Jani Honkavaara realized the dramatic change in Finnish football from one photo – a familiar song makes the KuPS pilot tear up in the middle of an interview

Honkavaara started as head coach in the Veikkausliiga in 2015 at HIFK. Back then, there were many great coaches in the league, but now the situation is different.

KUOPIO. Soccer coach Jani Honkavaara started his second era at the helm of Kuopio Palloseura’s men’s league team with a win. Honkavaara was beaten by KuPS last Friday, when the team had collected only one series point from three league games.

KuPS turned 100 years old in March, so this season is particularly important for the club. Honkavaara worked at the club for three seasons, 2017–2019, and the last season brought the Finnish championship.

Urheilu met Honkavaara on Monday in Kuopio. In the middle of the interview, it started to sound from the crowd in the stadium Einin the hit Kesä ja yö, which is familiar from KuPS matches and golden celebrations.

The familiar song made Honkavaara tear up.

– There we were at a party on stage as Ein’s backing band, Honkavaara joked and called the incident the best memory at KuPS so far.

The youngest quickly became a hero

Honkavaara, 47, is now one of the league’s most experienced head coaches. The man describes himself with the word dinosaur, even though he could coach for decades more if he wanted to.

He started as the head coach in the league in 2015 at HIFK and was then the only coach under the age of 40.

– I remember when we took a group photo of the 2015 coaches next to the championship statue. I laughed a couple of years later when there was almost no one left in the picture. I was suddenly the nestor of the group. The change was really fast, Honkavaara describes.

In the past years, the same coaches often moved from one club to another, and the importance of a playing career in getting coaching jobs was emphasized. In 2015, the average age of the league’s head coaches at the beginning of the season was 49.6 years. At the moment it is only 44.2 years, which is a low figure even in European comparison.

– I greeted this change with joy. Clubs have started to understand what coaching is all about. A good player is not necessarily a good coach, Honkavaara states.

In Honkavaara’s opinion, the young generation understands what kind of skills coaching requires. Today’s world is full of information and the threshold to go out into the world has lowered.

Sports expert Antti Pohja sees the layout in the same way. Conservatism has changed to a thirst for information, and along with your own point of view, there is an opportunity to grasp the data.

– Young people are experts in many things through their technological know-how. Of course, you have to remember that, for example, data is just a ring. Cold knowledge alone is not enough, Pohja sees.

Coaching has become more and more teamwork, where different strengths are needed from the members of the coaching team.

– The best situation would be one where an experienced pilot acts as the head coach and utilizes the strengths of the younger assistant coaches. Coaching requires above all communication skills and leadership, which can be gained through experience.

Pohja does not believe that the dramatic drop in the average age of head coaches is due to the clubs’ strict salary discipline. In general, an inexperienced head coach is cheaper than an experienced one, but in Pohja’s opinion that does not explain the trend.

– The players have also gotten younger. Handling the new generation of players requires a different approach than before, Pohja sums up.