Seppo Pulkkinen: Der Alte

From August 2014

You don’t need to be a floorball star putting your stick aside to become a top floorball coach. Seppo Pulkkinen was a Finnish volleyball national team coach who dared try something new. This April he lead Happee from Jyväskylä to celebrate the Salibandyliiga championship title with 4,634 spectators.

In autumn 2001, nobody in the Finnish floorball world knew who Seppo Pulkkinen was. Until the Finnish federation announced their new coach for the women’s national floorball team that had just won the World Championship gold medals in Riga, Latvia.
For a minute, Finnish floorball enthusiasts were speechless. Then murmurs started arising.
”Who is this guy?”
”What the…? A volleyball coach?”

Except for sports journalists who sure knew their man but from completely different arenas. Seppo Pulkkinen had coached volleyball teams from the 1970’s first in lower levels and then in the national league. Finally, he led his teams in volleyball European Cups and the Finnish national women’s team in the European Championship tournament in 1989.

Cooling down the revolt
Extreme situations call for extreme measures, and the situation around Seppo Pulkkinen’s new contract was extraordinary indeed.
Finland’s women’s floorball was in chaos after the team had risen to revolt in the middle of the WFC tournament in Riga. Head coach Kai Ahlstedt had been released from his duties right then and the team beat Sweden in the final 2-0 with substitutes Jari Oksanen and Risto Kauppinen behind the bench. After the party, Finland found itself without a head coach, emotions running high and many Finnish top floorball coaches wondering whether the position was worth applying at all.

"Obviously, I was chosen also to cool down the situation", Seppo Pulkkinen says 13 years later. "I was someone from outside, someone people did not already have opinions about."
Hiring a national team coach from almost outside the sport was revolutionary, and Seppo Pulkkinen is not one to shy away from challenges.
"Having only coached floorball in 2nd Division I was crazy enough to apply and luckily, the then CEO of Salibandyliiga Miikka Seppälä was even crazier to sign me.  But naturally, ı analyzed the situation thoroughly and asked Mr Seppälä lots of questions before filing my application. Also, I absolutely would not have signed without having a co-coach that knows floorball in and out. First it was Tuomo Kangasluoma and later I would be joined by other experts like Kati Eteläpää and Petri Lindberg."
The outsider’s implementation into the team went surprisingly smoothly. Players did not refuse the team as some had feared.
"The players were most of all curious to see who I was and what would happen. Coaches like Petteri Nykky, Juha Jäntti and Jarkko Rantala, too, immediately welcomed me to floorball and held out a helping hand. Not everyone was positive, though as there were also bitter anonymous comments and some drunken jeers from the stands even by floorball people but hey, that is a part of being the head coach."

Only a Petra Kundert away from being World Champion
A two-year contract extended into six years and three women’s WFC tournaments.
In Switzerland 2003 Pulkkinen’s Finland had an early 4-0 lead against Sweden in the semi-final to then fade into a bitter 4-5 loss and an eventual bronze medal.
In Singapore in 2005, Pulkkinen’s team took their revenge in a 3-2 semi-final victory against Sweden. Only in the final, Switzerland led by Petra Kundert was stronger than ever beating Finland 5-4.
Pulkkinen’s final WFC for the time being would be in Danish Fredrikshavn in 2007. Finland beat Sweden in the group stage but could not renew their accomplishment in the final.
"Too bad we did not win the title but those were great years. I learned a lot and got to know many great players and coaches. It was also nice to try new kinds of practice camps like going to stay in tents in the forest or travel to Spain to practice. In the Federation, they sure raised an eyebrow or two but they did not object as long as we stayed within our budget."

From power floorball to real floorball
Seppo Pulkkinen was never a floorball player himself. As a young athlete, his sports were volleyball and speedskating. But for a volleyball coach, floorball was already there.
"Before practice, we used to play something we called power floorball. The rules were a combination of floorball and wrestling and it was enough fun to almost make the players forget about their actual practice."
Then, one day the local 4th Division floorball team had no coach. Several players were Seppo Pulkkinen’s pupils and and as the school’s physical educational teacher he was called to help.
I knew nothing of the sport and I told them I would need to have a co-coach that was born into floorball. Thought I would not hear of them again but 15 minutes later my phone rang. That was Matti Kaipio telling me he was the co-coach I needed."
Pulkkinen agreed to hold two practices a month but soon found himself attending nine a week. A year later he was leading the national team.

Man of international affairs
Seppo Pulkkinen has great interest in international affairs and he has made things happen outside Finland. As a part-time Spaniard with a permanent vacation apartment down there, he introduced floorball in Fuengirola.
"This year we already had out 5th NaturFloorball Camp in Spain with 65 students of the game and Happee elite players as instructors. We have also had Spanish players visiting Jyväskylä."
For the men’s 2010 WFC in Helsinki, Seppo Pulkkinen was hired to coach Team Canada.
"We beat the U.S. twice in the qualification and in the finals we ended up 11th which is the best result for a non-European team ever", Pulkkinen says proudly.
There’s no way Seppo Pulkkinen’s club team would settle itself for being merely Finnish champions. Communicating in English, Happee is making itself known worldwide and the team has more social media followers globally than any other floorball team.

Education academic
Besides being older than most floorball coaches, 60-year old Seppo Pulkkinen is an education professional and academic. The experienced teacher and headmaster wrote his doctor’s dissertation about coaching and education and he currently works as Researcher at the Institute of Educational Leadership at the University of Jyväskylä.
With his thinning hair, bushy moustache (that the players got to shave after winning Salibandyliiga) and a bit of extra weight, Pulkkinen looks like a jovial uncle behind the bench.
"Age brings more self-confidence and an ability to see the bic picture more clearly.  For instance, in football, Guus Hiddink is 67 and Louis van Gaal 63 so I see myself just maturing to be a seriously experienced coach."
Shared leadership is one of the principles Pulkkinen has relied on since the 80’s.
"On my team I like to have people that know more than I do about some things. At the same time as a head coach I am the one that has to see the the complete picture and be responsible for the result."
The teacher in Pulkkinen also likes to point out the importance of developing oneself as a whole person.
"I want the players to be active outside the rink, too. To develop you can’t just play floorball, sleep until noon and then switch on your Playstation. Work and studies are what gets you forward."

Full of energy
Seppo Pulkkinen has been a coach for 39 years and he’s been in charge for Happee first from 2003 to 2007 and then from 2009 on. With this year’s Salibandyliiga golden medals, you could say he has coached Finnish floorball from A to Z.
"I’m still full of energy and just starting to understand this floorball thing. First of all I am looking forward to a succesful season with Happee including our international games in Czech Open and Champions Cup. In the long run I’m very interested in international action and getting to experience everything there", Pulkkinen hints.