The deciding games of the basketball Finnish Cup are shown live on TV2 and Areena. The women’s semifinals will be played on Saturday at 10:00 and 12:55. The men’s cup final is at 16:50. The women’s final will be played on Sunday at 16:50.
Basketball in Vimple, known for its Superpesis, was originally a winter training sport for baseball. It was mainly played by men.
In the 21st century, the situation changed and the focus shifted to girls.
Executive director of Vimpelin Veto, coach of the women’s basketball representative team Jukka-Pekka Kujala says that the small club’s resources are not enough for everything.
In the pennant, it was therefore decided to bet on men’s super pes and women’s basketball.
– We had good age groups in basketball. Thanks to them, the teams started to do well in the national leagues. The training was purposeful and goal-oriented, Kujala explains.
In 2012, Vimpelin Veto’s A-girls won the SM bronze, and a couple of years later the women’s representative team moved up to the Korisliiga.
When you’re not jealous, you get fans yourself
Vimpelin Vedo has about 60 junior girls in basketball, which is a lot when the municipality has more than 2,700 inhabitants.
Girls also come to practice from nearby municipalities such as Halsua and Lappajärvi, previously also from Evijärvi and Alajärvi.
Coaching micro and mini girls under the age of 12 Maija Peltola believes that there are many reasons for basketball’s popularity: team sports are attractive, coaches are trained, committed and enthusiastic, and parents are supportive and encouraging.
Girls also have a lot of friends in basketball.
– More than 70 percent of the girls born in 2012 play basketball, and only one girl in the age group has not tried the sport, Peltola explains.
At Vimpelin Vedo, young people can also do things other than basketball.
So that the girls don’t have to choose between hobbies, the club arranges practice times in cooperation with the music college and civic college.
Peltola considers this important.
– For example, we chose Monday as the training day because there were other hobbies on Tuesday and Wednesday. This way, as many people as possible can get there. Then someone comes straight from the violin lesson here to practice or the other way around, Peltola elaborates.
Vimpelin Veto’s representative team is now playing its ninth season in the Korisliiga. The team has also reached the finals of the Finnish Cup, which will be played in Helsinki this weekend.
Team captain Anni Kujala sees the background of Vimpeli’s basketball boom as the active and skilled members of the club.
He himself has been playing basketball since he was 7 years old.
– I also played baseball for a long time, but I liked basketball more and I was able to challenge myself even more with basketball, he explains his choice.
Vimpeli Veto’s representative team has its own graduates and those who came to Vimpeli’s ball high school. Some of the younger players get playing time in the 19-year-old first division in Lapua Korikobri.
Vimpelin Veto graduates also play in other league clubs. The one in the national team ring Lotta Vehka-aho currently represents Kotka Pelikarhu and Miina Niemitalo The Tampere Aspiration.
More: Lotta Vehka-aho, 20, who moved to the United States, noticed how quickly life can change – she returned to Finland and began to think about her values in a new way
Idols nearby
Role models are important for juniors. In the pennant they are close. When the girls’ practices end, the league women’s practices begin.
– Older players give younger players tips and tricks and lead by example. The juniors, on the other hand, encourage and assist in home games, for example by drying the floor, says Maija Peltola.
According to Peltola, girls’ contacts with idols are genuine and natural.
– The women’s representative team is not a separate part, we are all here to work. You see what idols do, you see them in the dressing room, you think maybe I can be at that level someday…
The subject can be discussed until Saturday, January 14, until 11 p.m.