The Finnish Skiing Association, which is in financial difficulties, announced on Monday that the association and its commercial marketing company Nordic Ski Finland Oy will have to lay off their staff for 4-8 weeks. The Ski Federation said earlier this year that it would start the change negotiations, which have now been completed.
The personnel will be reduced by a total of three person-years. With the measures being taken now, the Ski Federation will have time to balance its financial situation by a little more than 400,000 euros over the next few months.
– However, the decisions made now are necessary in order to secure our operations and operating conditions in the future as well. The situation requires a lot from the entire organization, but we believe that with the decisions made now, the savings goal will be realized and we will be able to create better conditions for achieving the goals defined in our strategy, Ismo Hämäläinen commented on Monday in the press release.
According to the release, the measures do not endanger the core functions of the sports side. Urheilu could not reach Hämäläis on Tuesday to comment on the adjustment measures.
The head coach of the Finnish cross-country skiing A national team Teemu Pasanen says that the national team has condensed its activities after the Skiing Federation announced the change negotiations a month ago. He says that the adaptation measures that are now known will not affect the changes already made by the national team any more.
– There are 10–15 fewer training days than in previous years. There have been two foreign camps in previous years as well, just like now. The big change is that at the camps held in Vuokatti, the athletes pay for the accommodation themselves.
– When there was a camp in Vuokatti, there was training as usual, but the athletes lived at home or took care of the accommodation themselves.
How do layoffs affect coaches?
Pasanen says that despite everything, the training runs normally. He can’t say what the layoffs mean for coaches, for example.
– There has been talk of maybe four weeks. All have been on fixed-term contracts, and not all have new contracts yet. We’ll see how it works. We have a camp in August, so it is not possible to take leave then. It probably goes intermittently, but we don’t have an exact idea yet.
The Finnish A national team has two foreign camps before the winter. The first is in August in Italy and the second in October in Ramsau, Austria. The surgical measures therefore have no effect on the number of foreign camps compared to previous years.
Inside the camps, however, the measures are visible. There is a high altitude camp in Italy in August.
– There are trainers, a physiotherapist and a masseuse. After two weeks, the physiotherapist and masseuse leave, but the athletes stay there for the third week at their own expense. There is a group there for 2-3 weeks.
Pasanen admits that the national A teams have had to compromise because of the adjustments.
– You can’t stop training. Otherwise, it’s pointless to visit competitions in the winter.
Pasanen stated in the spring that he was worried about the situation of future skiers. According to him, the B national team and the under-23 group will not be significantly affected by the changes. The teams in question have practice sessions in Vuokatti.
– It is in better shape than in recent years, because money does not affect it. The A national team is the one that has the most influence, because foreign camps are expensive.
The lubrication manager has enough credit
Pasanen states that the economy needs to be fixed so that the Finnish national team skiing can keep up with the international pace. He is concerned about ski maintenance, which sinks a lot of resources.
– In winter, the maintenance team must be large enough to be able to do all the work. Creams and everything else eat a lot of money.
The new lubrication manager of the Finnish national ski team Heikki Tonteri it is not yet known how the cost-saving measures will affect maintenance resources. He says that there is a need for two maintenance men at the high-altitude camp in Ramsau in October.
– If nothing earth-shattering happens, that’s where we’ll go.
Before the start of the World Cup, a domestic snow camp is held, where the role of maintenance is very large.
– You probably have to compromise a little on that, so that you don’t get so many maintenance men. However, it is an important time to test new and old skis.
Next season, a fluoride ban will be used for the first time in the World Cup, which will cause its own challenges for the maintenance teams.
– At the snow camp, we try to make ski and lubrication text as much as we can, because the fluoride ban is on here.
– This doesn’t feel nice. However, I believe that the maintenance of the national team is so essential that it must be carried out. It is such an important part of success. If you go to the World Cup with a really small amount, the number of tests will inevitably be very small. I am confident that there are normally 8-9 maintenance men at the World Cup.