Finland-Poland quarter-final on Thursday on TV2 at 10:45. also follows the game on its website.
The four-year-old start was a familiar sight at the Lappeenranta sports hall. The girl barely managed to climb over the sides of the floorball court, but despite this, she was very often there with a stick in hand when NST played floorball for women at the highest level.
NST coach Lasse Kurronen was one of them who paid attention to the little racketeer. The girl didn’t watch the games too much, but focused more on shooting at the tarps in the hall.
There were a lot of repetitions, the skill of handling the racket improved even more, and as the girl grew and developed, it was also visible on the playing fields. I saw about him, Miisa from Turusbecame one of the most promising floorball players in our country.
– Maila has been such a best friend. It’s always been there. It hasn’t been necessary to force it, Turunen says and assures that he doesn’t sleep with a bat under his arm – yet.
Turunen, who turned 18 in October, made his first appearance on the league pitches at the age of 14. Since then, he has, among other things, broken the league’s assist record in the ranks of NST’s offspring, SaiPa, and is currently the F-League’s overwhelming number one point scorer.
Turunen has impressed many coaches, including Lasse Kurrose, who became the head coach of the Finnish women’s national team more than seven years ago. His contract ends with the ongoing World Cup in Singapore.
In Kurronen’s opinion, Turunen is a completely exceptional talent who has fallen in love with floorball so much that he has wanted to practice it very, very much. And that’s exactly why Turunen is already such a great player, and Kurronen wasn’t afraid to give him a big role in the World Cup team.
Development brings the most pleasure
For Miisa Turunen, floorball was an easy choice as a sport. Her sister’s godfather Heli Suoreijus played in NST and the national team, so Turunen often went to watch Suoreijus’ games.
– I have never done anything else. This was tried and we are stuck on this path.
Turunen, who lived in the Karhuvuori district as a child, played floorball as a yard game with his siblings and neighbors. At the age of five, she started in the Hippo floorball club as the only girl, but her determined and unyielding nature also helped.
It also quickly became clear that the skillful and versatile Turuse have enough hunger for goals, so the right place to play was cemented in the attack.
Turunen admits that developing gives him pleasure. He didn’t notice the exact period in which he became good, but when the national team invitations started coming, there was no longer any doubt about it.
Entering the women’s national team rink was a big step forward for her, which motivated a lot. The thought of the World Championships for adults started to wake up and made him train even more.
– Maybe when he has noticed that he is developing, he will be hungry to develop more. Note that some result will happen, Turunen reflects.
– I like that there is speed in this sport. You never know what will happen next. And you get to influence it yourself on the field.
The experiment changed to the first chain
When Miisa Turunen was D-junior age, defender of the national team Daniela Westerlund went to tell his team about his own path as a player. Now Westerlund and Turunen play in the same team and are looking for World Cup gold.
Turunen admits that he really couldn’t wait to be invited to the World Championships. When Kurronen called him at the beginning of May, there was only talk of Turunen coming to try out how he could keep up with the pace of the women. We would see the level of Turku and what could still be developed. The two thought there was nothing to lose in the experiment.
– If you had asked at the beginning of the year what you would be doing in December, I would not have expected to be in Singapore.
Turuse has no memories of the first national team camp, because he was so excited about it. Many of the athletes were ones he had watched at previous World Championships, and now he was training with them. He saw it as a leap into the unknown and the new.
In addition to Kurronen, the team found familiar players, so it lowered the threshold for Turunen. The newest and youngest newcomer was well received by the team right from the first day.
Miisa Turunen has found her place in Finland’s number one chain I shop of super siblings I am and Veeran with. Turuse doesn’t really have a role model, but he has followed Veera Kaup’s career from a special point of view, because they are both left-handed attackers.
Now Turunen has been able to go through a lot of games with attackers who are considered the best in the world. There have been enough tips, sparring, lessons and fun.
According to Turunen, the difference between F-League matches and national matches has been huge, especially when Finland has played against the top countries in the world. At that time, you could almost talk about a different game.
– You can see that there is much more physicality and you can play much harder. The tempo is much faster, as is the cunning in the game. The national team has the best players in the country. The level difference between the players is much smaller than in the league.
A lot to learn from the life of an athlete
Used to be the sports director of SaiPa Salibandy Joonas Haapala has characterized that floorball is Miisa Turunen’s life and soul. This can be a strength, but if there is too much of it, it can also be a weakness.
Turunen, who studies at Kimpinen high school, says that the school brought him balance, and that life is not just floorball. However, recent times have been instructive for him, and he has learned a lot about the life of an athlete.
Turunen trained with the national team’s physical training program last summer, which differed a lot from his previous programs. From time to time he worked out twice a day and realized how important it is to sleep and eat properly.
– Much more emphasis has been placed on rest, nutrition and such. I haven’t realized before how big a role they really play, even though they have been talked about and made aware of them, Turunen admits and immediately admits that resting is still not easy for him.
– Sometimes I felt like going out to play with my friends on the field, even though it has been said that now we will have a proper rest day. However, I have learned that too.
Right at his first national team camp, Turunen noticed that he still has a lot to learn. In his opinion, the most difficult thing has been learning to play defense, but he has received a lot of help with that from the national team coaching.
However, Turunen is aware that his most important role in the team is not in defense.
– However, the attacking end is the most important where I score.
To the market with three golds?
Turunen’s career is only in the early stages, but he doesn’t think too much about the future. He tries to live in the moment, wants to develop as a player and stay intact. However, he has a small goal to one day try his skills in the world’s toughest league, Sweden.
– And it would be nice to be world champion, even in women’s and juniors.
Last year, Turunen won World Championship bronze in Poland with the under-19 national team. Now this coming spring, the team is aiming for the world championship at the home games in Lahti.
Turku’s league team SaiPa also has a good chance of success in the coming spring. If everything went smoothly, Miisa Turunen might “go to the market” at the end of the season with three gold medals.
– Yes, it’s not impossible, he answers with a smile.