Lappajärvi, with a population of less than 3,000, has produced many top athletes familiar to Finns compared to other Finnish municipalities of a similar size. There are baseball players, track and field athletes and quite a few successful wrestlers, perhaps the most famous of them all Petra Olli.
There are a couple of dozen Finnish champions within a radius of a couple of kilometers.
– Decathletes, long jump champions, wrestling champions, nesting champions, Vesa Alanen enumerates.
He is also a multiple Finnish champion in wrestling.
However, Lappajärvi is not known for its football culture.
However, the municipality has made an effort to the world Emmi Alanen, one of the most experienced players of the Finnish women’s A national team.
It’s no wonder, because Emmi Alanen already got the spark for exercise as a blood inheritance.
Issä Vesa won championship medals in both wrestling and futsal. Grandfather Veikko Alanen competed in wrestling up to the honors, and grandfather’s brother Pekka Alanen also seen twice at the Olympics. Mother Marjo also coached Emmi in baseball.
Although Lappajärvi offers many activities, the Alasets played football in the neighboring municipality of Evijärvi. When the little brother was taken to practice, the sister announced that next time he would also have to join.
– I had to call and ask if I could bring a girl there. They immediately said that without anything else, just here, father remembers.
Like many other Helmare players, Alanen also played with boys first. There is still no girls’ team in Lappajärvi.
For the first time, she started playing in the girls’ team only at B-junior age. It took an hour to travel to Kokkola to practice.
– The baseball games had to be arranged so that they are a little earlier, so that you could go to Kokkola for football practice afterwards. It was that kind of reconciliation all the time, father Vesa recalls.
Vesa’s father also coached someone three years younger at Lappajärvi Petra Ollia. Olli remembers how Emmi did in every sport.
– Whatever the sport, Emmi was good at it. Hard to run, to do athletics, whether he had a ball on his feet or a bat in his hand, he succeeded, Olli recalls.
The two spent their time not only in the same wrestling gym, but also in yard games
– Every yard game has been played and fought. Sometimes we have come home with tears in our eyes, but it has definitely raised and taught each of us.
Football was also played in the wrestling hall – during warm-ups.
– There are no rules, a man is measured against a man and a woman against a woman. More ankles have been broken in football games in the wrestling hall than in real wrestling matches. But you did notice that we had one professional soccer player there and the others were wrestling gym kickers, Olli laughs.
However, Olli saw something different from himself in Emmi Alase: a team athlete.
– As a person and athlete, he is likeable, warm-hearted and always helping others, more of a team player. If I compare myself especially, I’m such an individual athlete that on the field it says no serves on the back. I believe that Emmi chose the right career and you can see it, she has been successful there as well.
Success has not come for free. Emmi moved out of her home to Vaasa when she was in high school, because it was easier to practice wrestling and football in Vaasa.
– Yes, when someone like that leaves home after middle school, they are quite young to leave, mother Marjo admits.
However, the parents have always supported their daughter in her decisions. So also when he was allowed to stay in wrestling at the age of 19. The decision was made during a long injury, when Emmi counted the pluses and minuses. The return to the green attracted more wrestling fans.
Alanen’s life has not been all about success. In addition to the bad injuries, the mental load also grew big, and Alanen was exhausted.
After a long period of fatigue, Alanen took oxygen for a couple of months. Parental support was a key part of recovery.
– Recovery required a lot of growth and learning, Marjo’s mother recalls.
Alanen is doing well now. Studying works as a good counterbalance to playing. Club team Kristianstad is in third place in Sweden’s main league. In Helmari, Alanen is one of the key players.
– I think he is happy at the moment. He does what he wants. He has been very goal-oriented, long-term and persistent, the mother concludes.