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Hey; On a sky blue clear Sunday morning I stood on a wooden dock with a bright sun shining down on the still water of “Oh my God it’s cold” lake just outside of Jyvaskyla. I know it’s cold because last night, along with most of our team, I leaped into the frigid depths, without hesitation, to cool down from the sauna. It’s a Finnish tradition, but I don’t think it’s going to catch on in America. Too much shrinkage. I felt like George in a classic Seinfeld episode. After a Saturday double practice session we had a team ‘boys’ night out in a church camp, not unlike those you see in central Oregon. In fact with the abundance of pine trees it could have been somewhere outside Prineville, maybe on lake Paulina.
The camp was located thirty minutes south of Jyvaskyla and most of the team was there. The copious amounts of alcohol consumed by thirty or so mostly twenty something Finland football players was impressive in a ‘how the hell can you drink that much’ sort of way. Although, they all say you haven’t seen anything until you see a Russian drink. I sampled, courtesy of my players, many
new and different type spirits including ‘tar something that smelled and tasted like well…tar. In comparison the licorice flavored, made from anise, drink that could have been ouzo if we were in Greece was pretty good. Of course I’m a black licorice guy, that red vine crap ain’t licorice.
We enjoyed a nice dinner, prepared by our president’s personal chef and then the real fun began. The boys split up into three teams for a paint ball contest. I was a spectator for the ‘war games’ thank God, but they all had a ball running through the pine forest trying to capture the opponents flag without getting ‘painted’. After the ‘war’ the traditional welcome hazing for the American’s began. Because our second American won’t arrive until next weekend Ryan was on his own. The hazing amounted to five or six chug-a-lug type contests, beginning with a hand slapping quick reaction contest, loser chugging a beer and continued with spinning, running, jumping and assorted games involving a few teammates and a lot of boos. Ryan held up well, probably because of his fraternity background and the hazing ended with a rousing team ovation for his effort and we all moved on
to the sauna, albeit some staggering a bit.
The sauna was located in a building about thirty yards from the lake and built to hold six or so but we managed to cram twelve or fifteen bodies into the fire. Woody Hayes, in his book 100 yard war, said he refused to build separate showers for the coaching staff because he felt standing naked in the shower with your players put you on the same level. I’m not sure what level I was on butt cheek to butt cheek with sweating young men? The beer, the heat and the flogging (with some kind of leafy branch) and stories of granddad kicking Russia’s ass made it a very different but amusing experience. Oh well, when in Rome.
After it got dark, around midnight, a few of us moved to the main building and opened a bottle of fine Red that I shared with Risto, Aki, and Ryan. We talked and told stories till about 1:30 am when it began to get light again, we’re in Finland remember, before we called it a night. All in all it was an entertaining time and amazingly I awoke in the morning feeling pretty good.
Maybe the sauna sweats out the alcohol or possibly the ice cold lake water freezes the stuff and sends it directly out the pours bypassing the kidney’s.
My short term impression of these Finnish kids is certainly one of admiration. We had some ribald fun for sure but no one got drunk and disorderly. In the morning after breakfast it was a team effort clean up and everyone lent a hand. Reflecting on the day/night I realized that not one of the players smoked although a few were chewing. These young kids are intelligent, love to have a good time and their respect and politeness for others is very apparent. I think the best compliment I could give them is that they remind me of the kids in Vienna. I’m a lucky guy for sure. Stay tuned. coach tom
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