Sand is blowing on the hot Käpylä sports park field when the Finnish national softball team is camping in Helsinki. The team’s American coaches nod their heads with satisfaction when a group of young baseball players shows right at the start of practice what kind of qualities the players of the national sport have.
– We will rely on two things, speed and throws, coach Kirk Walker starts and gathers the players in a ring around him.
Coach Walker enlivens his speech. He articulates his American English with accented precision, gesturing with his hands and indicating with his feet what the players should do. Sentence by sentence, one of the players stops Walker’s speech and translates what he heard to the others.
Providing translation assistance Naomi Pierson is the most technically experienced player in the Finnish team, even though he is only 16 years old. Pierson, who lives in Texas, USA, has never played baseball in his life, but even more so softball.
– My younger sister played softball and I became interested in the sport myself at the age of ten. I also played basketball on the side, but in the end I liked this more, so I have now continued with the sport for Seven Years, says Pierson.
During the three-hour rehearsals, Pierson is very vocal. The sports terms and special features of softball raise a lot of questions among Finnish players.
– Of course, it is difficult to understand everything right away when the American coaches explain everything in softball terms and in English. At first, it’s difficult to transfer what you hear to the game, Pierson describes.
After a while, coach Walker and his colleague Connie Clark digging out softball bats and balls. Again, baseball players’ grips get nods of approval. The coaches follow the work closely and take care of the small details, because doing the basics comes naturally to baseball players.
– It’s almost scary how hard baseball players throw. I can’t get the ball that fast myself. The outside game is clearly a strength for them, Pierson praises his teammates.
For a baseball player, the biggest challenge in throwing is the pitcher. The ball should be hurled downwards forward at a speed of over 100 kilometers per hour and with various twists. The Finns still have work to do.
– I will definitely get responsibility as a pitcher at the beginning, even though I haven’t exactly played that role in the school team. However, I’ve already had time to prepare for it a little and I received special instruction on passing from my coach, says Pierson.
To walk and learn
A sweaty afternoon in Käpylä is the starting shot for Finland’s very ambitious softball project. Finland has set a goal to rise from almost zero level in six years to the top of Europe in softball and with that to fight for a place in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
In Finland and in the international sports federation, it is believed that the best players in baseball could achieve significant results in softball even with a fast schedule. In order to tighten the schedule, Finland has received the top university-level head coaches from the United States.
The team is now meeting for the third time since the start meeting in February, but the players have changed every time they meet. The team that arrived in Käpylä is going to represent Finland at the European Championships, but the baseball stars needed for the Olympic dream are not there due to the Superpesis overlap, and the coaching trio Walker, Clark and Michelle Gromack have also taken turns in team meetings.
In training, the coaching seems to give the players emphatically appreciative feedback for even small successes, so that motivation is maintained.
– Now you can’t be afraid of failure. Players should not feel bad. This is all new to them, like a child learning to walk. We will fall many times, but that is part of the process. We need to get them to look years from now, not right now. You have to enjoy small wins, Clark reminds.
Clark puts his words precisely when asked for his opinion on Finland’s goal to quickly become a softball powerhouse in Europe. The fact that baseball players are incomparable as elite athletes cannot immediately replace other countries’ longer background in softball.
– I think the goals should always be high. You have to believe in what you are doing in order to be able to do your daily work to achieve that goal. The goal is extremely ambitious, but I believe that if Finland can build a working cooperation between baseball and softball, then everything is possible. The bar is high, but I wouldn’t want anything else, says Clark.
From the top, shout further
Equipment bags are also carried by the president of the Finnish Baseball and Softball Association on the Käpylä sand field Jukka Ropponen. The long-time sportsman who founded the association in 1981 has worked hard in recent years to ensure that coach Clark’s wishes for baseball and softball to coexist came true.
A year ago, in March, the Roppe pitch was firmly moved to the first slot, when baseball, baseball and softball settled under the same roof in Finland. Since then, softball has received a lot of publicity thanks to its ambitious Olympic dreams.
It is easy to speculate on the credibility of dreams, because softball is still a very small sport in Finland. There are currently only two teams playing in the SM series as well.
Baseball provides a good foundation for softball, but much more sport-specific training is needed. It is now planned to be increased by transferring the softball championship series to the government, so the best in baseball can take the sport into their winter training if they wish.
– The most important thing is to find ways to play sports side by side. We have absolutely no intention of competing for players so that they move from one sport to another. Now we have excellent coaches from the United States and enthusiastic baseball coaches from Finland who absorb the learning and take it into everyday life here. When real top athletes, female baseball players and the possibility of a winter series and parallel training are brought into this, the goals are still tough, but possible, Ropponen estimates.
Finnish sports do not sow money, but Ropponen assures that money does not buy an Olympic place. The participation of the US coaches is based on the support of the European Sports Confederation and the Finnish Olympic Committee, and especially on the coaches’ own desire.
– They see this as an absolutely exceptional opportunity in the world. Such an opportunity only comes once in a lifetime. This is not done for money, but from the heart. They are motivated by the challenge and adventure of how to train baseball players from the vertical forest to European Championship medalists in three years, from there to the World Cup and finally to the Olympic qualifiers.
And although the discussion now revolves around whether Superpesis’ best athletes can also succeed in softball, Ropponen already tops the next nest. Whether Finland gets an Olympic place or not, the visibility gained from the project will bring benefits in the long term. Top sport gives strength to the cry of a small sport.
– Yes, we have a common concern that there is too little exercise in our sports. The key is to create a range of sports that will get children moving. The number of baseball enthusiasts is now close to 18,000, from there we need to increase first over 20,000 and then towards 30,000 enthusiasts.
– We need to be able to create such a supply of baseball, baseball, softball and five-a-side baseball that we can increase the amount of children’s physical activity. With that, the level of playing will also rise in time, Ropponen states.
Baseball and softball are among the 10 most popular sports in the world, and their combined number of fans was more than 65 million in 2020. Internationally, the sport is therefore widespread and well-known.
Finnish baseball can be difficult for someone who has just arrived in Finland to adopt as their first sport, but through baseball or softball, the road can also lead to the national sport.
– Contacts from players with an immigrant background have been increasing all the time. Now, especially when more softball and baseball have been brought to the fore, there are inquiries every week about which sports can be practiced in Finland, says Ropponen.
Mom had to learn a new pass
The exercises on the Käpylä sand are coming to an end. Maija Vastamäki follows the instructions of the American coaches closely and absorbs softball lessons like a sponge.
At the age of 15, Vastamäki was already a top prospect for the Jyväskylä Kirittärien Superpesis team, but his career ended early as a result of burnout. The alternative would have been to end sports completely, but in softball, Vastamäki found a new enthusiasm for training.
– I noticed that there is still enough enthusiasm for competitive sports and long-term commitment comes from the backbone. It’s been a wonderful feeling to be able to do it again, says Vastamäki.
– The sport’s difference compared to baseball is attractive. The game is somehow more mobile when you have to move on from the hit. The rules force the game to progress, although the tempo is perhaps slower than baseball, he continues.
Vastamäki approaches his softball career with the enthusiasm with which his love for baseball was ignited at the time. The opportunity to measure one’s own skills at an international level and the dream of representing Finland at the Olympics tickles the fancy, but on the other hand, joy comes from simple things.
– When I played baseball, my mother and I went to hit the net every day. A lot of self-paced training has been done before hitting it. Now all I have to do is teach my mother a new serve, but we will hit the net again in the same way. The sport and the ball have just changed, Vastamäki smiles.
And Let me add at the end that the first prize competition trip became the learning journey predicted for Finland. Finland played eight matches in EC softball, the result of which was one win and seven losses.
But as coach Connie Clark already told Käpylä, the joy of learning was also felt.
It is clear that the first cheers of the Finnish young players in the winning match and their boisterous cheers will carry Finland’s Olympic project in the form of increased self-confidence for a long time to come.