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The situation of the Finnish Skiing Association has deteriorated during the summer and autumn. Chairman of the Ski Association Markku Haapasalmi opened at the beginning of November, what kind of huge financial losses the union has incurred.
In the completed fiscal year, the Ski Association’s negative result was around 200,000 euros. The ski association’s commercial company Nordic Ski Finland made a loss of 400,000–500,000 euros.
Due to its financial problems, the Ski Federation started last spring extensive cost-saving measures with change negotiations and layoffs. Negative publicity came when Iivo Niskanen referred to the camp and training activities of the A national team shrunk with a glove.
At the beginning of November, Urheilu also reported on the extraordinary distress call of the staff of the Ski Association. The majority of the staff participated in the petition, which strongly questioned the management of the organization. Tikunnokka was especially promoted to the head of the administration Ismo Hämäläinenbut also chairman Haapasalmi and the rest of the board.
Here is Haapasalmi’s challenger
The next chairman of the ski association will be decided at the March meeting. Sports influencer Sirpa Korkatti now announces that he is going to challenge Haapasalmi in the presidential election.
Korkatti says that he is going after the chairman for many reasons, but not on light grounds.
– The main reason is that we currently have a big need for change. The need to renew, change the operation of the Ski Association and think big about the future.
According to Korkat, he would have something to give to Pesti based on his own expertise and the background discussions held on the field.
Currently, Korkatti works in the Ski Association as a member of the board and as the chairman of the cross-country management team. Since the beginning of 2019, he has been working as the director of the Eerikkilä sports college, his area of responsibility being the culture and people of Eerikkilä.
Korkatti was hired in Eerikkilä to create and manage the internal operating culture and to create a service model for business and leisure customers.
The Ski Association for the 2030s
Korkatti emphasizes the need for change several times in the interview. He says that the very first thing in the Ski Federation should be to form a good situational picture of where we are at the moment.
– And I’m not just talking about the economy, but more broadly about different sports and the field of activity. We should start thinking about what the role and mission of the Ski Federation will be in the 2030s.
According to Korkat, openness and transparency should be increased in the Ski Association.
– That we have the kind of discussion culture that inspires and motivates people to participate and together make skiing even more successful. Both from the point of view of top sports and of course also the vital club activities for us.
According to Korkat, the creation of the Ski Association of the 2030s starts with creating a very honest picture of the situation and building scenarios. What will happen to the number of skiing enthusiasts and competitors? How, for example, does the problem of immobility among children and young people affect the operating environment? After that, we can think about what the role of the Ski Association is and what problems it can be solving.
– We will of course have a tight value competition here from next year. 2025 is the World Cup, 2026 is the Olympic year and so on. Until 2029, we hope to have Lahti’s home games. Then the organization must be hit both financially and functionally.
At this stage, Korkatti does not want to evaluate Haapasalmi’s success as chairman. Sen Korkatti says that the journey has been long and it has included many different stages.
So what separates Korkat from the sitting chairman?
– I think that my background, experience and understanding of the activities of sports and sports communities. I have a lot of perspective on different sports. I’m known – I’m only talking about myself now – as a cooperative and communicative person and, above all, as a ruler of large entities. I can bring about change so that people are involved in it. I’d rather talk about that than what separates me from someone else.
The big concerns of skiing
Skiing is still a very popular public sport, but as has become clear this year, there are plenty of problems. For example, the head coach of the national skiing team Teemu Pasanen has said that the number of devotees has fallen alarmingly low.
Korkatti signs that the number of club enthusiasts and the number of those who have acquired a competition license have decreased year by year.
– We need to think more about what makes our sports interesting and what kind of club activities should be in the future. Professionalism and things of this type are certainly emphasized there.
Last winter, the prices of the hobby were also talked about, when Urheilulehti published a large report, based on which, for example, a child’s hobby in skiing can cost parents 10,000 euros per year. The costs of skiing had increased enormously since 2015, an average of 84 percent.
According to Korkat, the challenge is that skiing can cost as much as everyone wants to invest in it. He says that parents often invest more in equipment than is necessary.
– We have to think about what types of competition we have. Could there be shared use skis in the children’s and youth series? You have to think about these in the same way as the competition system, such as how long distances the competitions cause.
Korkatti does not want to comment on the ski association’s huge financial losses any more than it has already been in the public eye.
– We need to be better able to look ahead and predict and, if necessary, make bold decisions for which the resources are sufficient.
Nor does Korkatti directly want to comment on the letter from the staff of the Ski Association, which strongly questioned the organization’s management.
– I’m just stating that personnel management is a critical issue. Let’s get to the question of what kind of operating methods we need to use to advance personnel management and experience in the near future, and what kind of expertise we need to have for that.
The relationship between elite sports and moving the entire nation has been talked about, among other things, due to the guidelines of the Olympic Committee. Korkatti sees that the core activities of the Ski Association are focused on elite sports and club activities.
– Through that, we make it possible for Finns to move widely. For example, environmental work and snow preservation have progressed and improved Finns’ opportunities to move on snow.
Finally, Korkatti wants to emphasize the cooperation between the different sports of the “ski family” – cross-country skiing, ski jumping, combined and alpine skiing.
– It is extremely important for us that there are many sports. One sport always does better athletically than the other, and the other is in challenges. The cooperation has gone in a good direction, but today it is quite clear that we need to consolidate and cooperate in all matters.