Roosa Koskelon’s Stuttgart won the third consecutive German volleyball championship on Sunday. Koskelo, 32, who suffers from a knee problem, says that his professional career will continue for at least one more season.
Aino Paloniemi,
Pertti Lappalainen
Roosa Koskelon represented Stuttgart’s success on the volleyball courts took on new dimensions this year, when the team won the triple gold for the first time in German history.
The championship was won in the Supercup, the German Cup, and on Sunday night the team secured their third consecutive German championship.
In the decisive fifth final, Stuttgart won Schwerin’s set 3–1. The championship was won 3–2.
– Yesterday, the first set was bad, but we managed to catch our own game. Yes, these are quite heavy sections and the strain is on, Koskelo, who was reached after the 11-hour return journey, described it fresh.
Koskelo, 32, admits that winning the championship away from home feels particularly rewarding. Mentally, the final series was exhausting according to the Finnish libero, and he admits that the strain was tough.
In the decisive final, Koskelo was marked with 14 receptions with an efficiency of 57 percent.
Before the fourth final, the direction of the game was largely lost, but the support of the home crowd in that match eventually carried all the way to the championship.
– Yes, we just have so much experience in these situations. We have translated final series before and of course those Champions League games are also helpful in these Bundesliga games. Everyone mentally grabbed themselves by the neck because we had seen that when we play well, we win.
The coach’s death deepened the team
In December, Stuttgart was met with sad news when the team’s former head coach, a Norwegian Tore Aleksandersendied of cancer.
– It must have brought everyone closer to each other in a certain way, and since then we have had an even clearer idea of where this team wants to go, Koskelo said.
In total, the German championship is Koskelo’s fourth. Koskelo, who is used to success and medals, describes that the team went through everything together this season.
– Of course, what also makes this special is that we’ve had the same group together for a couple of years now and some quit and some go elsewhere, so the team This was in a way the last dance of an era and in that sense there was something special here
Knee pain as a problem
Koskelo says that this season has been particularly successful, perhaps the best ever, after two emotionally taxing seasons.
Suffering from a severe knee sprain injury and cartilage damage that causes osteoarthritis, Koskelo is in a fortunate position as a libero in that it is still possible to play at all.
– Considering the starting points from last summer to this moment, I am really satisfied with the condition my knee has gotten in and that I can still play. In the summer, I wasn’t at all sure what this was going to be.
For Koskelo, the final series of the previous season was watered down by pain caused by a knee injury, but this year’s final series was also much more enjoyable in that respect.
In his trouble, Koskelo says that he has received significant help from, among other things, PRP plasma treatment given by injection.
– It’s not the thirty-year-old’s knee. It’s like a 75-year-old’s knee from the inside, but yes, at least one more season will be played with it, added Koskelo, who recently signed an extension contract with Stuttgart.
Koskelo has represented the club since 2018.
The medal achieved on Sunday was a whopping 14th in a row for Koskelo, when all league years in Finland, Slovenia and Germany between 2010 and 2024 are included. There are eight medal championships.
This year, the team played in the finals nine times in a row.
Success also came to other Finns in the German league, when the general player playing in Potsdam Suvi Kokkonen took bronze after losing to Schwerin in the semi-finals 0–2.