Olaus Alise’s dream is to one day be a first-round draft pick in the NFL. Father Klaus Alinen was one of the first Finnish players to sign a contract with an NFL team in his own career.
Jenni Joensuu,
Jere Sanaksenaho
Two meters. 140 kilos. Shoe size 51.5.
18 year old Olaus Alisen the dimensions are impressive. They are also ideal for his sport, American football. His playing position is outside linebacker.
– The place to play came really naturally. My body is just right for that place, the right prototype, says Alinen.
On the way to Alabama
At the beginning of next year, an important phase in Olaus Alisen’s career will begin.
He begins studying in the United States at the University of Alabama.
The Alabama Crimson Tide, a team from the University of Alabama, plays in the high-level NCAA college league in the United States. It’s not a minor league, for example Alabama’s home stadium can hold 100,000 spectators.
The traditionally successful team has won the university league championship most recently in the 2020 season and before that in 2017. The team is coached by Nick Sabanwho is considered one of the best coaches in Yankee football.
– Alabama is the most successful team of all time and even now they have a legendary coach. There have been six championships in twelve years. Alabama has the most first-round NFL draft picks and current NFL players, Alinen explains the reasons for his choice.
You can see from Alinen’s speech that the background work for the decision has indeed been done. During the summer, he visited five more universities with his father Klaus Alisen exploring places with.
– Alabama had a nice team and nice coaches, it was a pretty comprehensive package. It’s the kind of place I wanted to play.
In father’s footsteps
American football could have been a logical choice for Olaus Aline at an early age, as his father Klaus Alinen has also been successful in the sport. As a small boy, however, he played hockey.
Klaus Alinen signed a player contract with the Atlanta Falcons in 2006. He still never played in the NFL. The hope is that the boy would be able to realize this dream.
– Let’s finish the university first and then see what the situation is. At least he is in the right place at the right time, father-Alinen says.
A scholarship place at the university is not a one-way ticket to success, you have to work hard. Scholars also have to do well in school, just playing is not enough.
– The good thing about the university is that the work is not only on one’s own shoulders. There are top coaches who guide you to do the right things. You have to commit yourself to work, and I’m ready for that, says Olaus Alinen.
Work done for a long time
– There aren’t too many players who get to choose between the top schools themselves, said the head coach of the Finnish national team Mikko Koikkalainen on the other hand at that time to .
Mika Laurila also said that Ali is currently considered the best player from Europe in his age group.
Alisen’s success is influenced not only by her talent, but also by a carefully considered path towards the desired career that began at a young age.
At the age of 16, Alinen moved to the United States to study. He still studies until the end of this year at Loomis Chaffee’s well-known “football high school” in Connecticut.
– It was the best solution for career development and had to be done. I wanted to go there myself, and that decision guided me to the best possible path.
Klaus Alinen says that there was a careful discussion between the family before Olaus moved to Connecticut. 16 years old is young to move away from home, let alone to another continent.
– Yes, it made the family dizzy, it was a big leap into adulthood at such a young age. But we wouldn’t have let Olaus go if he wasn’t ready. Even then, he was able to bear the responsibility.
No shortcut to the top
In the interview, Olaus Alinen is relaxed, purposeful and surprisingly mature for being only 18 years old.
He has been titled as the Finnish promise of American football and a super talent for a long time, but it doesn’t seem to affect the young man at least in a bad way.
Alinen knows that Alabama will have at least as talented players playing with him. Surely everyone has an equal desire to show their skills.
– I don’t expect to get into the university team’s starting line-up right away, I really don’t. Even the best have had to wait their turn.
Perhaps the father’s knowledge and experience of the sport, both in Finland and in the United States, has been beneficial to the son, although father-Alinen emphasizes that Olaus has made his own decision regarding his own career. The father’s heart was still warmed when the son finally chose American football as his own sport.
– After all, Jenkkifutis is the best team sport in the world! And I know where it grows as a person and as an athlete.
Klaus Alinen didn’t play a single NFL game, but he knows what kind of world awaits the boy.
– Raw work, every day. There is no easy shortcut to the top.