and Australia, and Addington was named Player of the Match.

Floorball is a type of floor hockey, with five players and a goalkeeper on each team. Matches are played in three 20-minute periods.

“This sport is very unique,” she told The Straits Times, Singapore’s daily English-language newspaper. “It’s all ages. It’s a very low barrier to entry. You don’t need a lot of money; you just need a stick and a ball. And you can play with every age, every demographic. I wear pearls [during play]. The [Estonia] goalie has tattoos.”

Typically, Addington has more of a support role, with her son, Keene Addington IV, playing on the USA men’s under-19 floorball team. After she was coaxed into serving as goalie during a practice in 2021, Megan discovered she enjoyed playing floorball. That led to a stint as back-up goalie during the U.S. Nationals earlier this year, and then an invitation to the world championship in Singapore.

(Left) Megan Addington (at upper right) with the Women’s USA Floorball Team at the U.S. Nationals in October. Photo obtained from United States Floorball Association.

She made 11 saves in the first period and played for half of the game.

Addington said after the Estonia match that she will remember her teammates most of all.

“The women on the team are really remarkable,” she said. “They’re incredible athletes. They’re incredibly dedicated. There are a lot of first-timers. There are a lot of really experienced floorball players. And they’re all mothers or they’re working or they’re in school. It’s a really beautiful group. But we’re all peers. When we’re players, we’re all peers.”