There is a video clip from May 2000 in the archive of Urheirurutu, which asks about the dreams of the men’s national floorball team about the upcoming World Cup tournament in Norway. The youngest and tallest player in the competition team Esa Jussila can answer the question: If a pothole could decide the fate of the WC gold, how would it happen?
– If it left my stage, it would probably be some snot bounce. No one would really know where it went in, is the answer of the 20-year-old and 190-centimeter youth.
There was no snot bounce in the final, where they were satisfied with the World Championship silver. Sweden then took its third consecutive championship, in the sport’s third World Cup tournament.
Now 23 years later, Esa Jussila is the new head coach of the national team, who has already set his sights on the World Cup in Sweden, which will take place in just over a year. But of course there are also memories of those first ones.
– I remember pretty well what has happened in any of the competitions. When Norway went to the tournament, I didn’t even realize that the World Cup was ahead. I had played a few national matches, but the invitation to the games was a surprise. In the end, the role on the playing field also grew bigger than expected, Jussila laughs on the bench of the Eerikkilä sports college while looking through the gems of the archives from the reporter’s cell phone.
Jussila believes that the feelings will be somewhat similar when he leads the Finnish team for the first time as head coach at the World Cup tournament in Malmö in 2024.
– The right kind of excitement and blind faith in one’s own skills. Guaranteed to be a great and proud moment for yourself, Jussila predicts.
To the downfall of Sweden
Esa Jussila belongs to the golden generation that finally broke Sweden’s six-game championship streak and earned Finland its first-ever world championship in the sport in 2008. Sweden’s victory came in overtime, Tero Tiitun from the stage and Ricky Hyvärinen preliminary work.
– It was an emotional moment and it still is. Many years of failures were washed away from my mind in a nanosecond. I still remember how that started, and I remember how it felt like I was directing the attack with a game controller. It went exactly as it was supposed to, Jussila recalls.
Jussila also got to celebrate the championship two years later in Helsinki, in front of the home crowd.
– I have been in the fortunate position that I have been able to play in even two home competitions. We made a long journey together with many friends to get to the top. 2010 was memorable not only for the victory, but also for the way in which we won. We were pretty damn good, Jussila recalls the tournament that ended with a 6–2 final victory.
So, Jussila has already proven successful in the Swedish race. The last two championships have gone to the western neighbor again. Now Jussila is leaving as a coach to wrest Sweden from the throne.
– You have to strive to create a certain competitive advantage. It’s been a good year. If there’s one concrete thing to say, it’s counter-attacking and a certain clarity, as well as ball control. We have very few joint events, and because of that the game side has to be kept quite simple, Jussila thinks.
Above all, however, he wants to bring out closeness to people. He has drawn coaching lessons from Switzerland in recent years.
– Caring for others and talking about it openly was a good thing in Switzerland. It makes it easier for new friends to join the group, when it is immediately clear that everyone is an important part of the group. Jussila sees that it shouldn’t just be lip service, but the athlete must also be met as a person.
Valuing people as a starting point
Jussila, originally from Joensuu, won two silver medals in Josba. Ex-pilot of the national team Petteri Nykky is very familiar to him, the man coached him not only at club level but also in the national team.
– For sure, the things that Petteri had in his template can be seen in Finland’s game. During my own coaching career, I’ve thought about it a bit so that I’m a hybrid of many coaches. I have picked up certain things from each of them and refined them to my liking, says Jussila.
In the coach’s speech, human intimacy is repeated many times.
– I feel that in addition to my game vision, I have also developed in my knowledge of people. The dream situation would be that afterwards the players would think that it was good and safe to be in Esa’s team. Usually it also means that there has been success. Hardly anyone thinks later that it was a nice camp school, but we lost all the matches, he laughs.
Jussila wants to give responsibility and credit to the players as well. It’s easy when you can find anything in the toolbox.
– There are good tools on every shelf. Finnish players have enormous skill and understanding of the game and also of game development. The biggest thing is that I’ve also noticed the desire to throw up. I’ve realized how big a deal the national team is for this group.
Esa Jussila’s first official national match as head coach ended in the Vantaa tournament on September 1 with Finland’s handsome 8–4 victory over Sweden. However, Sweden did not bow to Finland for the second time, but took the second part of the doubles match on Saturday with numbers 8–3.
The national team’s journey has now begun, and the real result will be measured at the World Cup tournament in Sweden after more than a year. By then, Jussila’s thoughts must be familiar to the players. He talks about the 80-20 mindset.
– Thus, in the initial phase of the project, 80 percent of the playing comes from the coaches and 20 percent from the players. The closer we get to the Games, the meaning would be that the roles have turned upside down. The players and fives make 80 percent, the coaches 20, Jussila hopes.