follows the SM league finals moment by moment on its website. The Hockey Tour broadcasts every league final live. All finals will be heard live in Areena. The preliminary studios of the ice hockey round can be enjoyed in video form for the first time in the finals.
TAMPERE. There is a break in the SM league finals, when Tappara’s assistant coach Juha Juujärvi a dart board bounces off the wall of the lunch restaurant.
Juujärvi is shooting darts at the board with a big smile on his face. Darts is not a very familiar sport for the coach, but during the playoffs he got to taste the secrets of the sport.
Tappara traditionally honed team spirit with a joint activity, this time with darts.
– I have thrown once in the last five years. Good win Christian from Heljango and defeat To Anton Levtch. It is granted. However, he won the championship, so it’s not so bad, says Juujärvi.
So how popular is darts in the Tappara camp?
– Some say they go to throw. But anyway, some follow a lot of sports and are sports people in spirit and blood, says Juujärvi.
Pole ten in Tappara
49-year-old Juujärvi works for the first season in the coaching team of the Tappara league team. For Juujärvi, it was the most polar opposite, as he himself describes it.
– You learn new things all the time. I have certainly been able to bring something from my own experience bank to the coaching group, the team and the players, says Juujärvi.
Juujärvi admits that he is living his dream in Tappara. However, the journey behind the bench of the top team was long and step-by-step.
The journey has included work as a teacher and years as a head coach in A-nuori and Mestis. It all started in Oulu, where Juujärvi studied to become a teacher and coached juniors at the same time.
After a few years, he ended up as the coach of Tappara’s A youth team. Juujärvi asked to become a goalkeeper coach Aki Näyk toowho currently also works for the league team in that position.
A top result in KooKoo
His coaching career got off to a flying start with the A-youth championship in 2004. In the same team he played elsewhere Petri Kontiolawho 20 years later wants a championship with Juujärvi in the ranks of the Tappara representative.
Juujärvi’s career took off. A few years later, he got a job as the head coach of Lempäälä Kisa and after that as an assistant coach of the Ilves SM league team. In the early 2010s, washed in KooKoo brought bronze, silver and finally the championship.
– The difference came in the form of a result, but above all I learned how to lead professional players. At that time Mestis had really tough and seasoned professionals. It raised and taught a lot.
After the trip to Kouvola, Juujärvi returned to Tampere and LeK. He worked for years as an expert at and already returned to teaching when a suitable coaching position could not be found in the Tampere region.
Back to the dream
The big turning point happened two and a half years ago, when Jukka Ahvenjärvi asked Juujärvi to join JYP. He took the opportunity and left teaching jobs behind.
– The decision was a hard place for the children at school. However, my sons and wife were happy when I became a league coach and at the same time a step closer to coaching in Tappara, which they too had hoped for and expected.
However, from the family’s point of view, coaching in Jyväskylä was within the limits of possibilities.
– I got back to my dream and caught up with league coaching. I saw where the league coaching and the game of the 2020s is going.
Now Juujärvi is coaching in Tappara and living his dream. Although he admits that his career has not been a constant upswing, he has slowly become “at least an experienced assistant coach of some level”.
– I am satisfied that I have managed to be curious, interested and develop myself. Having had the opportunity to work in expert positions and seen the game from a slightly different perspective, Juujärvi says and refers to ‘s expert positions.
Family first
Juujärvi has not wanted to move anywhere by force, but has made decisions on his family’s terms. However, the passion for hockey and coaching has not died out at any point.
– They are reality and own value choices, which everyone has to make. If you can’t be yourself and with your choices, it’s hard to lead others as well, says Juujärvi.
If Juujärvi did not find a suitable challenge, he either moved to lower levels in Tampere or did other work.
– To put it playfully, there has been no opportunity or courage to go to Europe, so now Europe came to Tampere. I will accept it with pleasure.
Grönborg is not afraid of different opinions
Let’s take a look at Juujärvi’s reference, to Rikard Grönborg. Juujärvi describes the Swede, who has won three world championships in his career, as a great person.
– As soon as we first met, I immensely enjoyed our conversations about hockey. He is not afraid that the assistant coaches also have different opinions.
According to Juujärvi, Grönborg listens when he is challenged. The head coach might think about it overnight, take something with him or not and justify why.
– I think we have a good combo and a lot of other skills in the coaching team.
– Grönborg exudes positivity, and that unites us both. We look quite positively at the way the world is going.
The process led by Grönborg and his coaching team has progressed modelly in the spring. Tappara first beat TPS in the quarterfinals and KalPa in the semifinals.
– The KalPa series was perhaps the best hockey that I myself have ever coached and been involved in coaching.
The control of emotions is emphasized
If everything falls into place, Juujärvi will get to taste the championship again after a ten-year break. The team has one more mountain to climb.
Tappara won the first two finals, but on Wednesday Pelicans stole the victory from Tampere. After this interview, Tappara stole the victory in Lahti in the overtime.
The series is at 3–1 with a break on Sunday in Tampere.
follows the SM league finals moment by moment on its website. The Hockey Tour broadcasts every league final live. All finals will be heard live in Areena. The preliminary studios of the ice hockey round can be enjoyed in video form for the first time in the finals.