– You asked to come to a place that is meaningful to me.
Antti Pennanen sits on the pier and looks at the mirror-calm Lake Ahvenistonjärvi. A familiar symbol is attached to the wall of the building on the beach.
The modern pentathlon of the 1952 Olympics was discussed here. Horse riding, fencing, shooting, swimming and cross-country running.
– Top sport with a high level of requirements, in which I can participate. Those Olympic rings over there remind me of that. And then when you look at this landscape… Water and nature, the other side is also here, i.e. self-care and well-being. The two are balanced here.
Ahvenistonjärvi in Hämeenlinna is an important place for Antti Pennane.
The Olympic rings also remind us of the future: Pennanen will lead the Lions to the 2026 Olympics.
Self-care and well-being. Pennanen likes to talk about them. He says that he has always been interested in psychology.
– But it did start from my own adversities.
Pennanen goes back a good ten years in his thoughts. That’s when he got fired from the position of assistant coach of Helsinki IFK.
– A lot of things happened in life then. I had been very successful in HPK’s youth team, but then in IFK I noticed, in the sum of many things, that it was a difficult place. There was really no way forward. I had to seek professional help.
Pennanen profusely praises IFK’s leading men of that time, Jukka from Valta and Tom Nybondasiawho guided Pennanen to seek help for his problems.
– I went to the first meeting and said “make me a better coach”.
– My motive was that help me, then I can help the players. After that first hour, there was a slightly different sound on the clock. It was announced very quickly that we were going to explore his real world, his emotional world and his thinking.
Today, the well-known hockey coach can talk openly about the hardships he experienced and about resorting to professional help. In 2013, difficult and personal issues were mostly kept silent.
– They weren’t talked about. It was done behind closed doors. I know that many top coaches use outside agents in some way. But at that time it was not talked about.
Pennanen got help for his problems. Talking about difficult things felt easier and at the same time addictive.
– When you understand a little more about yourself, it feels good. Of course, there have also been painful things to face.
That was the beginning of Pennanen’s own research journey, which continues to this day.
Pennanen, 45, has achieved a lot as a coach.
Finnish championship in HPK 2019, World Cup gold as Leijoni’s assistant coach in the same spring, youth world championship Jukka Jalonen side by side in the home games in 2016. And two Mestis championships (2015 and 2016).
He has been incensed as the new golden finger of Finnish hockey and a superior expert of the game. Pennanen knows that he was a pioneer of the game, one of the main architects of our game. In that game, the Lions repeatedly went for gold.
However, Pennanen wanted to discover more about himself.
– There was a calling to develop myself. Was it that the game and the gameplay were in a certain way… Now I won’t say finished, but I was still developing our game when it came out. A lot of my coaching was around that.
– I thought that there is a lot more to this coaching. What could it be? First there were issues related to management. Then I thought, you’re kidding, if there was something else to this.
For Pennase, that something else meant training as a therapist.
– The five-year studies ended this spring. I did my thesis on decision-making.
Toore Leijonien’s head coach is a recently graduated Human Meets therapist. The training program has been established Tommy Hellstenwriter, therapist and theologian.
“People in contact therapy training is an additional professional training that prepares you for meeting skills, and graduates can work as a therapist. People who use interpersonal and interaction skills in their work community will benefit from the training,” says the training program’s website.
Antti Pennanen can therefore act as a therapist. However, it is not possible to make an appointment for Pennane now. On the “with Antin” website, it is stated that “it is not possible to take on new customers at the moment”.
– That door was closed for the time being. There is no such enthusiasm and fire now. It was a rewarding, but also difficult five years.
– Well, it closed for the sake of studies. And there is no need for therapy work at the moment. The studies included 100 hours of work, they are done. And I enjoy them. Yes, why did that door close… There are probably many reasons for that too. There is no need for it at the moment.
The main reason is probably Pennanen’s main work, Leijonat. The thought of booking a therapy session with the head coach of the Lions would undoubtedly be tantalizing.
Coach or therapist?
– I noticed during the last few years that the roles sometimes got a little confused. And it can’t be like that. A trainer is a coach and a Therapist is a therapist. The therapist has ethical responsibility and limitations. Now there is a better understanding of it. I am a hockey coach in the hockey team.
Could you imagine that therapy studies are still useful in coaching the ladle team?
– Of course, it can definitely be seen in the interaction when I’m with people. And I’m sure you’ll be able to help something in some conversations. The coach’s duties include interaction with players and other coaches. It shows that I have such a background.
Pennanen stops for a moment to think.
– And it can also be seen in how I am able to be and work with myself. There will be stress and pressure. How can I recognize different behavior patterns in myself? The ones I don’t want to use. But try to act in a slightly more mature way.
Serene, calm, positive. Polite and good-natured. Critically examining himself all the time.
That’s the impression Pennase gets. Surrounded by this landscape, the handshake of last spring feels really far away.
“Antti Pennanen’s trick raised the fury”, “Was Antti Pennanen’s act cheap?”, the headlines screamed, when Pennanen, who coached Ilves, left the opponents without shaking hands after the playoff loss.
How do you see the events of last spring now?
What did the handshake teach you?
– Not one single thing. I studied extensively. I learned about myself as a person and as a coach. And I also learned from others…
The pressures of the head coach of the Lions are many times compared to the work of a league coach. The hockey-crazy people follow the national team tirelessly. And always expect success.
How do you deal with the pressures that automatically come with your current job?
– In a fast situation with different techniques. If you want concrete examples, then mindfulness has helped me, including various breathing exercises.
Pennanen immediately comes up with a practical example of the soon-to-be stressful situation.
– Every father and mother may have the experience of being in the morning rush with the children and there is a lot of fuss around, it’s nerve-wracking.
– If you have time to breathe a few times in that moment, you have more options to choose which way to work. Of course, you can still choose to go the hell in that direction. But maybe there are other options. It is the one that works in a fast stressful situation.
When there is enough time to release the pressure, Pennanen will probably be found in Ahvenistonjärvi.
Nature offers Antti Pennanen a place where the pressures of demanding work ease.
“I recognize stress and pressure reactions in myself. There is hostility and arrogance, indifference and withdrawal.”
– Of course, being in such a milieu helps. And the fact that there are friends nearby with whom you can share things and talk. And also professionals who can help.
Therapy and therapy work have taught, above all, self-knowledge.
– I recognize those stress and pressure reactions in myself. There is hostility and arrogance, indifference and withdrawal. But it helps to be aware of them.
There will be feedback, that’s for sure. If Leijonat doesn’t succeed, Pennanen will get a truck stuck in his neck. He says that he learned something essential in receiving feedback.
– When someone gives feedback on your work, listen to understand them, not your work. when giving feedback, people also tell about themselves, and the feedback often comes from, for example, their own motives and outlook on life.
– I was wondering if that question would come… What kind of person I am. So what am I like as a coach or otherwise?
– Well, if I leave the coach. As I said, I have certainly been one of the best in Finland in the game. That path has passed through Hämeenlinna’s gaming culture. There have been a lot of great people around to chat.
Pennanen stops to think again.
– I believe that so much water has flowed that today I am no longer super good at anything. There are much better ones in Finland for many aspects of coaching. But the whole thing has expanded a lot for me. There are more ways in the toolkit than just the game and teaching the game.
What about as a person, what is Antti Pennanen like?
– Just an ordinary person. Let’s go about everyday life.
What does an ordinary person mean to you?
– So, what does that mean? Well, there are their own pain points, weaknesses and places for growth. And then also strengths and character traits that are good.
– Ambition and passion are of course also related to the profession. I try to implement and develop them. I try to live a pretty normal life outside of all this.
Will the Lions coach be able to live a normal life?
– Well, you can’t. You have to learn to live with it.
Something, perhaps a lot, about Pennase says that he wants to actively talk in public about things that are not directly related to his work as a hockey coach.
Recently, he has raised his concerns about children’s immobility in the public debate.
– It comes through my children. I have been involved in their hobbies for five years and have seen the children’s world up close. Through fatherhood, those things have come close.
The background is the desire to influence society’s ills.
– I’m not interested in power, but in influencing. If we can have a little influence from this place, that more attention is paid to children’s immobility and mental health issues, then that is the job of us adults.
Pennanen has jumped to what many consider to be an impossible place. His predecessor and good friend, Jukka Jalonen, won everything possible in Leijon. And a little more on top.
– An insane coach, Jukka. A great career that just keeps going. And that’s fine. But it’s more important for me to try to create my own boots. Those Juka boots are so big that you shouldn’t try to fill them, but create your own boots.
What are Antti Pennanen’s boots like?
– Well, Jussi will see that. And others too.
Pennanen bursts into laughter. But gets serious quickly.
– When you look at global hockey and its development, there is certainly a place for development. Sweden, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, North America, they are moving forward at a fast pace. Trying to keep up with it.
– It opens up the possibility of creating your own boots. They are probably our common lion boots, the boots of the whole team and coaching, which we are trying to create here. I am one part of it. We are only at the beginning.
In Leijon, Pennanen is at the beginning of the journey. But what does his own expedition look like?
Pennanen has worked as a coach for more than half of his life. And during that time also graduated as a therapist.
How have you changed since you went to therapy as a fired young coach?
– Good question. At the same time, a very big question… I am a very different man now than I was then. The relationship with many things, thoughts and feelings has changed. And hopefully it will change from now on as well. That in fifteen years he would be an even more different man than he is now.
– We have to define what better means.