For this great-granny, age is just a number — that’s on the back of her hockey jersey.
Valentina Fyodorova proudly wears the number 80 on her hockey jersey to match her age. In fact, every member of her senior women’s hockey team wears their ages loud and proud when skating and scoring.
“We are old people. We aren’t embarrassed to show our age,” she told Reuters with a chuckle. “Let everybody see it.”
Fyodorova is the captain and oldest member of team “Ustyanochka,” a hockey squad of women in their 50s and 60s. They train three times a week in the gym and on the ice in their village in northwestern Russia.
“She leads by example,” said Maria Onolbayeva, a former Russian national team player and Olympian who coaches Fyodorova’s team, told the outlet. “By skating and playing hockey, she shows that even at that age, you can do anything.”
Fyodorova, a former school principal and great-grandmother of three, learned how to skate when she was 79.
“It was a little scary at first, but when we started to play, we forgot everything,” said Fyodorova. “We forgot our fear and that we are old.”
In fact, skating helps keep her young.
“After playing on the ice, you feel like you have so much more energy,” added Fyodorova. “You feel lighter. You don’t feel those 80 years at all.”








