The head coach Janne Koskimienen under Karhubasket has won three Finnish championships and one silver.
According to Koskimie, competition and cooperation are the elements that make Karhubasket’s success possible.
– This is the most disciplined and best-playing group that I’ve ever had, the coach praises this season’s group.
At the moment, Karhubasket’s only downfall is the horrible backlog of matches. It is currently playing an away game tour, where up to six away games can be played in 12 days, if the team advances from Friday’s semi-finals to Sunday’s Finnish Cup final in Helsinki.
On Tuesday, January 10, Karhubasket defeated Hapoel Haifa 66–59 in the top match of the Fiban Europe Cup continuation series. For the Finnish basketball team, the victory on Israeli soil was only the second in history.
– Over the course of the fall, we have played and traveled a lot, so at least the routines have been found. Still, as a coach, you always wonder how long we can survive this. Now we have a really good situation when all the players are healthy. If there are absences, it would increase the load on the players even more.
Koskimies admits that the team plays at the limit all the time.
– There has been an instruction from the physical training side that we aim to keep all players’ match-specific playing minutes under 25 minutes. We have succeeded well in this, because nobody’s load has become terribly high, says the coach.
A 15 million kilo cottage in the middle of a field
Last year, a giant lump weighing 15 million kilos rose in the middle of a field in Kauhajokelai. Hailed as Finland’s finest basketball arena, Karhubasket’s new home cave was inaugurated in the fall.
Chairman of Karhubasket, which leads the Men’s Basketball League Vesa Ojala proudly presents the background spaces of the arena. The players have use of the boxing hall, cold pools and spacious changing rooms, there are restaurants and a bar for spectators and VIP guests.
There are approximately 2,500 seats in the auditorium, and including the restaurant facilities, the audience capacity rises to 3,500.
– This thing is the result of a long time. We have systematically moved forward and at the same time we have known what this requires, says Ojala.
As the first Korisliiga club operating with a club budget of over one million euros, Karhubasket has built a dynasty in a small town of 13,000 inhabitants in South Ostrobothnia.
Coach Koskimies is happy with the others about the new Arena.
– This makes it easier and brings flexibility when we are the main user of the place. It’s also a big deal in terms of motivation, because the setting is great and it’s nice to come here.
Great conditions make it easier to come to work during the toughest times
The brand new and unique arena in Finnish basketball is quite an asset when recruiting new players.
– This was a big bonus, I have never played in such good facilities anywhere, says the national team player who also played in France and Austria Daniel Dolencwho is playing his first season at Kauhajoki.
– January is usually the hardest time of the year. Coming to work is easier when there are facilities like this where you can train and recover. It’s really important, both mentally and physically.
Head coach Koskimies has been at Kauhajoki for the sixth year, first as assistant coach and since 2019 as head coach.
– There is a really strong spirit of working together here and the coach gets a lot of support from the background. For example, the coach has not been punished for some bad player selection. Everyone’s roles in the club have also been found. It’s a good situation for the coach when he has decision-making power and peace of mind.
“This is done with the strength of the whole village”
Bearbasket and the new arena are also seen as a regional attraction project in the entrepreneurial Kauhajoki.
– The people and companies of Kauhajoki are extremely communal. We don’t want to be just a club in a small area. The new arena has brought a lot of interest to us. We get the public to come and arouse interest outside of Kauhajoki and regionally as well. It feels like we are fans all over Finland, and it’s nice to get in touch from other places as well, says happy chairman Ojala.
Daniel Dolenc, who has broken through the fields of Europe and has been part of Susijeng’s big section for the last couple of years, has a perspective on the common pride of Kauhajoki.
– This is a place where the community can come together and encourage one and the same thing. This is the beauty of sports. As athletes, we are pressed for work, but this is done with the strength of the whole village. You can come here and enjoy the evening with the whole family and watch – at least for now – good basketball. This is rare in Finnish koris, emphasizes Dolenc.
26 people in the background group
Chairman Vesa Ojala says that 26 people are involved in Karhubasket’s background group. All background group members have their own role in fundraising and other work around the team.
– Many of the background group are former players. In the beginning, we collected money for our own hobby. Then a train arrived and we continued our activities. For quite a few years, the Botniabasket junior tournament was held. When we started playing in divar, there were ten of us collecting funds at that point. Now the background group has grown to 26.
The new arena also helps with player recruitment.
– We want to invest and play in Europe. This arena makes it possible for us to play with the European game standard. We don’t need to separately build anything new for the European Games, Ojala advises.
The club boss confirms that Karhubasket’s goal is to win the Finnish championship and the Finnish cup, and thereby play again on the Euro courts. At Kauhajoki, we dare to say that our sights are set on the Champions League as well.
– The financial investment is quite large. We are talking about big money when the group flies around Europe. But we see that it is also one attraction factor. This is the point that we are an interesting club for the players as well, Ojala adds.
“No one rises above others”
Daniel Dolenc, who only broke into Susijeng at the age of 27 and has been part of the national team for the last couple of years, is currently playing through his life.
Dolenc has played tremendously especially in European games. He leads his team’s scoring statistics and the points have been created with 78.6 percent of the twos and 50 percent of the threes.
– The most important thing for our success has been routines and staying healthy. We have been pretty much 100 percent fit, even though there have been a lot of matches. At this moment, all you think about is the next game. If you think too much, it affects the basics too much, Dolenc says.
Dolenc emphasizes that the key thing for Karhubasket is that the entire crew plays as a team.
– There are really good players in this team, but no one rises above the others. We play as a team, feed and talk a lot. The chemistry is really good, we enjoy playing.
In the rush of the game, nothing can be taken for granted.
– When there are a lot of games, then there is less training. At the same time, those games will also be exercises for us. We want to win. But the most important thing here is to improve all the time. It is not enough to stay at this level, Dolenc reveals the fierce level of demands of the successful team.
Kauhajoki adheres to quality standards
Head coach Janne Koskimies assures that he can’t even tell from the spinal cord which of Karhubasket’s players has scored how many points.
– This is precisely our strength, the points are evenly distributed. We have several good players, but we play cooperative basketball.
Bearbasket has particularly high standards for what kind of shots the team members take.
– Even from good positions, players have the patience to move the ball to an even better position. The number of solutions is distributed very evenly in the matches, and they are by no means particularly in the hands of one or two players, Koskimies underlines,
Success coach Koskimies reminds us that in daily work, high standards move in both directions.
– We demand a lot from the players, but at the same time we discuss a lot with the club management about how we can make this place as good as possible for the players. However, this (Kauhajoki) is not a city in the middle of everything. We have to manage things well here so that we can get the type of players we want here.