Leevi, who recently made a hat trick, shines in Pori’s Ässie league team, while little sister Kaisa cools down as the forward joker of Pori’s Pesäkarhuje.
Tapio Pukkila,
Pipsa Uutto-Rajakallio
Pori siblings 19 years old Kaisa Viitala and 22 years old Leevi Viitala are at the absolute top of their species.
Kaisa, as the leading joker, aims for the Finnish championship of the super pes on Saturday in Tampere in the fifth and decisive final meeting between Manse PP and Pori Pesäkarhuje.
Winger Leevi, on the other hand, grabbed the hockey headlines in the recent Ässät–KalPa league match by scoring a hat trick and two more assists to top it off.
An individual athlete in a team sport
Both Viitalas feel good in the team sport.
– I myself am social and people-oriented. It’s harder to do sports in a group, Kaisa reflects.
– Many friends have joined the teams. You fall in love with that job very quickly, and cubicle life is fun. It is perhaps the biggest thing that I chose team sports, says Leevi.
Still, Kaisa admits that as a trailblazer you sometimes have to be an individual athlete in a team sport, but even then the team is there to support you all the time.
Emotional support is important
Both have learned that in order to succeed in elite sports, you also need a mental edge. To help them here, they have the same mental coach Katja Pasanen.
Mutual support and communication between siblings is also important when the competition at the top is fierce and sometimes even merciless.
– We always talk before or after the game. Yes, you get mental support from someone else, when the other person is also a top athlete and can identify with the other person’s situation, Kaisa thinks.
Leevi nods next to him.
– And I, as an older brother, try to help Kaisa, to be a cheerleader and a jeezer.
Which is harder and faster?
Siblings are used to measuring each other up.
– Kaisa has better self-discipline and is good at working alone and is able to do her own training. I get more out of myself with the coach.
When talking about the speed limit, the mutual verbalization ends in an unresolved issue.
– Our big sister Karla Viitala is a former SM-level all-around athlete and he insists stone hard that he is the fastest of us, but I insist that we will be taken now, Leevi laughs.
Versatility, changes of direction, explosive speed and power. The distinguishing factor is that in hockey you are on top of the blades. This is how the siblings list the common characteristics and requirements of their species.
Leevi, who played baseball himself when he was younger, reminds us that it is a demanding sport and he is annoyed by the claim that baseball players can’t cope physically.
– Ice hockey requires a combination of strength, endurance and speed on the blades. You’re carrying the puck and a 110-kilogram guy is trying to make a tackle. With this, I still want to say that yes, ice hockey is also a physically demanding sport.