Talented for training, basically positive, self-critical, curious and mature for his age. Finland’s next basketball star is made of these adjectives. HBA Märsky’s coach also describes it with these words Janne Hänninen his protégé Elina Aarnisaloa.
17-year-old Aarnisalo was raised by Tapiola Honga, and Hänninen praises the training Aarnisalo received there throughout his childhood and adolescence. Hänninen has personally coached Aarnisalo since the U16 national team and has seen the young basketball player grow into a top athlete.
– Elina spends a lot of time on basketball. Not only in training, but also otherwise. If one talent had to be named, Elina has a training talent, Hänninen sums up.
Aarnisalo moved to HBA Märsky last season so that he can focus on both his studies and basketball. Aarnisalo also recently moved from Tapiola to the Urhea campus, because this way he can use the time previously spent on trips for training.
During his first HBA season, Aarnisalo’s GPA was 15.1. This season, there has been quite a leap and after ten matches played, the statistics line shows 236 points, i.e. the average score is 23.6. With these numbers, she is the third best scorer in the Women’s Basketball League.
– I don’t know if anything has clicked, I’ve just trained a lot and learned to read the defense better. Maybe the game in Korisiiga has become a little slower, there is more time to make decisions, Aarnisalo reflects.
Breakthrough in the national team
Aarnisalo was selected for the women’s national team in February 2021 when she was only 15 years old, i.e. the youngest player ever. In her first women’s national match against Ukraine, she played 11 minutes and scored one point.
Now in November, the pace was completely different. In the EC qualifying match against France, the playing time was already 31 minutes and Aarnisalo was the team’s best scorer with 24 points. Against Lithuania, he scored 18 points.
For comparison, in Dallas in the WNBA and in the Venetian club Umana Reyer, who is creating a career Awak Kuier scored 14 and 19 points respectively.
– I have developed my three-point shots and I succeeded in them. I also attacked aggressively towards the basket and even though there were mistakes, I think I succeeded in the attacking game quite well, Aarnisalo said after the match against Lithuania.
The head coach of the national team Pekka Salminen according to Aarnisalo is a very mature player for his age.
– He is clearly the best we have. Elina is no longer 17 years old, she plays like a 27-year-old. He already did that last year and is getting better all the time.
Sleep is not compromised – go to bed at 10 pm at the latest
In Aarnisalo’s case, maturity also means that everything is done last. Training on your own time is self-evident, as is a sufficient amount of sleep.
– He does all the little things so well, which makes the next exercise better, Hänninen says and gives a couple of examples.
– He really goes to sleep when he needs to, between nine and ten, and wakes up early and goes for a walk before training, for example, because it prepares him better for training.
Hänninen also praises Aarnisalo as easy to coach.
– He is really thirsty for information and wants feedback on his own work. He also brings out his own views and you can see that he has clearly thought about the matter. Elina dares to dream and her actions in everyday life correspond to her dreams.
Aarnisalo’s development curve looks really good at the moment, but there is room for improvement.
– Physics is at a very good level, but you have to do a lot of it. The best players, for example in France, they are physically very good. And the throwing skill, it still needs to be improved.
University or Euro fields? All options possible
The good performances in both the youth and women’s national teams have been noticed even abroad and the buzz around the 17-year-old super promise is strong. Last week’s hard scoring in the European Championship qualifiers certainly does not reduce interest, on the contrary.
According to Hänninen, the increased interest does not show in any way in Aarnisalo, but the player’s feet stay on the ground.
Aarnisalo is being courted by both North American universities and European professional clubs, but the decision time is not yet.
According to the plan, there are still 1.5 years of high school left. Aarnisalo himself comes from an academic family and studying plays an important role.
Where do you see him in five years?
(silence)
– Now you surprised the whole coaching team, Janne Hänninen says and refers to Mirka Dettmann and Jari Nykänenwho listen to the interview through the loudspeaker and sometimes also bring out their own views.
– Five years from now… She will either play in the women’s Euroleague in a good team as a starting back man, or perhaps I should say as a back man.
– Or if things go well, she can play in the WNBA. In any case, she is the driving force of the women’s national team, Hänninen states.