Marko Vapa brought teachings to the Finnish national team that appalled the athletes – “Everyone thought it was ridiculous”

– My impact there was quick and effective, Marko Vapa48, describes his brief stint as head coach of the Finnish national ski orienteering team 20 years ago.

Pesti didn’t have time to last a year and a half, until it ended with dismissal at the beginning of 2006.

Vapa has gained publicity as a parliamentary election candidate who believes in conspiracy theories and is accused of the crime of treason, but the Kemin native’s background is in sports.

The enthusiastic orienteering man had started his studies at the University of Jyväskylä’s physical education department before becoming head coach and had been involved in orienteering club activities in Meri-Lap.

The ski orienteers quickly noticed that the new commander wanted to throw many of the traditional methods of endurance sports into the scrap heap and replace them with his own teachings.

The only applicant?

At the same time, the coach of the Norwegian national team came into the association at the same time Janne Salmi. He took over the duties of the head coach of the national orienteering team.

Salmi remembers that the part-time driver of the ski orienteering team did not have a jack, which offered Vapa the opportunity to hit the spot.

– There probably wasn’t much of a choice, that’s what I’ve understood. He was perhaps not the best, but the only candidate, Salmi formulates.

– It could be that I’m wrong, but his slight special quality was probably known.

Coaching manager at the time for the orienteering association Petteri Kähäri refused to comment on the matter to Iltalehte.

At that time, he worked as a personal coach of national team athletes in cross-country skiing Mika Kulmalan perceptions of the recruitment process are similar.

A man whose control of the whole was not quite at the required level had been put on the chopping block.

– No matter how good you are as a personal trainer or think about things philosophically at Jyväskylä’s sports science department, in the practical everyday life you have to manage 10 or 15 athletes, ski maintenance, scheduling and other things so that everyone is able to work. It’s usually exhausting with such indulgences, says Kulmala.

– It was reportedly noticeable from the beginning. The athletes said that there was quite a lot of so-called stream of consciousness in that work.

The national orienteering and cross-country teams gathered at a joint camp in Vuokatti, where Vapa’s ideas about coaching came to light.

Salmi says that at that point it started to “hurt”.

– I felt that he had some unusual thoughts.

A natural approach

Among other things, Vapa stated that weather conditions affected whether it was worthwhile for an athlete to do an exercise or not.

In the thoughts of the head coach, the darkness affected the athlete’s endurance, so it should be avoided.

– Well, it has an effect, but it can’t prevent training, Kulmala laughs.

Iltalehti caught up with Vapa, who says that he still stands behind his policy of 20 years ago.

– I announced that it’s not a good idea to go roller skiing when it’s raining. I have to train according to the weather. It doesn’t make any sense if someone says in the program that they have to leave for three hours and the weather is crap. I was hoping for a more organic approach to it.

Along with the natural method, Vapa brought with him listening to the body, which he wrote his master’s thesis about.

The guideline is that the training is not done if the body is not in a recovered state.

The goal was a state of flow.

– When you rot without sensing the body’s feeling, it easily leads to stuck muscles. Then the profit condition fluctuates, Vapa opens his discoveries.

Listening to one’s own feelings is of course important for an athlete, but Vapa, who operated without a viable skiing background, also confused with his technical lessons brought from the running side.

– He thought that figure skating works the same way. That we are as far forward as possible and the skis are thrown under, Kulmala says with amusement.

Recommended clay

One of the specialties of the coaching beliefs of the Master of Sports Science is eating clay.

Vapa claims that the muscles of an endurance athlete need clay because of the minerals found in it.

– Normally there should be clay on the surface of all roots, but the Food Industry removes it from that surface. Calcium and magnesium are missing. It causes the muscles to start cramping. Clay additive is a basic pattern, the same as natural salts, Vapa explains.

Kulmala gets a little serious when she is asked if any of the national team’s athletes would try their head coach’s wild recipe to prevent cramps.

– I have to remember that the athletes of the national ski orienteering team are actually quite smart guys on average, just like the athletes of any other national team level. They’re not exactly stupid people. Everyone thought it was bullshit.

With Vapa, the traditional massage in the national team was superseded by the energy treatments that the head coach himself gave to the athletes.

Some experienced the reiki and Healing hands treatments as not only of questionable benefit, but also unpleasant.

– Especially young women found it not very pleasant or comfortable. It quickly culminated in the fact that nothing seems to come of this now, says Kulmala.

During the late summer and early autumn, Vapa’s activities were watched in disbelief, but with the arrival of winter, the athletes’ measure became full.

Laughter and wonder gradually turned into shock, which was channeled as feedback from the athletes to the federation’s management.

In January 2006, Vapa was fired.

Surprised by the firing

According to Vapa, the reason for the dismissal was that, in his opinion, the uniform training amount targets given to all athletes by the federation were not reasonable.

– I didn’t agree to that. I saw even then that it is individual coaching that makes the difference, Vapa explains.

The eccentric head coach says he has made a difference. He highlights one World Cup victory from his short era.

According to Vapa, the union’s decision to fire came as a shock to many other sports people.

– That’s why the group was wondering, what exactly is there when you are suddenly fired, even though the results don’t allow us to assume that.

Vapa himself is convinced that he left an indelible mark on the coaching culture of orienteering.

We only really woke up to it later, when we were more mature.

– In my opinion, I brought a distinctly new perspective to the activities of the Orienteering Association. They learn that there is another way to do things, Vapa refers to his thinking that emphasizes the individual.

Pioneer

Vapa is a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in many. Nowadays, the man organizes, among other things, various excursion services for tourists in his home region.

Kulmala says that the man who was known to be special was not a difficult person in any way, but open and got along well with people.

In the beginning of the 2000s, the former orienteering champion founded an online coaching business, which, according to his own words, was the first of its kind in Finland.

Vapa counts the stars of the national orienteering team as clients Pasi Ikonen and Minna Kaupin.

– He was basically a pioneer then, Salmi admits.

– Often the interface between intelligence and madness is blurred. I think Marko and Mikko belong to the group where it varies a bit.

The trial of Marko and Mikko Vapa began on January 13 at the Helsinki District Court. The twin brothers are accused of revealing a security secret.

According to the prosecutor, the tunnel map service maintained by Vapoi has been capable of harming Finland’s national defense and security.