Many floorball followers could squint at the end of January: Finland has also represented the women’s national team Salla Suomela, 27, was cooling off again in the league bowl, now in the shirt of the Oulu floor bandy club Rankkok Ankkoi.
A long time had already passed since Suomela’s last league match: the last season was 2018–2019, when the Classic games ended with a quarter-final loss to PSS.
The season was difficult for Classic: most of the core players had decided to end their careers after the previous spring’s SC silver.
Suomelakin had been sidelined for the first two matches of the season and was able to open his season in Sipoo against ÅIF at the beginning of October – he hit the ball into the net five times and led the Tampere team to their opening win of the season.
The scores warmed the heart, but at the same time, the 23-year-old Suomela carried a secret inside: she had only three months earlier had a cancerous tumor weighing one and a half kilos removed.
At first, only Suomela’s coach – a floorball legend – knew about the team Katrina Saarinen had himself told about his cancer diagnosis the previous year.
Suomela was not ready to tell his teammates.
– I didn’t want to be constantly asked how you are doing, can you play and so on. Somehow, I was in such turmoil myself, and didn’t handle the matter properly. It was difficult when the team had changed so much, Suomela recalls now, four and a half years later.
Suomela admits that the secrecy was difficult. The scar tightened and heart rates were often high. After the game, I often felt bad.
He was far away from his family and relatives. The Liminga Niittomiest school had moved to Tampere specifically for floorball.
Support was found nearby. In addition to Saarinen, the manager of the team knew about Suomela’s situation Irina Peltola and, like Peltola, previously successfully represented Classic Nina Rantanenwho had finished his playing career in the previous season.
– They joked and went to the store with me when I couldn’t lift the can of milk any more for a while. They left to take me for a blood test and helped with the laundry. Classic is talked about as a family, and that’s where it was best seen. They were my support group in Tampere.
It was agreed with head coach Saarinen that Suomela’s condition would be looked at day by day. In the end, he persevered to the end of the season.
– It was difficult. But somehow, in an instant, I thought that we would pull ahead of the team and do what we could. Let’s leave little else in the background.
The situation was not made easier by uncertainty.
– Even the doctors couldn’t tell me how I should train, when I could participate in the games. It was a waste of time. It was like I was groping to see if I could find something online. But it wasn’t really found there either.
Finally, Suomela found a good physiotherapist who helped. Regardless, when the season ended, he was a bust.
– I had drifted into a certain kind of shock state, when both mental and physical changes had taken place between short periods of time. I was somehow just so exhausted.
Suomela’s life values had changed already in the summer of 2018, shortly after the cancer diagnosis. After a difficult season, the decision to quit felt right.
– Since I was 16 years old, I had fully invested in floorball and always put it first. I really lived in a bubble, I wanted to develop to a certain level.
– When I got the diagnosis, I thought, damn it, if this job is going to take me to the grave, I’ve achieved great things and met great people, but when you think about life outside floorball… It’s become less. I realized that there is more to life.
Suomela decided to invest in her career. When the evenings were empty of exercises, suddenly there was also a lot of free time.
Back to the playing fields
Even though Suomela focused fully on her working life, her passion for floorball never went out. He went to watch the games from time to time and thought how nice it would be to be a part of it. I missed the cubicle life and community of the team members.
Suomela did play sports alongside work, but the rackets still remained in the closet.
– I had other thoughts. The cancer diagnosis was physically and mentally so hard. I had a bit of a mental thing where I just couldn’t grab the racket when I kept thinking about how high my heart rate was and how bad I felt.
Suomela stayed in Tampere for a while to live. A couple of years ago, however, he moved closer to his home region in Oulu.
Haukiputaa Heitto attracted a versatile gambler to join his ranks for the rest of the season.
– I was happy, it was nice to get busy with the racket after a long time!
In the summer, Suomela already trained with SSRA’s league team. Throwing myself fully into Tradenomy eventually gave me the opportunity to return to the league fields as well.
Nowadays, the changed Suomela is cooling in the F-league.
– The primary goal is to stay healthy and be able to play in the club team. We go one day and one year at a time. I want to improve myself and the team’s game.
Suomela feels that she has changed over the years as a player as well.
– I have gained some wisdom for my own game. I save in certain situations, I don’t have to run everywhere. When you’re not so agile anymore, you have to replace it somehow. With an eye for the game and the ability to read the game, you can play away from situations.
Suomela also finds good things in the gap years: the rest was good, because the knee that has been bothering for a long time is not as angry as it used to be.
– I had jumper’s knee due to stress for many years. The season always ended with an injury. When it came to the end of the season, the legs were always taped.
The versatile Suomela played in the national team as a center and previously also as a winger. However, already in the Classic days, Suomela was put as a defender, and he still enjoys the same position.
In the semifinals, his task is to stop the EräVikings. The teams meet for the third year in a row in the quarterfinals of the F-League.
– I leave with good and expectant feelings. ErVi is a physical team. I expect smooth and hard torque. It’s nice to be able to play these tough spring games after a long time, Suomela chats.
SSRA finished sixth in the series in the regular season, while ErVi was fourth. Of the season’s mutual meetings, the Helsinki team won two and the Oulu team won the last one.
– The regular season rankings no longer have any function, they don’t win these games. The series starts from a 0–0 situation, Suomela reminds.
The beginning of the season was challenging for Oulu, but Seppo Pulkkinen coached by the team has improved its grip towards the spring.
– At the moment, we are the dark horse of the series. We’re going to win the series. I don’t see an obstacle to not being able to get medals. There is a long way to go, we have to go one game and one series at a time, but yes, we are going to win.
Floorball women’s F-league quarterfinals: TPS – FBC Loisto, PSS – SB Pro, EräViikingit – SSRA and Classic – Saipa. Classic and SaiPa already started on Thursday with the victory of SaiPa, in the other series the first matches will be played on Saturday.